Fidelity to text: 1 cat Yes, cats. A cat serves as the first murder weapon followed by a hatpin in this extremely loose interpretation of After the Funeral, a Hercule Poirot novel. What’s that you shrieked? Margaret Rutherford is portraying Miss Marple in a Poirot novel!? Yes, and that’s just the beginning of the changes. […]
Fidelity to text: 3 1/2 guns Benedict Farley and his business got the most changes, but they enhance the story. The murder is more plausible as well; no stuffed cats are involved. The police inspector transforms into Japp, and Hastings and Miss Lemon are added. And of course, the scriptwriter provided the now obligatory chase […]
Fidelity to text: 2 1/2 garottes The film closely follows the murder plot in The 4:50 From Paddington but changes everything else. Several major characters are dispensed with, while a new one is added: Mr. Stringer, librarian/accomplice (played by Margaret Rutherford’s real-life husband). Quality of movie on its own: 4 garottes If you can overlook […]
Fidelity to text: 3 blunt objects. The basic story is intact, but the changes weaken the conflict, motivations, and even the mystery. They also weaken the characters because there’s no reason to care about Valerie Saintclair’s dilemmas. I certainly didn’t care. Quality of film on its own: 3 blunt objects. It’s serviceable, like the many, […]
Fidelity to the stage play: 4 blunt objects The film added flashbacks, meetings, and most of all, fleshed out Sir Wilfred’s character and added Nurse Plimsoll, doing her darnedest to manage a cantankerous patient. Quality of movie on its own: 5 blunt objects What a stunner; it’s beautifully shot, acted, paced, tightly scripted with snappy […]
20Booksto50K A Facebook group started in 2016 by Michael Anderle and run by Craig Martelle and a cadre of volunteers focusing on the business side of indie writing. Members (52,000 in July 2021) freely share information about revenues, ad campaigns, publishing advice, successes and failures. Known for its rigid enforcement of its no-self-promotion policy. The […]
Fidelity to text: 4 spies. It’s very close. The primary change (besides adding a chase scene because what is a movie without car chases?) is removing a few characters and substituting for them Captain Hastings, Chief Inspector Japp, and Miss Lemon. The stolen plans change slightly too, but since most of us can’t tell a […]
Fidelity to text: 2 1/2 garrotes. Like the 1937 version, this film was freely adapted from Agatha’s short story Philomel Cottage and Frank Vesper’s stage play of the same name. Names, behaviors, even the time setting got reworked and the opening is wildly different. Quality of film on its own: 3 garrotes. It could have […]
The 4th of July weekend was the perfect time to hold Local Author Day at Cupboard Maker Books, even if it was part of an extraordinarily busy day for us. We wanted to participate in the Central Pennsylvania Romance Writers meeting (of which Michelle leads), so we got up earlier than usual. Since the LAD […]
Fidelity to text: 3 knives. Captain Hastings appears to arrange clay pigeon shooting competitions on board, along with several additional passengers. Subplots to further confuse the mystery are added to pad out the story. The altered ending, implausible as it is, is far more plausible than the short story. Quality of film on its own: […]