Fidelity to real life: 2 hatchet jobs Agatha disappeared for 11 days. That’s a fact. She never discussed it so Doctor Who delivers the answer! No, this didn’t happen, but it’s far more realistic than that dreadful Vanessa Redgrave biopic. Quality of movie on its own: 5 hatchet jobs Give yourself license to laugh and […]
Fidelity to text: 2 1/2 sword canes Despite the title, most of the story came from the 1932 short story “The Mystery of the Bagdad Chest,” with elements from the 1960 rewrite novella The Mystery of the Spanish Chest, plus plot twists dreamed up by scriptwriter Anthony Horowitz. Quality of movie on its own: 4 […]
Fidelity to real life: 1 hatchet job Archie had an affair with Nancy Neele, Agatha disappeared in Harrogate for 11 days, the Christies divorced two years later, and Archie married Nancy afterwards. Everything else? Fiction. Quality of movie on its own: 1 hatchet job But only because the settings, costumes, and a period health spa […]
Fidelity to text: 2 jewel thieves A seven-page story got hugely reworked. Mood, tone, characters all got a make-over, including Poirot. He found a long-lost love and lost his moral compass. Quality of movie on its own: 2 jewel thieves They can’t all be gems. Wholesale changes often improve a nothing story into something suitable […]
This review of “Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?” (1980) ranks the movie in two categories. Fidelity to text: 5 cliff shoves Practically everything in the book is in the novel, other than explaining how a suspect is identified and turning a boring letter into a dramatic ending. Quality of movie on its own: 3 cliff […]
Fidelity to text: 3 rook rifles An entire rook flock of additions fluttered in, but most of them were suggested by the story itself. Quality of movie on its own: 4 1/2 rook rifles We really enjoyed this one, especially the added innkeeper. He flew in from an entirely different flock, the one that Ariadne […]
Fidelity to text: 3 stranglers The usual condensing of characters, revising the location, plus a sex-change and new occupations to ramp up the show biz aspects. But it’s all in service to the story. Quality of movie on its own: 4 stranglers although Bill wouldn’t agree This was a terrific bitch-fest; sharp, witty, caustic. Everyone […]
Fidelity to text: 2 1/2 poison bottles The story isn’t much: Poirot talks and John Harrison listens and a murder is prevented. Quality of movie on its own: 3 poison bottles Too many missed opportunities and there’s the distinct feeling throughout of the Precrime Department in Minority Report. Will they get it right? Do you […]
Fidelity to text: 4 1/2 poison bottles It’s very close, other than John Gielgud coming across as far more intelligent than Lord Caterham is supposed to be. Quality of movie on its own: 4 poison bottles Only if you’re in on the genre joke. If you don’t, you won’t enjoy the movie. Read more of […]
Fidelity to text: 3 knives It took lots of changes to turn this slight story into an episode-length Poirot. Most importantly, the victim Flossie Carrington is alive at the beginning of the story and that radically alters the tone of the ending. Quality of movie on its own: 5 knives Sad, moving, emotionally dark, and […]