The Duchess of Malfi is a very famous even notorious play. Many people are familiar with it not just "British theatre buffs". A tiny bit of research would have told you that upper class and above nurseries were usually at the top of the house (third floor or more). The bars were on the windows to keep the children from falling out when the window was open for ventilation.
Hickson's version is probably my favourite Christie adapation of all time. The book is pretty good too, who was the murderer was too obvious but apart from that it was a decent story
Totally agree , Joan Hickson has portrayed Miss Marple so much better than anyone else ...I still cringe at Helen Hayes portrayal of Miss Marple in " A Caribbean Mystery " truly awful
I haven't seen any adaptation with Joan Hickson yet. I'll probably have to find some illegal site with them. So far have only seen McEwan and McKenzie, and the later one is my favourite. When I read the books I imagine Marple as portrayed by her
@oskarm646 I'm unsure what Country you're in but the Joan Hickson versions were produced in the 1980s and 1990s ,screened on the BBC and exported to many other Countries, the episodes were released on video then DVD and should be available on some cable networks " drama " in the UK regularly screen's these episodes
Thank you all for watching! It was a lot of fun and I'm glad people enjoyed my commentary and weren't too disappointed that the special guest was Miles's sister and not another RUclipsr 😅. When he told me he teased it I was like "Oh no I'm gonna be such a let down" 🤣
I think you are supposed to care more about Gwenda and Giles than about Helen, per se. But even so, perhaps older audiences didn't need faces and flashbacks in order to care.... considering that they learned to care about people in books, who had no faces to begin with.
Bars on the nursery window: Not sure if this was ever a thing in American houses but, in older British houses (like the one I'm currently living in), windows open by lifting up from the bottom and lift high enough for even a 5-year-old to climb out. So, I'd guess the bars were to stop adventurous kids from falling one or more stories.
The Yellow Wallpaper, written by American author Charlotte Perkins Gilman, starts by describing the bars on a bedroom, which the narrator supposes means it used to be a nursery, so it must have been familiar to US audiences. Speaking of misogyny, the story's author was making a very on the nose point by having a grown woman in a room that was either a nursery or some kind of cell (there are hints the room wasn't a nursery and that someone was locked up there).
I remember reading the book and finding it frightening. Something in the feeling of knowing the house inside out with no memory of living there. Also remembering murder and the line from a play but NOT the murderers identity. Is it the fear of unknown that so cleverly plays in murder mysteries and reels us in? Good review, very well done and happy that your sister was part of it! Do come back!
Most of the episodes discussed are on BritBox. The one with Joan always has my vote. It may not be as exciting as the newer version, but closer to the story as written. Some of the versions of her books are so far off the story line they should have just written their own story.
Being old enough to have seen both adaptations when they originally came out, I think I can see the differences at the different times they aired. My mother was a big fan and I started reading her books in the '50s. Joan Hickson was wonderful as miss Marple, but there was always something not quite true to her character as described in the books. In the books Miss Marple is an old lady who easy to talk to, feminine, and a little dim. No one would suspect how clever she is under her quiet demeanor. All three of the 'Miss Marples' other than Geraldine McEwan were shown as smart and more business like, not unspecting at all. I always thought that people thinking that Miss Marple was a little dim was the key to her success. So, although I enjoyed the 'Hicks' version of "Sleeping Murder" very much, I thought the movie a little camp. I enjoyed the newer version much more. To me, not to take away Joan Hicks version, I always thought that Geraldine McEwan looked more the part of Miss Marple that was described in Christie's books.
I actually agree with you on this. My theory is that given that, like Kennedy and Helen, we're half-siblings with a large age gap, that didn't even occur to Miles. I see this as a positive 😬
I watched both films! I was introduced to Miss Marple with book, The Sleeping Murder as a Christmas gift. I still have the book, to this day! Still love the first one, better! As a young child, watching British mystery TV shows and/ or movies. AC's books: still like to read them from times to times: Miss Marple and Hercule P. are my favorite characters.
