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2nd Review of Appointment w D

m_siwemyr 03 Oct 08 at 7:22 a.m. GMT

I prepared the following review after having seen ”Appointment with Death” on Swedish television on Monday the 22nd of last month. However, since I had problems logging onto the new website and had to cope with a backlog of work I didn’t have the possibility to post it earlier. I have tried to avoid any major spoilers. (Mainly because I can’t be bothered.)

It must be quite annoying for modern writers to have to adapt dusty old novels for television. So, in order to jazz things up the writer in this case (who shall be nameless as I do not want to remember his name) has thrown much of the original overboard and introduced his own “brilliant” ideas. After all, Agatha Christie may have written loads novels that are still outselling many present day writers, but she has been dead for so long now that that her books must be too old fashioned for an audience of jaded soap watchers. Here are some of the “improvements”:

-          The introduction of a “Lord Boynton”, an archaeologist looking for the head of John the Baptist. This lord is so aloof to everything around him that he doesn’t realise that his wife openly treats everyone but him abominably.

-          The setting at an archaeological dig is very reminiscent of “Murder in Mesopotamia”.

-          Lady Boynton is an American woman of finance.

-          All the children are adopted.

-          Lennox has become Leonard and is Lord Boynton’s son from an earlier marriage who is the only one in the family who is not influenced by his stepmother. Much.

-          Lady Westholme has become Dame Celia Westholme, a travel writer and consequently her personality has been changed completely. She is in fact quite uninteresting and not really a major character.

-          There is no Miss Pierce.

-          There is no confrontational scene between Sarah King and Lady Boynton which was one of the highlights in the book.

-          The murderer has an accomplice.

-          The motive for the murder has been changed.

-          A white slavery angle has been introduced. Seriously, this was old fashioned even in the 1930s!

-          A Polish nun, Sister Agnieszka, has also been introduced. (Why Polish?)

-          A batty nanny (with few lines) who drinks has been introduced.

-          The ending has been cribbed from “Death on the Nile”.

Then the writer has seasoned the whole thing with a blood (death by poison is much too passé, we must have blood!), a suicide and child abuse. The beginning was quite promising as Lady Boynton was every bit as unpleasant as in the book, but the changes soon sunk the whole thing. The script was very disjointed, half of the time you didn’t know what was really going on. Just how Poirot arrived at the solution is anyone’s guess as he didn’t really seem to do any detecting, most of the time he just walked around observing the people around him who all acted so mysteriously that they might all have done it. He didn’t really question anyone much.

None of the characters really treat Poirot with any respect, especially Lord Boynton who is quite antagonistic. Which brings me to another thing I didn’t understand: why are all these people running around freely at the dig? Do they pay for it? Are they guests? Answers, please, on a postcard…

It is really a pity that this series which has so much going for it should be corrupted by the changes of the Miss Marple series, though I did sense a similar “restlessness” at the end of the Hickson – series, “4.50 From Paddington” is one example which springs to mind. (That very book is, by the way, currently being remade as a Tommy (Belisaire) and Tuppence (Prudence) film in France.)

The only thing that I actually approve of is that the “Appointment with Death” mentioned in the title has been associated with the old story of the man who saw Death at the marketplace and fled to Samarra… (Not that that really helps anything.)

If anyone wants me, I’ll be watching “Appointment with Death” with Peter Ustinov.

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7 replies

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Carlyle 03 Oct 08 at 9:27 a.m. GMT

I agree, yes I fear I agree all to well. And what bothers me most is that in my opinion "Appointment with death" is one of Christie's best books. So why, as you put it, throw much (most in fact) of the original overboard?? Mrs Boynton in the book is one of Christies most interresting characters ever and Cheryl Campbell is not to be blamed - in fact, none of the actors are to be. Blame the script and those who agreed to it.

squatty 03 Oct 08 at 6:30 p.m. GMT

Oh dear - this is so disappointing. Something has gone terribly wrong with the current series of Poirot and I tend to agree with the OP that the influence of the Marple series could be to blame. The book is one of my favourites and the characters and plot all come together so well. I sometimes agree that some characters have to be dropped from a book in order to fit the whole story into 2 hours. However, I can think of any good reason to introduce new characters. Has anyone seen the stage version of AWD - I'm just wondering if this latest TV version is based on the stage play where in fact they changed the actual murderer.

go_leafs_nation 03 Oct 08 at 8:41 p.m. GMT

I've read the play, and it doesn't sound anything like the play based on what I hear.

wolfbridge 03 Oct 08 at 10:18 p.m. GMT

i liked the movie very much, as i said before. if you dont like it, just watch the slzeepy version with Ustinov or read the Book.

The 4 new movies were very good, and i would say to mr. Clymer that he should follow that with the next Series. There are some Novels that really need to be reworked if they want to make a movie out of them (i.e. Elephants)

Carlyle 04 Oct 08 at 5:21 p.m. GMT

Well, I´m glad you liked it but I didn´t and thats that. Perhaps I will enjoy it better in the future? That remains to be seen. I liked the other three movies very much, "Cat among the pigeons" was one of the best ever.

shanty_sleuth 05 Oct 08 at 2:22 a.m. GMT

http://www.bricksite.com/davidsuchet?id=154752 ^Screenshots of the episode. Practically all of the characters are seen there, along with some dead bodies and a very serious Poirot. Even if the story seems unsavory, the setting (and the characters) all look spectacular.

shanty_sleuth 07 Oct 08 at 9:47 p.m. GMT

Just out of curiosity - has anyone bought the 7th collection DVDs and watched this episode? Perhaps we can hear other takes on it.