Customer Reviews
Riveting! - By: Kendra, 16 Mar 2008 
Spoiler alert:
This is a two part movie. We watched the first part yesterday & the second part this evening. It was riveting from start to finish. The first part reallly reels the viewer in with the gorgeous scenery, charming atmosphere, lovely costumes, & English gents saying "Jolly good" & "Cheerio". What fun! However, the plot is quite a bit darker which is why the film is so good. Set against this beautiful backdrop, the charming Herbert Armstrong decides to murder his wife. And, even though I am always one to side with the victims rather than the perpetrator, this is one time I would say the wife had it coming.
Oh, she was horrible! And, he was just wonderful. She was rude, unloving, & seemed to only have her self-interest at heart. When he'd make overtures to her to talk about their issues she'd rebuff him in the nastiest way possible. He wasn't milquetoast, though-- he seemed to have quite a bit of depth under that placid demeanor. She actuallly had the nerve to interrupt him at a tennis tournament to tell him to get home for dinner & that it was his bath night!
(This movie is based on true events and, from what I've read on other sites (look up Major Herbert Armstrong), the depictions of these characters were very true to life.)
Consequently, we empathize with Armstrong & don't mind when she drinks her arsenic-laced tea & cocoa. It's exciting to see Armstrong come out of his shell & be actuallly happy (while she's ill) because we've grown to care about HIM & understand how horrible the wife made his life & the children's lives.
In the second part, though, we change our minds completely about Herbert. He's no longer just a charming happy guy freed from living with an evil shrew-- he's now selfish & unscrupulous. Realizing what an easy time he had killing his wife, he now considers murder as an option for dealing with his business rival.
Had he not attempted this other crime, he would have gotten away with his wife's murder.
I don't usuallly like true crime films. This fallls into the genre, I guess, but it's reallly a wonderful drama. Michael Kitchen (Foyle's War, To Play the King) is very versatile-- much more than I realized. Everyone in this was just excellent, as was the script & direction.
By the end, the viewer reallly does want Armstrong to get his comeuppance, but the entire chain of events is so very sad. There are no happy endings for anyone.
The disc has few extras-- bios of the main cast & a little silly quiz.
ADDENDUM: I recently read The Hay Poisoner by Martin Beales. Beales believes Armstrong is innocent & presents evidence to attempt to prove his case. If you reallly liked this movie & are interested in this case, you might want to read that book, as well. It was also published under the title Dead Not Buried. But, both titles are the exact same book.