I just discovered your channel. Congratulations and thank you! I am a life-long (literally) fan of Agatha Christie (the books and the adaptations). I learned to love Agatha Christie from my Mom (RIP 🙏🏽) and I am starting to watch and really enjoy your videos!
I disagree with a lot of what you say. I thought Gwenda’s scream was one of the greatest I’ve heard in TV, and was quite unnerving to the audience. Why would they take out the quote in the play that terrified her? That’s ridiculous. You don’t need a face for Helen. Pay attention and use your own imagination. The McEwan version changed things drastically. You live in a different world from AG’s characters so bars on a window are not necessarily to keep people out. The Hickson version is perfection.
IMO, Sleeping Murder is a very flawed book, with all the suspects except the murderer being very underdeveloped. I guessed the killer, simply because you can trust Christie to give her murderer at least an adequate amount of characterisation. None of the red herrings in the book came to life, and I scratched them from my suspect list once I realised this. The Hickson version, being so close to the book, has similar problems. So I prefer the McEwan version this time (which is not often the case). These characters were fun to watch and lively. I do agree that it doesn't emphasize enough the tragedy of Helen's life, but I also think, just like with Nemesis, that the sexual undertones regarding the murderer's motivation are in the book. Or it's at least suggested enough, that it doesn't come totally out of nowhere.
It's so interesting to me that so many people prefer the McEwan version and don't like the book! I think it was one of the fastest Agatha reads for me, and I get bored easily cause of my ADHD. Typically, I need a super fast pace. I think to some degree it may be the content -- just how haunting it is and also for me a fairly relatable main character. I agree with you on the sexual undertones though. I actually disagree with my brother on that. You think the undertone in Nemesis is sexual though? I can kinda see it, but I definitely get it more strongly from Sleeping Murder. Wait...I just realized he's my significantly older half brother, just like Helen and Kennedy 😬. Maybe that's why he didn't sense it? Couldn't easily fathom it? Does that make it weird that we did this one together? Happy to report we have a very normal, supportive sibling relationship 😅
Totally, Clotilde in Nemesis seems to have had implicit lesbian desires for her charge verity. The Hickson film really hints at this too, the way her sisters exchange knowing glances, and tiptoe around the subject.
Hey Miles! Loved the comparisons. Out of curiosity, have you seen the new full trailer for Haunting in Venice? I'm having a whole lot of mixed feelings about it. On the one hand this movie clearly hasn't got much, if anything, to do with the book it's adapting. But on the other, it looks like a really solid faux supernatural thriller and is doing some things with the characters I'm actually really fascinated by. I'm going by what I've gleened via the trailers and the cast list. First Both Ferrier and Olga Seminoff are in the movie and not as flashback characters(at least Ferrier is actually not dead, he's part of the seance party, not sure about Olga), Rowena Drake appears to have been blended with Judith Butler and maybe Mrs. Reynolds too, as her dead daughter is the focus of said seance so it feels like some vague shadow of Miranda is going to be the cold murder here. Leopold is Ferrier's son here. Tina Fey is playing Ariadne Oliver, so it's nice to see she didn't get cut out of the movie. The most fascinating bit to me is that Michele Yeoh is playing JOYCE REYNOLDS. Yes, instead of a lying child we're getting (I'm guessing) a fraudulent psychic of some sort. Again, clearly not the book at all, but I can't say I'm not curious about it, and it does actually look pretty effectively creepy. Thoughts?
That's an interesting set of character rearrangements, though not surprising after the Nile kerfuffle. At this point, to me it's more confusing than intriguing. What does interest me is that while it seems they're keeping the solve-the-murder-in-the-past-to-solve-the-present aspect, they're also making this a closed circle mystery (see Poirot saying something about nobody leaving till the case is solved). Those two things don't seem like they'd go together.
