SUPERSLEUTH

Australia, 1984, 90 minutes, Colour.
Carmen Duncan, John Ewart, Patrick Ward, James Condon, Megan Williams, Allen Penney, Elaine Lee, Stephen Grives, Sally Tayler, James Healey.
Directed by David C. Wilson.

Supersleuth is an experiment in telemovie entertainment. It is an Agatha Christie-like murder mystery - with time off for the audience to work out who did it. It has the added bonus of the members of the cast, alleging that they did not know which of them did it, speaking to the audience and speculating. They each do this in an easy, if mannered, way. The material of the murder mystery is very basic whodunnit stuff - Australian style with a touch of Papua-New? Guinea.

1. The Agatha Christle murder mystery style, the murders, an enclosed group, further murders, clues, character studies?

2. The modern atmosphere: the bus, the wealthy home, the questions about the mysterious virus and experiments, the bush?

3. The Papua New Guinea connection. the war, native tribes, magic, illness, illusions?

4. The emotional entanglements and the complications for clues and character study.

5. The characters as stereotypes, their interpretations of their roles - and their explanations.

6. Sufficient information given, sufficient development of character for clues.

7. The working of the gimmick - even the corpses talking and explaining their situation.

8. The time-out and its effect, contribution to the telemovie style.

9. The plausibility of the solution.

10. The ironic twist - with the revelation of who was whose son and the final visit to the cemetery.