'The Moving Finger' has such humour and warmth that it works on a romantic level as well as a mystery level. Ditto 'Murder at the Vicarage'. These two are not to dark and scary as some of the others.
'A Murder Is Announced' has really got something because of the convincing nature of the motive, and the care taken to enlarge it. Like in many of the novels, there is one central premise which gives rise to all the action - in this particular case, that after WWII, people didn't know where anyone came from, people coming back from the colonies, etc: you took people on their own valuation of themselves, as Miss Marple says.
I think the best novel though is 'Death on the Nile'. There is so much depth to the characterisation that it has a different feel to the other novels. There is no glibness there. I imagine Agatha Christie on one of her archaeological expedition/holidays having time to steep herself in the setting of the cruise, absorbing detail, maybe spotting a fellow traveller who reminded her of Linnet, and thinking of wanting to convey in the pages of a mystery the force and danger of being like that kind of powerful American socialite. I can see parallels with some of today's celebrities - so, whereas some of the characters in other novels - like ABC Murders - seem stuck in their era - 'Death on the Nile' is so modern. Even the language the central trio speak is fresh.
I can't stand all the early spy type novels, such as The Big Four. I feel that Christie was a genius at understanding human psychology - and great with dialogue - but not so good at grasping world economics and politics, and big power struggles.
Yes, the Beresford's are fun. I hope the coming dramatisation will be enjoyable. I think By the Pricking of her Thumbs is a super book, and dramatised well when last attempted.
Yes, the Beresford's are fun. I hope the coming dramatisation will be enjoyable. I think By the Pricking of her Thumbs is a super book, and dramatised well when last attempted.
But I wish that the producers didn't insert Miss Marple in it instead. I wish they would stick to the book instead of taking it and thinking they could improve upon it. Too bad James Warwick and Francesca Annis didn't return to their roles as Tommy & Tuppence.
Yes, this messing about with the plots has got to stop - unless in the case of placing Hastings into stories in which he did not appear, because, for some reason, his presence in more stories than was accurate, and the augmented appearances of Miss Lemon, seem to bring a warmth and humanity to the legendary ITV adaptations.
Yes, this messing about with the plots has got to stop - unless in the case of placing Hastings into stories in which he did not appear, because, for some reason, his presence in more stories than was accurate, and the augmented appearances of Miss Lemon, seem to bring a warmth and humanity to the legendary ITV adaptations.
I think placing Hastings into the 1 hour adaptations from the short stories in which he did not appear in was appropriate. The short stories, as short as they are isn't enough to make an hour episode so to flesh out the story and to add Hastings or Japp or Miss Lemon is okay and adding them didn't effect or alter the bare bones of Agatha Christie 's short story and the murderer in the story was still the same, including the motive. The producers weren't trying to shock the viewers or try hard to be relevant like the new Miss Marple episodes like The Body In The Library. Some of the later Poirot films like Cards on the Table, Appointment With Death, and Murder On The Orient Express suffered because there were unnecessary changes from the books which I think didn't serve any purpose and I left me scratching my head asking the question "why"? If the producers stuck to being faithful to the stories like the earlier Poirot TV series, only making certain changes if the plot is very complicated to translate on film because I know TV and book are both two different mediums, I think most of the stories from the later series would have been better. Though I do have to say some of the later stories like Five Little Pigs, The Hollow, Sad Cypress, After The Funeral stuck to the book even though some changes were made (some of the changes were unnecessary but they were small and weren't major which I can live with and it didn't mainly effect or alter Christie 's books like Appointment With Death).
Strangely, I liked the television adaptation of By the Pricking of Her Thumbs with Miss Marple erroneously placed within the action. However, I think I liked it because the cast was very good, IMO.
Otherwise, in every respect, the changes to the plot are to be deplored.
How very true that Hastings in the short stories, really does flesh out the action, Christie Fan For Life, as you so pertinently and perceptively suggest - if I might say.
I recently watched By The Pricking of My Thumbs, It is quite good, It is better than what ITV with Nemesis and Sleeping Murder and Body In The Library by a Country Mile
A total distraction, taking the viewer's attention away from the core plot.