@@MysteryMiless kind of like a lazy Five Little Pigs. Instead if traveling all over to find the suspects to talk to, Poirot just gets them all in one place to interview them lol. I feel like the idea is supposed be that everyone at the seance is somehow Connected to original death. As everyone is already there, they can keep it closed circle. I feel like that part is to connect it to the previous 2 movies which were also closed circle mysteries.
Please take this as the complement it's meant as, but Miles, Johanna, you look like characters out of a Christie novel. Miles you look like Poirot's buddy that asks him to look into the weird goings on at the Haverforth house, and Johanna looks like the young woman who Poirot hooks up with the nebbishy young writer (Sees Johanna's husband) I somehow got MORE correct.
Miles chose some pictures of me with some particularly moody looks I've had over the years, so I don't think I always look quite so distinctive, but I'll take it as a compliment nonetheless. The first one he used was one where I intentionally dressed to look like Sabrina from the Netflix show, which is why I'm holding my dear, departed black cat named Rogue. P.S. My husband is a lab scientist. I'm actually a writer (journalist). ☺
It's been years since I read the book, but I don't remember Helen being "faithless" . (Although some people certainly described her that way, but that was theiir issue.) Maybe I'm forgetting something.
that was fun. I realisThere's anothe re I wasn't satisfies with either version although I am particularly fond of Geraldine. there is another good pair about the London grand hotel..Bertrams I think...
Insightful and entertaining as ever. Please invite your sister back for future videos, y'all's sibling energy came through nicely and I agreed with her points on the film elements like music, voice over, and flashbacks. As always, excited for your next one.
For me Gerarldine McEwan is my favorite Miss Marple. Theres this twinkle in her eyes and a cheekiness about her that suggests she is more than just a scatty old lady. Problem is, they tweaked alot of things in her version, like in the Body in the library, the couple is changed etc. But I still do think some scenes of hers are very well done. Like in A Murder is Announced, when she sees the clothes line being bent, she literally goes running in the rain to check on the woman.
This AC story had a good premise but was full of problems in execution. It's very far-fetched that Gwenda finds the exact same house where she saw a murder many years ago and then goes to a play connected to it. It also comes off as out of character from Miss Marple to first tell Gwenda and Giles to not investigate when in The Moving Finger she basically encouraged facing dangers. It's also her attitude in all the books. And when she later on discovers the truth, it was at least irresponsible not to warn Gwenda about the killer.
The Hickson version is faithful to the book - and - has Joan Hickson - the best Marple ever. It irritates me when the adapttions change Christie's books.
For once, I don't have a whole essay in comment! Just a few random thoughts... First, welcome Susanna! Guests are an exciting development, and I hope we have more of them, including you again! I've always found it a shame that Christie's last two books weren't really her best, and slightly surprising because when they were written, Christie was still at the height of her powers (or near enough), but they do fit in with her later books, which mostly show her at the low ebb of her powers. Sleeping Murder IS better than Curtain by a mile, though. As for the adaptions, I mostly agree with the Ledoux assessment: Hickson's is more faithful, while McEwan's has more life. I like both well enough, without a preference for one over the other, which is unusual for Hickson vs. McEwan. The changes in McEwan are mostly rather wacky (a vaudeville act?!), but at least inject some energy. I agree that Hickson's is just unimaginative and uninspiring. I would, as I so often do and as my fellow commenters have also said, push back about the incestuous angle being a real change. I think it's very subtextually implied in the original, just, as the more modern adaptations tend to, made much more textual.
Strongly disagree about Curtain. Christie has created a perfect murderer in it, which couldn't be brought to justice in lawful manner. And Poirot's mental struggle in it was described very well, even better than what he endured in the Orient Express case.
