The ABC Murders

[Carlyrichards]

Anyone watching? I like Rupert Grint in this.

He also now has no reason to know Hastings.

Thank heavens for that. I've always found Friend Hasting a PITA.

I love Hastings!!

I’ve always thought David Suchet’s Poirot was ridiculously twee but this was waaay too dark for me. I hope they don’t start tinkering with Miss Marple next.

We'll have to agree to differ Noggy

fleas - Miss Marple was almost destroyed for me when Julia Mackenzie played her - totally miscast.

Of the telly versions, I like Joan Hickson.

I didn't like it at all - I hated the priest back story and missed Christie's twinkley-eyed detective who had humour even if he was pompous.

I missed the glamour too. I love 1939s Art Deco glamour and I usually love the women character's outfits. This adaptation was grim.

re Hastings. Every good detective needs a foil though don't they?

Agree re Joan Hickson - that series will never be bettered IMHO. She was the perfect Miss M - outwardly sweet and slightly dizzy, inwardly the greatest crime-detecting mastermind that ever lived. The whole thing was just the right balance of enjoyable and absolutely bloody terrifyingly sinister.

Do you remember the theme music, and it showed scenes of bucolic village life - but in the close-ups, all the characters had evil, twisted faces?! Shudder!!

Sorry for going off topic

Shirley Henderson always over eggs the pudding. I just laugh when I see her in anything. She plays too weird.

Shirley Henderson was just crazy as the landlady. Mad hair, weird lipstick, strange voice. Just over the top.

The re-writing of all the female characters was very misogynistic

Interesting view. I thought Megan and Lily were fully fleshed out characters. Both had heart

They were given a final redeeming moment. In the book Lily was a nice, kind ordinary young woman. She was not a downtrodden prostitute being pimped out by her mother. Her mother was not a drunken pimp of anyone.

Megan was an intelligent, independent young woman who lived away from home- not the jilted, over-looked frump they made her.

Betty was a shallow flirt who was cheating on Donald but she wasn't a greedy, grabby, ill-mannered tart (I'm using that word in the context of how they portrayed her, it's not a word I would use normally)

Thora was not a conniving, scheming gold-digger.

Shirley Henderson always over eggs the pudding. I just laugh when I see her in anything. She plays too weird.

Agreed. I only recently watched "Southcliffe" and although her performance in that was widely praised, I found her almost unwatchable. Just so over the top.

Can’t stand Shirley Henderson in anything. Too weird, too muttery. (I feel mean now, she’s probably a lovely woman.)

You are so right about Joan Hickson, Schaden, incomparable. Agatha Christie approved too. A far cry from dear old Margaret Rutherford who was madly entertaining in her way but someone must have been seriously off their tits when they cast her.

The Margaret Rutherford films should be called "Carry On Detecting" as that's the vibe they give off.

Agree about Shirley Henderson. She gives the same performance in absolutely everything. Always a muttering loon with eyes rolling out of her head.

The Margaret Rutherford films should be called "Carry On Detecting" as that's the vibe they give off.

I was reared on those. Why is there not a channel showing exclusively black and white British films? I’d never leave the house.

Sorry to derail...

But I guess there's a niche for it as she seems to have been in constant work for years and years. So good for her, I suppose.

@Myimaginaryreindeerhasfleas do you have access to Talking Pictures? They quite often show the Rutherford Miss M films

I do, PrivateEggnog! Why didn’t I think of that!

I've just binged watched this. Agree with many other posters - as an AC adaptation it was disappointing - the BBC should have commissioned an original drama with a priest/refugee detective and a political bent if that's what they wanted. I would definitely watch that, especially with such a strong cast - I thought that Rupert Grint was superb, Tara Fitzgerald as well. Bronwyn James was excellent (despite her character Megan being rewritten). Loved the baddie too. And the chap who played Cust - what a talent - I really sensed his fear at the railway.

The business with the boil and the egg was ridiculous. Same with the chamber pot and the S&M scenes. It smacked of someone desperate to make AC "gritty". Again, get something original written if "gritty" is the aim.

Thora was not a conniving, scheming gold-digger. [in the book]
Actually, Poirot certainly thought she was. He asked her whether she would have married Sir Carmichael Clarke if his wife had died, and she said no, but he didn’t believe her.
In the final chapter:
“ ’You hardly spared my feelings,’ said Thora Grey.
‘I do not fancy you returned me a truthful answer, mademoiselle,’ said Poirot dryly.
‘And now your second expectation is disappointed. Franklin Clarke will not inherit his brother’s money.’"
She flung up her head.
‘Is there any need for me to stay here and be insulted?’
‘None whatever,’ said Poirot and held the door open politely for her.”

@PrivateEggnog I totally agree about Joan Hickson's miss Marple. Geraldine McKewan ones were all to glamorous. The clothes were far to posh for a rural village in the early 50's. I've got all the Hickson ones on DVD. Will have to dig them out again!

The Joan Hickson series captured totally the feel of the character and the novels. Geraldine M seemed to be slightly sending it up, and Julia M was a bit too pleasant and bland. And Margaret Rutherford's films were just silly comedies.

True Rusty but if she was, it wasn't laboured the way here and she wasn't complicit in the way they made her here.

The Margaret Rutherford films should be called "Carry On Detecting" as that's the vibe they give off

I agree, Noggy - but my word - I luffs her! But you are right - she is a comic turn.

Why is there not a channel showing exclusively black and white British films? I’d never leave the house.

That's exactly why fleas.

Millions of British Wimmin would be engrossed in front of the telly, weeping at Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard, chortling at Margaret Rutherford and Alistair Sim, sighing over Errol Flynn . . .

. . . there wouldn't be a pot washed until the men got home from work and of, course, without wimmin in the workplace, the economy would collapse - Oh! Wait . . .

I've got all the MR Miss Marples on DVD, and treat myself occasionally - they're a brilliant bit of fluff to enjoy on a rainy afternoon.