It is as though the production team are saying that the modern audience lacks the wit to engage with the preoccupations of characters in the 1930s/40's and they better jazz up, and S_X up the action to make us want to watch. There is a horrible self-consciousness about the acting, as though the assumption is that everybody pre-1960 was obsessed with form and mannerism, and with thinking out the effect of everything they are going to say. It seems as thought the producers are thinking we better write it on two or three levels, including one for those who just want to look at the costumes.
Having said that, the brilliant version with Joan Hickson, very well-cast, is so good that a vainglorious production team might feel that the only way to make their version stand out is to do it completely differently. I hope I am not being too hard on the team.
The book itself is quite hard to get hold of in print. I bought mine in a compilation in a charity shop in Bognor Regis. WH Smith only carry a few titles. Amazon are a bit better. Charity shops are best though. I remember buying Sparkling Cyanide in that same shop on November 1st, and then found out that the party in the novel for Rosemary takes place on November 2nd. That added piquancy to the reading experience.
@Griselda: I don't think you're being to hard on the production team at all. I say this, if it ain't broke don't fix it. I don't know how they could have improved over the book because the original story the way Agatha Christie wrote it was superb already and didn't need any ridiculous, unChristie-like subplots. And I do feel as if the puzzle, the mystery doesn't seem to be the main focus of the new Miss Marple films the way the Hickson films were. And if the production team wanted the Marple films to stand out differently it sure didn't stand out in a good way. Agatha would have been appalled at the film. She would have approved of the Hickson version a lot more.
Yes, I totally agree about focus. The whole point of the story, SPOILER ALERT ! is the subconscious reason Gwenda responds irrationally and vehemently to a particular scene in the play she is watching (Duchess of Malfi). Her response tells her, and us, if we had happened to think in that direction, what is the relationship of murderer to victim in the crime she once saw and then cast from her conscious mind. Agatha Christie does not really go in for sub-plots as such, she is too brilliant at tying in loose threads - and her brilliant mind creates cohesion.
I so agree that AC would have been highly satisfied with Joan Hickson's portrayal. I wonder, incidentally, which is Joan Hickson's best adaptation? She was brilliant in our book of the month: A Murder is Announced - especially when she says SPOILER ALERT that L realises she has made a terrible error of judgement in inviting Bunny to stay. Joan Hickson seems to understand all of the characters and their foibles, and to me she is Miss Marple.
Grizelda, I agree whole heartedly he Problem with ITVs treatment of Miss Marple is as you say they think the viewers are too stupid to have the wit and intelligence to cope with the materiel as it is, SOME of the Adaptations were done well but Nemesis and Sleeping Murder lacked the charm, wit and elegance that those two have and the Viewing Public deserve.
Tommy and ChristieFanForLife, I sometimes get a horrible feeling that the directors at ITV don't themselves like Agatha Christie novels, and don't get them, and are just having to do the production for work, and think they can do something art house and ironic with the stories!
Some of the Geraldine McEwan episodes I really felt were sending up the Agatha Christie genre. And then watching Sleeping Murder was like watching Dawn French in French and Saunders, not a serious production of a novel which has, through the genius of its writing, crossed language barriers all around the world.
The production team don't pay respect to Agatha Christie 's work for if they did they would be faithful to her books. I know print and TV are different mediums and some changes are bound to happen but what I see in the new Miss Marple films are a travesty. The changes are just plain nonsense and it's like watching a production from amateurs. It an embarrassment. Thank goodness for the Miss Marple films with Joan Hickson for those adaptations pay respect to Christie 's work and even the changes that were made in those films make sense such as in Nemesis it makes perfect sense in the TV medium to have a bust fall down on Miss Temple's head then a boulder which came from the book. Changes like this make sense but to put some kind of singing troupe (I think it was) in Sleeping Murder (the Geraldine McEwan version) is just a ridiculous change and pointless on top of that. In the Joan Hickson version of 4:50 From Paddington the plot was simplified from the book and this change makes sense when translating a book from television within the films time limit that it ran in. I think the McEwan version tried to be more faithful to the book but I STILL didn't care for the movie for it was the way the film was "EXECUTED" and I just think it was better executed in the Joan Hickson one, even though a lot of the storyline was simplified.
@tudes asked: do you think At Bertram's Hotel better than Nemesis? Hi tudes, I did enjoy both books but I felt that of all the Marple books that maybe Nemesis lacked the flare of some of AC's earlier Marple books.