This is going to sound sacrilegious, but I much prefer the McKeown version. The Hickson version was too close to the book for my liking. I always found the book very boring and is the book I have read the least. I always believe that an adaption should try and stay faithful to the book BUT it must bring something to the table or why adapt the material? The flashback help us a viewers get a grip on the two most important characters Gwenda's father and stepmother by showing not telling. It reminds me of the TV adaption of Asimov's Foundation books. The books only show us the scenarios from The Foundation's point of view. The original books were really excepts from the Encyclopaedia Galactica and as everyone knows, history is written by the victors. The TV adaptation brings to the table The Empire view which made me completely revaluate the original books. This is what a good adaption should do. The Hickson version is too book accurate for my taste. Imho Hickson is the best Marple but I wish the BBC playwrights had taken more risks with their novel adaptations.
why adapt? to make the book visual. No need to change more than necessary for the time involved. I really HATE liberties taken with books that are excellent, I go to see an adaptation to "see" the book. If I was Christie I would sue the people who changed the story. Fortunately she couldn't see the horrible messes made sometimes with her books. Go write your own story and film it!!!!
8 месяцев назад+1
Nah, I disagree the novel is about misogyny. The way that brother was so possessive, adoring and passionate about her... the first thing I thought when I read it and again when I watched both adaptations was "this guy is too attached, like a boyfriend". The repressed sexual attraction is all over the place. He doesn't say anything about her being loose. You could think she was a bit naive or a socialite for running off with another man but nothing else. And in the end, she didn't run. She was fine with her new family but he didn't want her with anybody else and killed her. Again, a very repressed romantic/sexual reaction. Not a brotherly one. Definitely not one from war time Britain.
I studied the Duchess of Malfi at Universtiy, Because of this when I read the book I immediately knew that the stepbrother was the murderer, Nothing modern about incest , Alive and kicking in Webster's Tudor or Jacobean England, Strangely I wasn't put off by the inside knowledge I had. The book was great anyway. And... the Joan Hickson version is the only one to watch. The later one is in many ways a travesty
Geraldine McEwan was a dreadful Miss Marple. She acted the part as if she was mentally deranged. The stupid clothes she wore, utterly ridiculous. So bad in the part, and portrait of Miss Marple was awful. I refused to watch it and I’m a huge fan of Miss Marple.
I agree… I totally disliked the Marple series with McEwan. No one holds a candle to Joan Hickson’s Miss Marple. McEwan’s version did remind me of a batty old lady and Miss Marple was far from that.
The female commentator (with the dreadful ear-drum grinding vocal fry) in this video has no concept of how screenplay and cinematographic conventions have changed over the years. Comparing the two adaptations is like comparing apples and oranges. Whining about ‘missed opportunities’ shows this. It was a different style and a different era. Joan Hickson’s Miss Marple is more of a theatrical play. It also relies on the viewers being able to be grown-ups and to concentrate for more than five minutes without flashbacks and prompts yelling at them *”THIS* IS XYZ CHARACTER WE MENTIONED A FEW MINUTES AGO!!”
The Duchess of Malfi is a very famous even notorious play. Many people are familiar with it not just "British theatre buffs". A tiny bit of research would have told you that upper class and above nurseries were usually at the top of the house (third floor or more). The bars were on the windows to keep the children from falling out when the window was open for ventilation.
Joan Hickson and her tv series was so much better than the others.
True.
Hickson's version is probably my favourite Christie adapation of all time. The book is pretty good too, who was the murderer was too obvious but apart from that it was a decent story
In my opinion, Joan Hickson IS Miss Marple, and Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie are nosy, elderly ladies, but NOT Miss Marple.
