Have Your Say

Miscellaneous

Please use this area for any Topics you feel don't fit in with other areas of the forum.

Why changes ?

Dolly_B 19 May 09 at 8:14 p.m. GMT

I've asked this question many times on the site over the years but have never had a good  answer.  I've been a Christie fan for 50+ years.  Why are some of Dame Christie's stories so altered when they're brought to the small screen? She was the genius with her plots and characters - so who are we (or whoever is responsible) to make such radical changes to her stories? They're not made better - impossible! Her stories were perfect so why would any one word or character or setting be changed?  Surely, someone out there has a reasonable explanation for such drastic deviations to her flawless stories.  The obvious answer is : it's a generation thing. I don't buy that explanation.  I was enthralled with these stories when I was in my early teens in the 50's and some of those stories took place in the 1920 's and 30's, well before my time, but I still could relate and loved them. Don't agree with  the generation explanation. So, who is responsible for changing her stories so drastically? Dr David, are you still there? - you always had such intelligent and reasonable  comments. I I'm very curious.

Login or register to add posts and reply

13 replies

Reverse order

TheMole 27 May 09 at 3:57 p.m. GMT

Mrs. McGinty's Dead hasn't aired in the US yet, Winne. And I really enjoyed reading the book too.

And I remember that happening! Yeah, there was a topic where we were comparing

***SPOILERS***

 **SPOILERS**

Michael Rogers to Dr. Sheppard and you mentioned that it was ruined for you :0(.

***END OF SPOILERS***

BTW did you mean to say Bundle instead of Cecily? If not who's Cecily?

Tommy_A_Jones 26 May 09 at 11:26 a.m. GMT

Hello Moley or should I say Cecily, Haven't you seen the Suchet version f Mrs McGinty's Dead yet? althugh it is ages since I read the book and s can't remember how faithful it is I really enjoyed it, I love Ariadne and it reminded me of what a great and under-used  Character Spence was, I haven't read 'The Mirror Cracked either but have seen the JH and AL versions, I must have seen the latter versins first as I can remenber watching it and my sister ging out shortly after the Deadly deed but before shge went she said smething which made me realise wh the Murderer was, there has been the nly 3 times the endiung has been ruined for me, once I remember Flicking the pages of 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyed' as I was finding it boring, reading on the website who the Murderer was f 'Endless Night in a topic about favourite Murderers (I don't think there was a spoiler) - It was the old site and with 'The Mirror Cracked so I have been lucky I suppse, I bought the JH series before reading the books so I don't count the other JH books

TheMole 25 May 09 at 3:21 p.m. GMT

Thank you winne.

For the new productions I am most excited to see "Mrs. McGinty's Dead" & "The Mirror Crack'd" I still haven't read the latter story & I have never seen any adapt for it, but I know the plot.

Tommy_A_Jones 23 May 09 at 11:21 a.m. GMT

Hello Moley My Good Friend, I totally agree with you, As you so rightly and brilliantly put it People who just like Murder Mysteries should be taken into consideration but as you and I also agree on Avid Agatha Christie Fans must be catered for, As for my sister When you mentioned  Valerie Wolzein last time I asked her and she hadn't heard of her, when I menmtioned my sister it was because she had read a book she thought I might like by a Female Writer but I can't remember who the Writer is now   

TheMole 22 May 09 at 2:56 p.m. GMT

I remember you mentioning your dear sister before! I know she likes mysteries. Has she read any Valerie Wolzien books yet? Remember I recommended it?

BTW you make a good point. You can be converted to liking AC even if you didn't care for her before. What I really was trying to say is that the producers try too hard sometimes to please the viewers who are just mystery show fans in general & viewers who just experienced AC for the first time, I am not saying that they shouldn't be taken into account too, but they also need to consider pleasing the people who are avid readers of hers, & that's by not drastically changing the plots.

