Teresa reviews “The Case of the Discontented Soldier” (1982) from “The Agatha Christie Hour” and found it a charming romp, although she wished the couple had exhibited better chemistry. Fidelity to text: 3 treasure maps The film is greatly expanded over the short story by adding street urchins and giving Ariadne Oliver far more screen […]
Teresa reviews “Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb” (1993) and finds it cursed with missed opportunities. Fidelity to text: 3 Pharaoh’s curses Miss Lemon shows up to demonstrate her interest in the occult. The timing of events gets seriously messed up and Rupert gets a personality transplant. Quality of movie on its own: 2 1/2 Pharaoh’s […]
Teresa Reviews “The Fourth Man” (1982) and could not accept why anyone would put up with evil Annette Fidelity to text: 3 chokers There’s a lot more backstory for Annette, Félicie, and Raoul. Quality of movie on its own: 3 chokers It dragged. Worse, I couldn’t understand why Félicie and Raoul were so entranced by […]
This essay about Thomas Wolfe’s writers block cure was written for the sequel to “Writers Gone Wild,” “Writers Gone Wilder: The Sequeling” (or whatever it will be). Enjoy! It’s difficult to believe that Thomas Wolfe had writer’s block. This is the man whose first draft of Look Homeward, Angel clocked in at 330,000 words, and […]
Teresa reviews “One Two Buckle My Shoe” (1992) and finds the unfortunate opening spoils an otherwise faithful adaptation. Fidelity to text: 4 guns Dropped characters to streamline the text for film, a minor adjustment in date, and a very different opening that reveals critical aspects of the plot. Quality of movie on its own: 3 […]
Teresa reviews “Hercule Poirot’s Christmas” (1995) and found murder most foul a cheerful way to celebrate the holidays. Fidelity to text: 3 1/2 daggers The usual deletions and insertions, but there’s also two major unforced errors and no, I’m not including the prologue. Quality of movie on its own: 4 daggers Darned good right up […]
Teresa reviews “The Girl in the Train” (1982) and finds it not a patch on the original story. Fidelity to text: 4 damsels in distress Significantly expanded over the slight short story, but they flubbed a big part of George’s happy ending. Quality of movie on its own: 3 1/2 damsels in distress Too much […]
Teresa reviews Death in the Clouds (1992), a Poirot episode. Fidelity to text: 3 1/2 blow-gun darts Almost everything important remains except time wasted on tennis that would have been better served filming the baying reporters at the inquest. Agatha was both funny and perceptive about the press. Quality of movie on its own: 3 […]
Summary: Teresa reviews “The ABC Murders” (1992) and finds it a better, if slightly flawed version than the Tony Randall 1965 “comedy.” Fidelity to text: 4 blunt objects It’s very close to the novel; minor characters and subplots are replaced by a stuffed South American alligator (aka Cedric the caiman). Quality of movie on its […]
Teresa Reviews “In a Glass Darkly” (1982), an episode from The Agatha Christie Hour. Fidelity to text: 4 stranglers The story got fleshed out, most significantly with what Agatha was very familiar with but didn’t address per se: shellshock or as we call it, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Quality of movie on its own: 5 […]