Totally agree , Joan Hickson has portrayed Miss Marple so much better than anyone else ...I still cringe at Helen Hayes portrayal of Miss Marple in " A Caribbean Mystery " truly awful
I haven't seen any adaptation with Joan Hickson yet. I'll probably have to find some illegal site with them. So far have only seen McEwan and McKenzie, and the later one is my favourite. When I read the books I imagine Marple as portrayed by her
@oskarm646 I'm unsure what Country you're in but the Joan Hickson versions were produced in the 1980s and 1990s ,screened on the BBC and exported to many other Countries, the episodes were released on video then DVD and should be available on some cable networks " drama " in the UK regularly screen's these episodes
@@garykelly6669 I live in Poland, so I don't have an access to BritBox etc. :/
Same with Angela Lansbury. Joan is Jane. No one else. I have the Miss Marple collection with Ms Hickson and watch the individual mysteries often.
I love the Hickson version. Its more atmospheric, and the music is wonderful imo
Thank you all for watching! It was a lot of fun and I'm glad people enjoyed my commentary and weren't too disappointed that the special guest was Miles's sister and not another RUclipsr 😅. When he told me he teased it I was like "Oh no I'm gonna be such a let down" 🤣
I think you are supposed to care more about Gwenda and Giles than about Helen, per se. But even so, perhaps older audiences didn't need faces and flashbacks in order to care.... considering that they learned to care about people in books, who had no faces to begin with.
Bars on the nursery window:
Not sure if this was ever a thing in American houses but, in older British houses (like the one I'm currently living in), windows open by lifting up from the bottom and lift high enough for even a 5-year-old to climb out. So, I'd guess the bars were to stop adventurous kids from falling one or more stories.
The Yellow Wallpaper, written by American author Charlotte Perkins Gilman, starts by describing the bars on a bedroom, which the narrator supposes means it used to be a nursery, so it must have been familiar to US audiences.
Speaking of misogyny, the story's author was making a very on the nose point by having a grown woman in a room that was either a nursery or some kind of cell (there are hints the room wasn't a nursery and that someone was locked up there).
I remember reading the book and finding it frightening. Something in the feeling of knowing the house inside out with no memory of living there. Also remembering murder and the line from a play but NOT the murderers identity. Is it the fear of unknown that so cleverly plays in murder mysteries and reels us in?
Good review, very well done and happy that your sister was part of it! Do come back!
Oh yes, I always found it scary too - it almost had this athmosphere of a horror novel.
Most of the episodes discussed are on BritBox. The one with Joan always has my vote. It may not be as exciting as the newer version, but closer to the story as written. Some of the versions of her books are so far off the story line they should have just written their own story.
Being old enough to have seen both adaptations when they originally came out, I think I can see the differences at the different times they aired. My mother was a big fan and I started reading her books in the '50s. Joan Hickson was wonderful as miss Marple, but there was always something not quite true to her character as described in the books. In the books Miss Marple is an old lady who easy to talk to, feminine, and a little dim. No one would suspect how clever she is under her quiet demeanor. All three of the 'Miss Marples' other than Geraldine McEwan were shown as smart and more business like, not unspecting at all. I always thought that people thinking that Miss Marple was a little dim was the key to her success. So, although I enjoyed the 'Hicks' version of "Sleeping Murder" very much, I thought the movie a little camp. I enjoyed the newer version much more. To me, not to take away Joan Hicks version, I always thought that Geraldine McEwan looked more the part of Miss Marple that was described in Christie's books.
Honestly, I always got incest vibes from the brother, even in the book XD
I actually agree with you on this. My theory is that given that, like Kennedy and Helen, we're half-siblings with a large age gap, that didn't even occur to Miles. I see this as a positive 😬
@@susannahsudborough672😂
I got vibes that the brother had an incestuous interest (she did not share).
I watched both films! I was introduced to Miss Marple with book, The Sleeping Murder as a Christmas gift. I still have the book, to this day! Still love the first one, better! As a young child, watching British mystery TV shows and/ or movies. AC's books: still like to read them from times to times: Miss Marple and Hercule P. are my favorite characters.
I just discovered your channel. Congratulations and thank you! I am a life-long (literally) fan of Agatha Christie (the books and the adaptations). I learned to love Agatha Christie from my Mom (RIP 🙏🏽) and I am starting to watch and really enjoy your videos!
