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Agatha Christie's Poirot and Other Detective Fiction Discussion (Novels, Stories, Film, TV & Radio)

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  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,234
    Agent_Zero_One wrote: »
    Gerard wrote: »
    Not exactly in any order : Murder on the Links follows The Mysterious Affair at Styles, and is followed by The Big Four. And of course, Curtain comes last. Here's a list in chronological order, thanks to Wikipedia :

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercule_Poirot_in_literature#Books_in_chronological_order
    True, but what I mean is that, aside from Curtain, you lose nothing from reading them out of order.

    Indeed. Every novel is pretty much a standalone.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,234
    Anybody read Hallowe'en Party? It's meant to be one of Christine's weakest Poirots, but I quite enjoyed it. As mystery fiction, it may be a failure, but as almost horror, it's quite good. It has one of the scariest, twisted murderers of the novels.
  • Agent_Zero_OneAgent_Zero_One Ireland
    Posts: 554
    Ludovico wrote: »
    Anybody read Hallowe'en Party? It's meant to be one of Christine's weakest Poirots, but I quite enjoyed it. As mystery fiction, it may be a failure, but as almost horror, it's quite good. It has one of the scariest, twisted murderers of the novels.
    +1
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,234
    And with all its flaws, it struck me that Hallowe'en Party could be seen as a proto Twin Peaks in many ways: a small community hiding evil secrets, a mystery involving teenagers, some of them pretty amoral, multiple unresolved plotlines and even
    a murderer ready to kill his own daughter.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    I've always enjoyed a good murder and have read all the Miss Marple stories, along
    with a few of the Poirots'. It's great at the moment because the streaming service
    Britbox has all the series of Poirot and both the BBC and ITV versions of Miss Marple.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited January 2021 Posts: 18,348
    During 2020 I kept meaning to post about this Agatha Christie £2 coin which was produced to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the publication of her first novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) starring Hercule Poirot:

    https://www.royalmint.com/ourcoins/events/agatha-christie/
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Also through Britbox, I've discovered the joy of Fr Brown. I'd never given it much time before, but I find it very entertaining .
  • GerardGerard
    edited January 2021 Posts: 6,023
    And here's the new team from the french TV series Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie, who investigates during the '70s :

    B9725725921Z.1_20210105193125_000%2BGV0HBPMKI.2-0.jpg?itok=ar6jOMhv1609883276

    From left to right : Chloé Chaudois as Rose, a psychologist, Arthur Dupont as Max, a macho cop, and Émilie Gavois-Kahn as commissioner (in the french sense, which means she would be a captain in the US) Gréco, the chief of the team.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,234
    Rewatching Evil Under The Sun for the first time in decades. Very cheesy and not very good, in spite of a great cast. Ustinov is a fat buffoon as Poirot. But I think Nicholas Clay could have been a very interesting Bond. A shame he died tragically.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    I'm looking forward to the re-make of Death on the Nile due later this year with
    Kenneth Branagh ( and Moustache ) returning as Poirot.
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    edited April 2021 Posts: 25,441
    I rewatched Curtain a few nights ago, this episode gets better with subsequent viewing, a great finale for Suchet's Poirot. I also like The Labours of Hercules the penultimate episode in the last season, the villain is fantastic in that one.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Agreed about The Labours of Hercules, a brilliant story.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,234
    Anybody read The Big Four? It's Poirot doing Bond before Bond. A tad absurd and out of place for Poirot, but quite enjoyable.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,234
    A bit of real estate news: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-56774074.amp
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    I've order the DVD movie collection of Miss Marple. I know Margaret Rutherford
    is very different from how she's described in the books, but I've always loved her
    in the role. My next favourite was the late Geraldine McEwan, I always felt she
    Played Marple with a twinkle in her eye.
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 25,441
    Thunderpussy wrote: »
    I've order the DVD movie collection of Miss Marple. I know Margaret Rutherford
    is very different from how she's described in the books, but I've always loved her
    in the role. My next favourite was the late Geraldine McEwan, I always felt she
    Played Marple with a twinkle in her eye.

    Her films are great, I keep looking on Amazon Prime to see if her films are on offer.

    I have bought the majority of Christie content on Prime Video.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited April 2021 Posts: 16,624
    Britbox is great for Christie: they have all of the ITV (Suchet) Poirot and the complete and restored BBC Miss Marple starring Joan Hickson- for my money by far and away the best.

