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Julia McKenzie's Marple

shanty_sleuth 24 Nov 08 at 3:07 a.m. GMT

I thought we needed a place to discuss the new Julia McKenzie adaptations. The first two episodes have already aired in Ireland, interestingly enough. The other two are still unaired. I'm sure that the entire fourth season will air in the UK in the New Year, and we know that the U.S. and Canada will see them next summer. I've seen A Pocket Full of Rye and I'll watch Murder is Easy soon, so I'll give some insight as to what everyone can expect once those episodes air...

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58 replies

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murder_is_easy123 29 Oct 11 at 10:40 a.m. GMT

I hope they make another series.  I am slightly worried that it has been axed, after some negative reviews about its loose grip on the original stories

Tommy_A_Jones 17 May 11 at 1:04 p.m. GMT

It's On Television at the end of the Month according to my Sunday Magazine, It has Richard Briers in it.

McGinty 16 Mar 10 at 6:23 a.m. GMT

It's not you Tommy, it hasn't been on tv yet but it has been available on dvd for quite some time.

Tommy_A_Jones 15 Mar 10 at 3:49 p.m. GMT

Is it me or has Britain still not seen Why Didn't They Ask Evans?

RubyKeene 14 Mar 10 at 7:28 p.m. GMT

I am a lucky viewer!

It was wonderful, and Lindsay Duncan is brilliant!

Only tiny, minor changes, and one gay man ;o)

shanty_sleuth 28 Feb 10 at 9:04 p.m. GMT

Just a program note - Norway (again) has received the honour of becoming the first country to air one of the new Christie adaptations. This time it's The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side starring Lindsay Duncan, Joanna Lumley, and Hugh Bonneville, among others.

Hopefully we'll hear thoughts about the adaptation from a lucky viewer soon.

Lone_Wolf 28 Feb 10 at 10:10 a.m. GMT

I've just watched McKenzie in Rye - my first film with miss Marple. So McKenzie is the first actress I've seen.

I very much enjoyed her portrayal of miss Marple and don't understand her detractors. Her interpretation was warmer then my own (I guess my own is nearer to Hickson version, though I haven't watched any Hickson adaptions so far), but it's only for the best - it's interesting to compare different interpretations. She was great at bringing the "sympathetic listener" aspect of miss Marple to the screen. You just feel that it's easy to talk to that "sweet old thing".

I also liked the actress who was playing Mary Dove - just what I imagined her to be. The cook was great too, one of the most memorable roles.

I very much disliked the way Lance and Pat were portrayed. Besides a pointless sex-near-the-door scene in the middle of the movie, Pat was saying her every line with a smirk, which made her character very obnoxious, a far cry from the intense serious girl of the novel. When movie!Pat talked with that smirk on her face about the death of her previous husbands, for a moment I thought that she's gonna be revealed to have poisoned them at the end. I dunno whether to blame the actress or the director for that.

Lance was less of a "likeable rough" character and less charming then in the book. The way he was portrayed in the film reminded me of Frank Carter from Buckle My Shoe (both book and film).

I'll definitely watch all other McKenzie episode, besides Murder is Easy, that seemingly was Agatha Christie in name only (then again, while I consider MiE perfect as written, I actually think that if you insert miss Marple in that book you do need to change the plot further). I am lukewarm towards Evans the novel, so I don't think that the changes there will distress me.

Tommy_A_Jones 03 Oct 09 at 1:26 p.m. GMT

I hope I haven't offended anyone, That wan not my intention at all.

Tommy_A_Jones 24 Sep 09 at 3:14 p.m. GMT

Tommy_A_Jones

I am a sort of Purist, I liled The Murder of Roger Ackroyed although it would have been more faithful and I liked the fact that Japp Hastings and Miss Lemon were in Evil Under The Sun but I am a purist when it comes to wanting the Murderers identity being right and I would have liked Miss Lemon to be in 3rd Girl and although I liked By The Pricking of My Thumb and most of Murder Is Easy I hate the idea of Miss Marple being in adaptations that she shouldn't be in and I do not think Adaptations should be topical like the Helen Hayes version of They Do It With Mirrors which mentions Lady Diana and I wish Battle had been in Adaptions of the books he should be in (I don't remember him being in either version of Murder Is Easy) he wasn't in Toward's Zero and ofcourse we all know about Cards On The Table