I disagree with a lot of what you say. I thought Gwenda’s scream was one of the greatest I’ve heard in TV, and was quite unnerving to the audience. Why would they take out the quote in the play that terrified her? That’s ridiculous. You don’t need a face for Helen. Pay attention and use your own imagination. The McEwan version changed things drastically. You live in a different world from AG’s characters so bars on a window are not necessarily to keep people out. The Hickson version is perfection.
I thoroughly agree. I saw the BBC version as a kid in 1987. Its creepy atmosphere was compelling.
Yay, you’re going back to old Agatha Christie stories when she was starting her career, I hope sometime in the near future, you’ll do her first book!
IMO, Sleeping Murder is a very flawed book, with all the suspects except the murderer being very underdeveloped. I guessed the killer, simply because you can trust Christie to give her murderer at least an adequate amount of characterisation. None of the red herrings in the book came to life, and I scratched them from my suspect list once I realised this.
The Hickson version, being so close to the book, has similar problems. So I prefer the McEwan version this time (which is not often the case). These characters were fun to watch and lively. I do agree that it doesn't emphasize enough the tragedy of Helen's life, but I also think, just like with Nemesis, that the sexual undertones regarding the murderer's motivation are in the book. Or it's at least suggested enough, that it doesn't come totally out of nowhere.
It's so interesting to me that so many people prefer the McEwan version and don't like the book! I think it was one of the fastest Agatha reads for me, and I get bored easily cause of my ADHD. Typically, I need a super fast pace. I think to some degree it may be the content -- just how haunting it is and also for me a fairly relatable main character.
I agree with you on the sexual undertones though. I actually disagree with my brother on that. You think the undertone in Nemesis is sexual though? I can kinda see it, but I definitely get it more strongly from Sleeping Murder.
Wait...I just realized he's my significantly older half brother, just like Helen and Kennedy 😬. Maybe that's why he didn't sense it? Couldn't easily fathom it? Does that make it weird that we did this one together?
Happy to report we have a very normal, supportive sibling relationship 😅
I liked that she didn't marry the probable husband either.. My least favourite as far as plot goes.
Totally, Clotilde in Nemesis seems to have had implicit lesbian desires for her charge verity. The Hickson film really hints at this too, the way her sisters exchange knowing glances, and tiptoe around the subject.
One of the finest and wisest videos on YT on any subject. Imperative for every concerned citizen.
Hey can I please know from where did you get the clip for the video? Is it a movie?
Hey Miles! Loved the comparisons.
Out of curiosity, have you seen the new full trailer for Haunting in Venice? I'm having a whole lot of mixed feelings about it. On the one hand this movie clearly hasn't got much, if anything, to do with the book it's adapting. But on the other, it looks like a really solid faux supernatural thriller and is doing some things with the characters I'm actually really fascinated by. I'm going by what I've gleened via the trailers and the cast list. First Both Ferrier and Olga Seminoff are in the movie and not as flashback characters(at least Ferrier is actually not dead, he's part of the seance party, not sure about Olga), Rowena Drake appears to have been blended with Judith Butler and maybe Mrs. Reynolds too, as her dead daughter is the focus of said seance so it feels like some vague shadow of Miranda is going to be the cold murder here. Leopold is Ferrier's son here. Tina Fey is playing Ariadne Oliver, so it's nice to see she didn't get cut out of the movie. The most fascinating bit to me is that Michele Yeoh is playing JOYCE REYNOLDS. Yes, instead of a lying child we're getting (I'm guessing) a fraudulent psychic of some sort. Again, clearly not the book at all, but I can't say I'm not curious about it, and it does actually look pretty effectively creepy. Thoughts?
That's an interesting set of character rearrangements, though not surprising after the Nile kerfuffle. At this point, to me it's more confusing than intriguing. What does interest me is that while it seems they're keeping the solve-the-murder-in-the-past-to-solve-the-present aspect, they're also making this a closed circle mystery (see Poirot saying something about nobody leaving till the case is solved). Those two things don't seem like they'd go together.
