This version of Duck Duck Grey Duck has an unsavory side.
The Secret Adversary (1983) is the introduction of Agatha Christie’s Tommy ‘n Tuppence characters. The Great War is over, and Tommy, a British officer who may have seen a bit too much action, has returned home to find the job market is dreadful. Running into childhood buddy Tuppence, they share a similar problem, that being a lack of money. Tuppence persuades Tommy that they should put their time into being private detectives, as the required experience is minimal, and it sounds like, oh, fun!
Advertising in the Times of London, their first contact, a man named Whittington, asks Tuppence’s name, and borrowing from a story Tommy told her, she tells him ‘Jane Finn’. He pales, gives her some hush money, and makes a swift exit. Meanwhile, an old war friend of Tommy’s, now in British Intelligence, comes into contact with Tommy and tells him that ‘Jane Finn’ was an intelligence agent that may have come into custody of a secret treaty during the war, but disappeared in the sinking of the S. S. Lusitania. The treaty, if publicized, would bring down the British government, generally understood to be a bad thing, as the British unions, a powerful force at the time, would have been scandalized by the contents of the treaty.
Into the mix comes two more men. Mr. Brown, at least rumored to exist, appears to be a communist controlling the British unions, maneuvering for power. Julius Hersheimmer claims to be an American multimillionaire and Jane Finn’s cousin, in search of her.
Well, the paths of clues tangle up in restraints, literal, and power, metaphorical, where those in power may not be trustworthy, and those out of power are left wondering just who is who. Eventually, though, comeuppances are handed out in a satisfactory manner, from British Intelligence to the bellboy at the hotel, and isn’t that good?
Despite its generally high quality, I found something off-putting about this story. The actors are competent enough, and the story mostly engrossing, but I think it had to do with the style, which has an abruptness characteristic of the 1970s and 1980s British film genres. A trifle brittle, maybe.
But not a huge disappointment, but a rather nice way to pass a couple of hours. Get the popcorn.
