Teresa reviews “Cat Among the Pigeons” (2008) and reflects on how faraway events can touch the most safest and protected spaces. Fidelity to text: 4 javelins Mark Gatiss took a very complex plot and distilled it to its essence. Quality of movie on its own: 4 javelins Interesting film choices, sumptuous score, and a reasonably […]
Teresa reviews “Mrs. McGinty’s Dead” (2006) and thinks it’s a worthwhile look at an isolated Poirot in a sad English village. Fidelity to text: 4 sugar hammers The usual compression to force a novel into a movie. The bigger change was amping up the character’s miserable personal lives. Quality of movie on its own: 4 […]
Teresa reviews “Taken at the Flood” (2006) and finds that the changes in time and plotting created a damp squib of an effect. Fidelity to text: 3 gas explosions The plot remains but the date change completely alters the characters and their motivations for the worse. Quality of movie on its own: 3 gas explosions […]
Teresa reviews “After the Funeral” (2006) and wishes they had reworked the painting so the plot made more sense. Fidelity to text: 4 hatchets Mostly minor changes, some of which made no sense. Quality of film on its own: 3½ hatchets It worked, but it dragged in spots. Murky motivation, overlooked clues, and missed opportunities. […]
Teresa reviews “Cards on the Table” (2006) and thinks they swapped decks in the middle of the production, making jokers out of us. Fidelity to text: 2½ stilettos The first two-thirds follows the text closely. Afterwards? This deck got reshuffled with another, mis-matched deck. Quality of movie on its own: 2½ stilettos Gorgeous sets, clothes, […]
Teresa reviews “The Mystery of the Blue Train” (2006) and wants a buy a ticket for the next trip to Nice, in the non-murdering section. Read more of Teresa’s Agatha Christie movie reviews at Peschel Press. Also, follow Teresa’s discussion of these movies on her podcast. Fidelity to text: 3 coshes Add attempted murder and […]
Teresa Peschel reviews “The Hollow” (2004) the Poirot episode starring David Suchet, and found it filling until the empty end. (Warning: Spoilers!) Read more of Teresa’s Agatha Christie movie reviews at Peschel Press. Also, follow Teresa’s discussion of these movies on her podcast. Fidelity to text: 3 revolvers Simplified, sometimes improved, an altered clue, and […]
Teresa reviews “Sad Cypress” (2003) and thought highly of this tale of hot and cold love, great expectations and poison most foul. Fidelity to text: 4 poison bottles Elinor’s not just in the dock; she’s convicted of murder so it’s a race against time. Quality of film on its own: 5 poison bottles Read more […]
Teresa reviews “Five Little Pigs” (2003) and thought it was one of the best of the Poirot adaptations. Fidelity to text: 4 poison bottles A more tragic death for Caroline, Philip Blake is gay (but you could make a case for it), we don’t see the painting, and added drama at the climax. Quality of […]
Teresa reviews “Sparkling Cyanide” (2003) and gives it a red card for unsportsmanlike plotting. Read more of Teresa’s Agatha Christie movie reviews at Peschel Press. Also, follow Teresa’s discussion of these movies on her podcast. Fidelity to text: 2 ½ glasses poisoned champagne A reverie from Iris’s point of view became a modern police procedural […]