Agatha (1979)

What happened when best-selling mystery novelist Agatha Christie disappeared for 11 days back in 1926? The British Agatha "answers" that question. Vanessa Redgrave is cast as Ms. Christie, who vanished from her home not long after her husband (Timothy Dalton) informed her that he was leaving her. Nearly two weeks later, after being the subject of a nationwide search, Christie showed up none the worse for wear at a health spa in Yorkshire, insisting that she could remember nothing of her experiences during her disappearance. According to scriptwriters Kathleen Tynan and Arthur Hopcraft, Christie was located before her return by American reporter Wally Stanton (an uncomfortable-looking Dustin Hoffman), after enjoying a brief romantic fling with the authoress. The journalist decided to keep his discovery a secret. Another plot wrinkle concerns Christie's plan for revenge against her errant husband -- a scheme with all the earmarks of a Miss Marple or Poirot whodunit. Agatha represented former TV director Michael Apted's matriculation to A-pictures with major stars; he fared better with his subsequent endeavor, Coal Miner's Daughter (1980). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi