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Appointment with death movie

(Contains spoilers!)

Carlyle 23 Sep 08 at 5:14 p.m. GMT

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*************************** SPOILER ***************************

I write again my review of the tv-adaptation of "Appointment with death".

Well... I just saw Appointment with death, and I have to say - it was a complete disaster! If you intend to see this movie, forget

the book ever existed because if you do that - perhaps you will enjoy it.

The changes? Well... the similarites are fewer and therefore easier to mention: some of the characters reminds of the versions in the book. Thats

about it, if I´m harsh. The movie begins well, perhaps a little to much "The mummy"-feeling over the sensations at lord Boyntons

dig, but still suggestive. Cheryl Campbell appears as a devilish mrs Boynton... all is well, and then... everything is different.

Sister Agnieszka appears, a character that is not in the book. Dame Celia Westholme appears, not lady as we already know - no miss Pierce (later we learn that mrs

Pearce is in fact mrs Boyntons name before she married!). The Boynton family has a nanny tha follows them around. But these things are small!

Sometime in the movie all the suspects leaves the dig, wich is the set, and returns to find mrs Boynton dead - STABBED BY A CHISSEL!

And for those of you who longed the hear mrs Boynton utter her famous words: "I never forget, not a name, not an action, not a face." Forget it! They are

compleately cut out and therefore the motive for the murderer, at least the motive as it is in the book.

Well... what now? Poirot wanders around, have strange dialogue about John the baptiste and stories about appointments with death... interesting? Not really

and above all, the don´t belong! Sometimes it feels as if you are watching something other than Poirot. I lost interrest almost at once, and that has never

occured before (not even in the much criticised adaptation of "Cards on the table"). And then comes... a new attempted murder of sister Angieszka and, to spoil the storye even more, the suicide of the nanny i mentioned. And grand finale... well, the murder is the same, partly. But not alone, and not at all for the motive in the book and - as I mentioned - not with the method used in the book. And the way mrs Boynton is killed is more than with a chissel... I won´t reveal it all but a killed and slaughtered goat and some wax is involved.

I´m sorry if I sound harsh, but this adaptation was by far the biggest disappointment of all I have seen in the Poirot-series! I confess I adore the book, and therefore

finds the movie even worse - but even if I compleately leave the book aside I find the movie dull, sometimes strange and very badly written. Tragic, nest ce pas?

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13 replies

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curious 24 Sep 08 at 6:10 p.m. GMT

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Hmm... This sounds quite interesting. I have read the book, and as far as I remember, Mrs. Boynton was certainly not killed with a chissel! I really should watch the movie because it sounds quite weird that they have made such "important" changes!

GKCfan 25 Sep 08 at 3:21 p.m. GMT

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If they were going to make changes, I wonder why they didn't just go with Christie's alternate ending from her stage adaptation!

Holly 26 Sep 08 at 8:27 a.m. GMT

Oh dear. Well, thanks for the warning. I will not expect too much of this adaptation, from all you have said.

I would like to know though why, when we at last have a Poirot is true to the books (David Suchet is nothing short of brilliant, imo), they have to go and spoil it all by changing the stories so completely! Didn't DS say in a recent interview that he would never make a Poirot that Agatha Christie didn't write. Seems to me that's just what is being done at the moment - only the titles are the same!

Carlyle 26 Sep 08 at 11:30 a.m. GMT

I don´t understand why??? I have seen "Appointment..." again, and the begining is rather good. It stays that way about twenty minutes into the movie (if you set aside some minor things). The music is congenial, I enjoy the photo and many of the characters seems good. Cheryl Campbell is a gem as mrs Boynton. So everything seems fine, but then, after those twenty minutes... And I should say there are more changes than I menetioned in my review... I couldn´t remember them all the first time...

SHANE 02 Oct 08 at 4:38 a.m. GMT

I HAVE SEEN,THE FIRST 3 EPISODES OF SEASON-11,OF THE GREAT TV SHOW-AGATHA CHRISTIE`S POIROT,NAMELY -"MRS. MCGINTY`S DEAD","CAT AMONGST THE PIGEONS" AND THE "THIRD GIRL".BUT "APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH" HAS NOT BEEN SHOWN ANYWHERE TO MY KNOWLEDGE.HOW DID YOU "Carlyle" COME TO SEE IT?I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION,IT HASN`T BEEN AIRED TILL NOW.WHEN AND WHERE DID YOU SEE IT THEN?ALTERNATELY COULD YOU GIVE ANY LINKS,FROM WHERE,I CAN EITHER WATCH IT OR DOWNLOAD IT?PLEASE REPLY.

m_siwemyr 02 Oct 08 at 1:37 p.m. GMT

The film was shown on Swedish television a couple of weeks ago. I quite agree that after a good beginning (Cheryl Campbell was perfect as mrs. Boynton) everything just collapsed.

Carlyle 02 Oct 08 at 2:33 p.m. GMT

To Shane: As m_siwermyr said, "Appointment with death" was shown here in Sweden some time ago. And well... I guess my opinion is clear by now.

bleaueyes 10 Oct 08 at 9:42 p.m. GMT

i like that thats a cool post i wish i thout of that

Pale_Horse 24 May 09 at 7:15 a.m. GMT

Just seen AWD and felt it was slightly overdirected which I felt tended to detract from the quality of the cast and reduced the dramatic tension.

Why oh why is ITV sitting on the AC programmes it has made ? They really are ahooting themselves in the foot in doing so because several of the McKensie Marples' can be watched on You Tube and the AWD can be downloaded. By the time they do broadcast the ratings will be very feeble.

Noah 15 Jul 09 at 5:52 p.m. GMT

I thought this one was an interesting adaptation. I liked it, personally, and I felt like it delved into the darker side of the story that was left untouched in the novel. I don't know, it's just my opinion. I loved the cinematography and production design as well.

Tommy_A_Jones 18 May 11 at 4:22 p.m. GMT

Surely if bits are left untouched by a Novel it is because they aren't there and if they aren't there they shouldn't be in the Adaptation. The way the Victim tyreated her Children could have been portrayed in a better way rather than alowing the Adaption stoop to ChiPhysical Child abuse

Carlyle 18 May 11 at 8:53 p.m. GMT

Actually I´m rather a big fan of the darker tone in the latter Poirot's. I love Five Little Pigs and Murder on the Orient Express for example (and Mrs McGinty's Dead and a few more). But the darkness in Appointment was sort of pushed into the adaptation from the outside. Instead of finding it in the novel and lifting it in the adaptation, the adaptation of Appointment made it up. Today I have seen Appointment quite a few times and there are several things in it that I do like better now, but the biggest dissapointment is the script, in my opinion. It is rather dull, sometime it feels as if it simply places one scene on top of the other without any thought behind it. So even if I have recovered from the first shock I still find the adaptation one of the weakest in the series.

Tommy_A_Jones 19 May 11 at 5:39 p.m. GMT

Ah Well, I am not a big fan of the Darker tones where Darker tones there should not be, I think if the Script is good enough it should show what is in the book and what is in the Authors mind without stooping to depths it simply should not go, I would still LOVE someone to explain to me WHY OH WHY should something not in a book be in the Adasptation of said book if the Novelist wanted it there they woukld have put it there Surely, U agree The Adaptation is rather dull but it has its moments though very few.