    Hugh Laurie is also writing and directing a new adaptation of Why Didn't They Ask Evans? for Britbox which seems very interesting.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Yes, I'm a fan of Britbox, some excellent stuff on there. Like you
    @Fire_and_Ice_Returns I too have been looking to see if the films
    are on offer, but they never seem to be. Although given my luck
    they'll most likely be reduced now that I've bought them. :D
  • GerardGerard
    Posts: 6,023
    About Marple and Poirot, there ws a crossover of sorts in the movie The Alphabet Murders :

  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    :)) I'll have to keep an eye out for that. For years I used the Miss Marple
    theme on my phone.
  • LegionnaireLegionnaire
    Posts: 142
    While I can’t really say that I am a fan of the Agatha Christie books, I did enjoy the recent Murder on the Orient Express movie with Kenneth Branagh. My father who introduced me to the Bond novels and films would occasionally send me copies of Bruce Montgomery books to keep me entertained as well. Montgomery published under the pseudonym of Edmond Crispin. His protagonist was Gervase Fen, a professor of English. Although Montgomery was an established composer of music, he wrote nine detective novels, and my favorite was titled The Moving Toyshop.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,624
    Yes I've got a copy of Moving Toyshop which I keep failing to finish: no problem with the book I just keep distracted! :) I need to have another go at
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    There's a great documentary on Britbox
    about 100 years of Agatha Christie.
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    edited December 2021 Posts: 25,441

    I was mixed on the first Brannagh reimagining though still bought it being a huge Christie fan, I am looking forward to the new film.
    French and Saunders reunited.

    ---
    Over Christmas I am going to rewatch my collection of Peter Ustinov films, it's been a couple of years.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,234
    I'm rewatching Murder on the Orient Express with Albert Finney as Poirot. I had forgotten how great he was in the role. And he was only 38 I think? Finney might actually have been the best Poirot ever. Or very close to David Suchet.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited January 2022 Posts: 18,348
    Ludovico wrote: »
    I'm rewatching Murder on the Orient Express with Albert Finney as Poirot. I had forgotten how great he was in the role. And he was only 38 I think? Finney might actually have been the best Poirot ever. Or very close to David Suchet.

    I have a French DVD of that film with an English dialogue track on it that I plan to watch very soon. I last saw the film in 2004, after reading the source novel back in 1999 so it'll be nice to see how much of it I remember. I remember it being very good and, as you say, Finney being excellent as Poirot. Of course Sean Connery stars as Colonel Arbuthnott too. It was also scripted by Paul Dehn who was one of the writers on Goldfinger. It's a very different sort of Poirot story and certainly one worth telling on film.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,234
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    Ludovico wrote: »
    I'm rewatching Murder on the Orient Express with Albert Finney as Poirot. I had forgotten how great he was in the role. And he was only 38 I think? Finney might actually have been the best Poirot ever. Or very close to David Suchet.

    I have a French DVD of that film with an English dialogue track on it that I plan to watch very soon. I last saw the film in 2004, after reading the source novel back in 1999 so it'll be nice to see how much of it I remember. I remember it being very good and, as you say, Finney being excellent as Poirot. Of course Sean Connery stars as Colonel Arbuthnott too. It was also scripted by Paul Dehn who was one if the writers on Goldfinger. It's a very different sort of Poirot story and certainly one worth telling on film.

    I've never read the original novel actually. Which is weird as I was at a time a big fan of Agatha Christie. Finney is great showing Poirot's mannerisms and quirks, always keeping his dignity (something Ustinov utterly lacked), subtly revealing his cunning. He might be the most complete Poirot. I love so many little details that reveal the character. Like when he says, learning thar the husband of a gorgeous woman is the jealous type: "Thank God we are older men." Or something like that. It says a lot: Poirot is older, wiser, celibate, yet he can appreciate beauty.

    I find it a bit sad Finney only ever played in one Bond film. I would have loved to see him as different characters (allies, villains), with different Bond actors.
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 25,441
    maxresdefault.jpg
    Just finished the three part mini series, I thoroughly enjoyed it very well directed by Hugh Laurie. Going in I was not familiar with the story despite there being a few earlier adaptions, one adaption was changed into a Marple mystery. Lucy Boynton was star of the show, incredibly talented actress amongst a star studded cast.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,234
    Fire_and_Ice_Returns wrote: »
    maxresdefault.jpg
    Just finished the three part mini series, I thoroughly enjoyed it very well directed by Hugh Laurie. Going in I was not familiar with the story despite there being a few earlier adaptions, one adaption was changed into a Marple mystery. Lucy Boynton was star of the show, incredibly talented actress amongst a star studded cast.
    Need to watch that.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited May 2022 Posts: 18,348
    Did anybody see the new Kenneth Branagh Poirot film of Death on the Nile in the cinema earlier in the year? I meant to go but didn't get around to it sadly.

    Edit: Looking at the reviews it seems I made the right decision!
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