I only have read 3 books with miss marple which are ( 4.50 from Paddington . moving finger. nemesis) I enjoyed them all and this is my ranking for them:
!- 4.50 from Paddington
2- nemesis
3- the moving finger
now the reason behind ranking the moving finger at last although I enjoyed it is because I felt it was rather slow in it's starting ,other reason is I read the first 2 chapters then I stopped coming back later after 3 weeks also maybe because I finished it while I was kinda tired as it was (Ramadan) and I was fasting
@Frank, hi! I agree with you. I'm very found of AC's earlier Miss Marple. And I think Nemesis, Bertram, they're not so good as the others. But I really prefer Nemesis. Bertram is the worst Miss Marple's book, in my opinion. I think it's very slow and I don't buy the ending. Well, but it's just my opinion. Have a nice day!
ChristieFanforLife, I don't think ANY of the ITV Marples were done better than the Hickson (Although I don't think ITVs They Do It With Mirrors is any worse than the BBC one) but some of the Marple's from ITV are not in my Opinion that bad, Murder At The Vicarage, 4.50 From Paddington, The Moving Finger, A Murder Is Announced, A Caribbean Mystery, Greenshawe's Folly and The Blue Gerraneum I found quite good and have watched the first 4 twice each, I am not saying I would buy them or definitely watch them if they were on but If I were at a loose end when those 4 were on I might watch. Grizelda I agree with you, I have this feeling it was spite because they weren't allowed to ruin The Poirot's while Rozalind was alive and by the time she was dead it was too late, perhaps that is why they gave the contract to another region who took away th Family atmosphere but to give ITV their due (Begrudgingly) the remaining Poirots apart from the last series didn't have Japp, Felicity and Arthur so no harm realy done - Much.
Tommy, I agree that the Poirots I have seen with David Suchet have all been of high standard, no doubt partly because the actor can dominate and retrieve any production.
I would be interested to know, Tommy, what is your opinion of The Mystery of the Blue Train? Apologies for going off topic.
I didn't like Bertram - somehow a lot of it was unbelievable, both the mechanics of the substitutes and the character of Elvira.
Griselda, I know you asked Tommy, but about the Blue Train - it is interesting that AC herself didn't like it. It was written soon after her divorce, not out of inspiration but because she needed the money, and she wasn't proud of it - but she felt that it was adequately professionally written, and after that she was more confident of her writing skills (see her autobiography).
Hi taliavishay-arbel, May I ask please, should I use your full membership name, or may I use talia?
I am really interested in what it is you say about The Blue Train not being one of AC's favourites. For me there is a good, strong story in there, but it is complicated by the references to the underworld gem dealers, is it the Marquis, the world of European aristocracy in the form of the murdered woman's lover. These references are to me theatrical and out of place. The start of the novel is especially uninspiring compared with those novels which, from the start, home in on the lives of the homely distressed gentlefolk - such as Katherine - who were familiar to AC, and whom she writes about with uncanny precision.
What I admire is the way AC hides the identity of the murderer. It is so skillful. We see real obvious signs that it is they, although in terms of having opportunity, we could find pointers to the killler's indentity if we tracked through the novel. I really found the character of the killer convincing.
I find myself reading this novel, again and again, but only parts of it! I like the social conversations between Katherine and her family, and the sense of time and place.
Comments
But I wish that the producers didn't insert Miss Marple in it instead. I wish they would stick to the book instead of taking it and thinking they could improve upon it. Too bad James Warwick and Francesca Annis didn't return to their roles as Tommy & Tuppence.
I only have read 3 books with miss marple which are ( 4.50 from Paddington . moving finger. nemesis) I enjoyed them all and this is my ranking for them:
!- 4.50 from Paddington
2- nemesis
3- the moving finger
now the reason behind ranking the moving finger at last although I enjoyed it is because I felt it was rather slow in it's starting ,other reason is I read the first 2 chapters then I stopped coming back later after 3 weeks also maybe because I finished it while I was kinda tired as it was (Ramadan) and I was fasting
I agree with you. I'm very found of AC's earlier Miss Marple. And I think Nemesis, Bertram, they're not so good as the others.
But I really prefer Nemesis. Bertram is the worst Miss Marple's book, in my opinion. I think it's very slow and I don't buy the ending. Well, but it's just my opinion.
Have a nice day!