Tommy_A_Jones 22 May 09 at 1:32 p.m. GMT

Hi Mole: It hadn't occurred to me that the ones which weren't Tweeked with were the oneds less well-Known to the General Public but it shouldn't make a difference, I dissagree though about people who aren't fans wouldn't be converted to AC by seeing the Adaptations, My sister was watching one where Lesbians had been added and she was watching with a friend who wasn't a Fan but she thought it was great so I think people could be encouraged to be an Agatha Christie Fan but for the wrong reasons, I also agree with you some books could be difficult to portray on screen, I thought 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyed' might but the way they did it nwas brilliant, and also I do think some of the Books I so difficult to read a few tweeks might be a Good thing but maybe that is just me as I have just finished 'Passenger To Frankfurt and I found that hard to read and in the past I have found 'Murder Is Easy', 'Death Comes As The End', 'Endless Night', Sparkling Cyanide' and 'The Big Four' all difficult and in all these cases I was tempted t give up. 

TheMole 21 May 09 at 3:12 p.m. GMT

I noticed that the more widely recognizable books of AC's seem not to be tampered w/ in the adaptations i.e both versions of Death on the Nile.

To winne: I think you are right in what you said about the producers assuming that the American audience would be more entertained if the books are changed a bit. But I can't fathom why we as Americans would want to watch the AC adaptations if we had never read any of her books before, and if we aren't fans of mystery shows in general, if no one is interested in any of those two things then they wouldn't watch. Therefore there is really no need to drastically change the plot to fit certain audiences.

But there are some adaptations that have been tweaked and it's to their credit, b/c some of the books are sort of difficult to portray on screen.

Tommy_A_Jones 21 May 09 at 1:12 p.m. GMT

Yes go_leafs, Not all ther Adaptations are bad, some asre quite good in fact I ike The ABC Murders, Death In The Clouds and the JH version of 'A Murder is Announced but then I loved the JH series even though I haven't read all the Books and I liked the Film 'The Man in The Breown Suit' even if it is set somewhere else which I think it is amd some Books (In my humble opinion might be improved by an adaptation, 'Death Comes As The End might and also 'Passenger To Frankfurt, (Which I have only got as few Pages of) and although there is a sports backdrop I liked the ITV version of 'Sparkling Cyanide' but I can understand why I mig .&nht; be in the Minority there. I will just have to buy the Lottery This week.bsp;

go_leafs_nation 21 May 09 at 12:50 p.m. GMT

All the same, every once in a while, an AC turns up that focuses more on character than plot, and is therefore extremely hard to turn into a film. Perfect examples include The Hollow (which I think was handled admirably), Endless Night (that adaptation was kind of... weird- particularly the pornographic ending), Appointment With Death (somewhat slow on plot, rich on characters- mishandled by first Ustinov, then Suchet), Nemesis (Joan Hickson's adaptation was the best, but fell a little short of the book's atmosphere), and, of course And Then There Were None (which, although rich in plot, is also very rich character-wise, as insanity grips the people on the island- the Russian version does it best).

Personally, I don't agree with changes made to AC stories, but if the film turns out good...

Dolly_B 20 May 09 at 2:40 p.m. GMT

Hi Winnie:    Wish you could win a lotto and buy all the rights to all her books, do them up properly and give us (older) true AC fans first offer!  I'll be at the head of the line. A dream come true to see her books properly translated into a movie - no changes, and amongst other things,   her characters, especially.

Dolly_B 20 May 09 at 2:19 p.m. GMT

Hi Go Leafs:  I think you have hit the nail on the head. Makes sense but sadly so.  Profits would be the bottom line.  And it is sad when "they" dumb down the plots. Her stories are marvellous and could be translated for TV pretty well verbatim - why won't "they" take a chance and not change anything in her story when they bring it to the small screen or DVD?

Tommy_A_Jones 20 May 09 at 1:55 p.m. GMT

I think it is also assumed the Americans will understand them more which is a sad indictment on the American People and another reason could be the Writers refuse to do it unless they can write them their way and another reason is probably Time and Money Restrictions dictate, A BVook might be too long for the format air might be too long if it is for a Commercial Channel as Ad Breaks come in to play, I have said before before the Site changed I would love to have the Money to Buy The Rights to all the Books so I could do them all properly, even if it was just so I could have them made and shown to AC Fans

go_leafs_nation 20 May 09 at 10:40 a.m. GMT

The sad reality of film is that no project will be approved if it doesn't have a reasonable chance of turning in a profit. As a result, Agatha Christie's superb plots are tailored to modern-day standards. The TV series seems recently to try appealing to American audiences, used to great, big, expensive, dumb blockbusters. The plot is then dumbed down considerably.