@@MysteryMiless kind of like a lazy Five Little Pigs. Instead if traveling all over to find the suspects to talk to, Poirot just gets them all in one place to interview them lol. I feel like the idea is supposed be that everyone at the seance is somehow Connected to original death. As everyone is already there, they can keep it closed circle. I feel like that part is to connect it to the previous 2 movies which were also closed circle mysteries.
Please take this as the complement it's meant as, but Miles, Johanna, you look like characters out of a Christie novel. Miles you look like Poirot's buddy that asks him to look into the weird goings on at the Haverforth house, and Johanna looks like the young woman who Poirot hooks up with the nebbishy young writer
(Sees Johanna's husband)
I somehow got MORE correct.
Miles chose some pictures of me with some particularly moody looks I've had over the years, so I don't think I always look quite so distinctive, but I'll take it as a compliment nonetheless. The first one he used was one where I intentionally dressed to look like Sabrina from the Netflix show, which is why I'm holding my dear, departed black cat named Rogue.
P.S. My husband is a lab scientist. I'm actually a writer (journalist). ☺
The Joan Hickson version is the best. She is the best Marple.
It's been years since I read the book, but I don't remember Helen being "faithless" . (Although some people certainly described her that way, but that was theiir issue.) Maybe I'm forgetting something.
I LOVE Sophia Myles, that's why I don't mind this adaptation
that was fun. I realisThere's anothe re I wasn't satisfies with either version although I am particularly fond of Geraldine. there is another good pair about the London grand hotel..Bertrams I think...
Insightful and entertaining as ever. Please invite your sister back for future videos, y'all's sibling energy came through nicely and I agreed with her points on the film elements like music, voice over, and flashbacks. As always, excited for your next one.
Joan Hickson is the true, scissor-sharp and even genius criminologist Jane Marple. The other actors are not believable
For me Gerarldine McEwan is my favorite Miss Marple. Theres this twinkle in her eyes and a cheekiness about her that suggests she is more than just a scatty old lady.
Problem is, they tweaked alot of things in her version, like in the Body in the library, the couple is changed etc. But I still do think some scenes of hers are very well done. Like in A Murder is Announced, when she sees the clothes line being bent, she literally goes running in the rain to check on the woman.
This AC story had a good premise but was full of problems in execution. It's very far-fetched that Gwenda finds the exact same house where she saw a murder many years ago and then goes to a play connected to it. It also comes off as out of character from Miss Marple to first tell Gwenda and Giles to not investigate when in The Moving Finger she basically encouraged facing dangers. It's also her attitude in all the books. And when she later on discovers the truth, it was at least irresponsible not to warn Gwenda about the killer.
The Hickson version is faithful to the book - and - has Joan Hickson - the best Marple ever. It irritates me when the adapttions change Christie's books.
For once, I don't have a whole essay in comment! Just a few random thoughts...
First, welcome Susanna! Guests are an exciting development, and I hope we have more of them, including you again!
I've always found it a shame that Christie's last two books weren't really her best, and slightly surprising because when they were written, Christie was still at the height of her powers (or near enough), but they do fit in with her later books, which mostly show her at the low ebb of her powers. Sleeping Murder IS better than Curtain by a mile, though.
As for the adaptions, I mostly agree with the Ledoux assessment: Hickson's is more faithful, while McEwan's has more life. I like both well enough, without a preference for one over the other, which is unusual for Hickson vs. McEwan. The changes in McEwan are mostly rather wacky (a vaudeville act?!), but at least inject some energy. I agree that Hickson's is just unimaginative and uninspiring. I would, as I so often do and as my fellow commenters have also said, push back about the incestuous angle being a real change. I think it's very subtextually implied in the original, just, as the more modern adaptations tend to, made much more textual.
