Teresa Reviews “Mystery of the Hunter’s Lodge” (1991)
Fidelity to text: 2 1/2 revolvers
The murder and plot twist remain but everything else was enhanced, added, omitted, or otherwise changed.
Quality of movie on its own: 3 revolvers
We had to rewatch the opening sequence three times to figure out who was who. After that, it got better as long as you don’t think too closely about timing and identification.
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The scriptwriter performed major surgery on the short story. Poirot is still sick in bed, while Hastings performs the legwork but he’s sick because he accompanied Hastings to the moors on a grouse-hunting expedition and took a chill. This felt very unlike Poirot (not the getting sick part) but an explanation was provided. Freshly slaughtered red grouse are a rare gourmet treat, not one found in Belgium. Thus, we are treated to the sight of Poirot, bundled up and using earplugs, perched on a folding stool in the frozen wastelands of the Staffordshire moors while perusing what seems to be a pocket guide to cooking game birds.
Hastings, it seems, always has a friend around. In this case, the friend invited him to a grouse-hunting expedition and Poirot came along to eat the grouse. We’re introduced to a host of men in virtually identical overcoats, gumboots, and scarves. There are numerous ladies in fur coats but they soon disappear. Bill and I watched this sequence three times to figure out who was who.
I’ll spell out the important people so you don’t have to rewind repeatedly.
1) Harrington Pace, also referred to as Harry or Uncle Harry or Mr. Harry or Mr. Pace. He’s rich, he’s obnoxious, he keeps his other relatives (legitimate and illegitimate) on a tight leash. He gets murdered. Considering that he’s a war profiteer, a bad landlord, and cheated various partners, it’s a surprise it took so long for someone to murder him.
2) Roger Havering, also referred to as Roger or Mr. Roger, or that worthless nephew. Roger is Harrington’s nephew and in line to inherit piles of money. Roger gambles at the track and always loses. Roger does know how to shoot and handle rifles, an important consideration when hunting grouse. Roger is married to Zoe.
3) Archie Havering, also referred to as Archie, Mr. Archie, or that bolshie. Archie is another nephew and a destitute schoolteacher living in the local area. Harrington Pace demands that Archie oversee the hunting box in exchange for a chance at piles of money. Archie doesn’t know how to shoot or handle firearms, something made plain when he aims his rifle at his uncle while shooting at grouse. Archie somehow never learned that you never aim a rifle at someone unless you plan to shoot them. He does shoot Harrington by accident, wounding him in the hand.
4) Jack Stoddard, also referred to as Jack, Stoddard, or you idiot excuse for a gamekeeper. Jack is Harrington Pace’s bastard half-brother. Harrington keeps him on hand because he needs a gamekeeper he can control and underpay. Among other indignities, Jack wants to marry the housemaid, Joan, and out of sheer nastiness, Harrington won’t lend him the money to do so. Jack keeps two hunting dogs.
5) Zoe Havering, Roger’s wife. She’s a former actress. She also appears to be carrying on an affair with Archie, Roger’s cousin. Or not? There are plenty of scenes showing her flirting with Archie — in front of her husband! — yet once the script sets up their liaison, it never does anything with it.
6) Mrs. Middleton, housekeeper. A definite weak point in the film. As soon as you see her coke-bottle glasses and gray bun, you’ll think ‘disguise’.
There are also the local bobbies, two housemaids, and a railroad man named Mr. Anstruther. Mr. Anstruther is important because he owns a bicycle, stolen by the mysterious bearded man and then buried.
A lot of the plot made no sense at all. I get adding additional characters to flesh out a very short story with little action. I can understand adding plenty of red herrings. But please! If you set up what is obviously a torrid affair between two of the principals (Zoe and Archie) then give me some kind of conclusion. Archie falls of his bike when Zoe calls out to him from an upstairs window. He’s practically panting, whenever he and Zoe are in the same scene, yet nothing.
Why did Jack Stoddard arm himself and go outside late at night, leaving his faithful dogs behind? Was he planning on shooting Harrington Pace himself and someone else beat him to it? Was he poaching to supplement his meager salary? Again, a red herring set up with no explanation later on. Nothing. Nada.
The housemaids Joan and Ellie never noticed that Zoe Havering and Mrs. Middleton were never seen together? Housemaids notice that kind of thing, particularly when the housekeeper insists on leaving pointed notes instead of speaking to the maids in person. That’s weird; weird enough for them to comment on it to Poirot. Yet they didn’t spot that Zoe — Harrington Pace’s hostess — never conferred with the hired housekeeper and neither did Jack Stoddard or Archie Havering.
Why did Hastings question Archie in his school and then leave without an answer as to why Archie loathed his uncle, yet wouldn’t kill him?
Roger Havering providing rides to Joan the maid and to Mrs. Middleton was confusing. I had to watch this scene twice and I’m still not sure what the point of it was or what they were trying to say. I guess it was to provide alibies? Maybe?
It’s also hard to believe that the local bobbies and Japp (way out of his jurisdiction) didn’t question Mrs. Middleton not using the telephone at the hunting box to summon the police. Instead, she ran out into the night to have Stoddard do it. How she managed to find him when he was lurking in the dark with a rifle is a good question. She’s lucky she didn’t get shot.
Every time the episode got moving, something off happened, throwing me out of the show and saying ‘what’? Yet there was plenty to like such as Poirot in his sickbed or his scenes with Mr. Anstruther. The scenery is spectacular, if you like endless expanses of snow-draped moors. The hunting box is located in desolation central. You can smell the cold and the poverty. A hunting box, by the way, is what normal people call a mansion. It’s a large house, full of weaponry, and used only during the hunting season for local game animals; grouse in this case. There’s a lovely set piece of the beaters driving the grouse before them so the hunters can shoot them from within peat pillboxes.
There’s also the star of the show.