Strongly disagree about Curtain. Christie has created a perfect murderer in it, which couldn't be brought to justice in lawful manner. And Poirot's mental struggle in it was described very well, even better than what he endured in the Orient Express case.
@@tiararoxeanne1318 I should probably give Curtain another read. It's been a very long time, and I only read it once.
I really like Geraldine Mc Gowan
omg welcome to the fold Suzanna!
God bless you for getting my name right 😅
This is going to sound sacrilegious, but I much prefer the McKeown version. The Hickson version was too close to the book for my liking. I always found the book very boring and is the book I have read the least.
I always believe that an adaption should try and stay faithful to the book BUT it must bring something to the table or why adapt the material? The flashback help us a viewers get a grip on the two most important characters Gwenda's father and stepmother by showing not telling.
It reminds me of the TV adaption of Asimov's Foundation books. The books only show us the scenarios from The Foundation's point of view. The original books were really excepts from the Encyclopaedia Galactica and as everyone knows, history is written by the victors. The TV adaptation brings to the table The Empire view which made me completely revaluate the original books.
This is what a good adaption should do. The Hickson version is too book accurate for my taste. Imho Hickson is the best Marple but I wish the BBC playwrights had taken more risks with their novel adaptations.
why adapt? to make the book visual. No need to change more than necessary for the time involved. I really HATE liberties taken with books that are excellent, I go to see an adaptation to "see" the book. If I was Christie I would sue the people who changed the story. Fortunately she couldn't see the horrible messes made sometimes with her books. Go write your own story and film it!!!!
Nah, I disagree the novel is about misogyny. The way that brother was so possessive, adoring and passionate about her... the first thing I thought when I read it and again when I watched both adaptations was "this guy is too attached, like a boyfriend". The repressed sexual attraction is all over the place. He doesn't say anything about her being loose. You could think she was a bit naive or a socialite for running off with another man but nothing else. And in the end, she didn't run. She was fine with her new family but he didn't want her with anybody else and killed her. Again, a very repressed romantic/sexual reaction. Not a brotherly one. Definitely not one from war time Britain.
I studied the Duchess of Malfi at Universtiy, Because of this when I read the book I immediately knew that the stepbrother was the murderer, Nothing modern about incest , Alive and kicking in Webster's Tudor or Jacobean England, Strangely I wasn't put off by the inside knowledge I had. The book was great anyway. And... the Joan Hickson version is the only one to watch. The later one is in many ways a travesty
Geraldine McEwan was a dreadful Miss Marple. She acted the part as if she was mentally deranged. The stupid clothes she wore, utterly ridiculous. So bad in the part, and portrait of Miss Marple was awful. I refused to watch it and I’m a huge fan of Miss Marple.
Yes, she plays it like a crazy old lady and that is the one setting she has. It has nothing to do with Miss Marple.
@@artandminisbyvilma8116who is yur favourite Marple mine has to be hickson
@@michaeldevaney5728 Of course!
I agree… I totally disliked the Marple series with McEwan. No one holds a candle to Joan Hickson’s Miss Marple. McEwan’s version did remind me of a batty old lady and Miss Marple was far from that.
Your sister sounds lovely, Miles, I hope she guest stars later on in the future
Not sure why you have a guest host but it's much better when you're on your own. She's rather annoying and condescending. Just my opinion.
agree
The female commentator (with the dreadful ear-drum grinding vocal fry) in this video has no concept of how screenplay and cinematographic conventions have changed over the years. Comparing the two adaptations is like comparing apples and oranges. Whining about ‘missed opportunities’ shows this. It was a different style and a different era. Joan Hickson’s Miss Marple is more of a theatrical play. It also relies on the viewers being able to be grown-ups and to concentrate for more than five minutes without flashbacks and prompts yelling at them *”THIS* IS XYZ CHARACTER WE MENTIONED A FEW MINUTES AGO!!”