I have just realised I forgot to say Why should ITV feel the need to a) shock the die-hard fans and b) give a nod to all the Gay fans? Did they give a nod do Disabled or Black or Hetrosexual Fans? People are people whether they are Black, White, Gay, Straighht, Disabled or Able-Bodied as a fan I foind the changes of Charcter, Sexuality and including MM in Adaptations she shouldn't be in offensive and insulting to Agatha's many loyal fans whoi have been buying her books for decades characters shouldn't be changed, I have said it before if a character isn't Gay he or she shouldn't be gay in the Adaptation asnd if MM isn't in ther book she shouldn't be in the Adaptation and Names of Charcters shopuldn't be changed and Characters shouldn't be changed   

Tommy_A_Jones 24 Sep 09 at 2:31 p.m. GMT

I am a sort of Purist, I liled The Murder of Roger Ackroyed although it would have been more faithful and I liked the fact that Japp Hastings and Miss Lemon were in Evil Under The Sun but I am a purist when it comes to wanting the Murderers identity being right and I would have liked Miss Lemon to be in 3rd Girl and although I liked By The Pricking of My Thumb and most of Murder Is Easy I hate the idea of Miss Marple being in adaptations that she shouldn't be in and I do not think Adaptations should be topical like the Helen Hayes version of They Do It With Mirrors which mentions Lady Diana and I wish Battle had been in Adaptions of the books he should be in (I don't remember him being in either version of Murder Is Easy) he wasn't in Toward's Zero and ofcourse we all know about Cards On The Table   

go_leafs_nation 23 Sep 09 at 11:46 p.m. GMT

I used to be a purist, but now, as long as it is a good film, without random and unnecessary plot changes, I'll be fine. As long as they don't try passing off A Streetcar Named Desire as The Clocks....

Egad! Someone hide this post before a producer sees it! ;)

Bundle_ 23 Sep 09 at 11:26 p.m. GMT

go_leafs_nation

It was the first thing that jumped to mind. However, I find some of your points not very strong.

 I am not surprised.

We'll have to agree to disagree. I'm a purist when it comes to faithful adapts.

go_leafs_nation 23 Sep 09 at 10:45 p.m. GMT

It was the first thing that jumped to mind. However, I find some of your points not very strong.

Bundle_

I think that this is because Elyot didn't pick key elements from the story to incorporate into the adapt i.e. when Miss Oliver got out of her car to greet Poirot as a busshel of  appless came toppling from her lap; I consider this a significant part of the book as you can really get a sense of Ms Oliver's persona.

I'm sorry, but AC's touches of comedy aren't all that important. Mrs. Oliver is a riot in the film without drowning in apples, and besides, it wouldn't have been nearly as funny on film. The changes were all made for time constraints: notice that despite a few (not too important) character cuts, there are no random homosexual plotlines or a ruby being stolen, etc.

There was plenty of plot to fuel McGinty, but the same can't be said for Styles. Basically, Poirot stands and looks ominous/important while the suspects go on a quest to find a personality. The book itself was rather weak, in my opinion.

I used to think that if a screenwriter was merely faithful to AC, their scripts were good. However, over time, I've learned more about what translates well to the screen and what doesn't. Clive Exton could be faithful (we'll leave the expanded short stories, some of his worst, out of this), but he wasn't good at a) concealing clues when writing them into the script or b) keeping the story interesting throughout.

As for One, Two, Buckle My Shoe: everything BUT the script was what saved the show. I'm not too fond of the book, either, and I was immensely bored when watching. If we're going to be picky about AC's attempts at comedy, Mrs. Sainsbury-Seale was not nearly riotous enough.

Bundle_ 23 Sep 09 at 9:55 p.m. GMT

I'm sure go leafs that you are going to tell me that I messed up by putting down the wrong adapter for Mrs. McGinty's Dead by saying Elyot instead of Nick Dear. But if you just excuse the wrong name then my posts still apply.

Bundle_ 23 Sep 09 at 8:51 p.m. GMT

And it's hardly Exton's fault that they had to cut the time in half for the short stories. But he did failry well w/ the time allowed. If it was Elyot on time constraints he would probably get rid of half of the characters. Like he did in McGinty.

I can't speak for HPC, or MIM, or TABCM as I have yet to see them. I am fair when I need to be and when I do see them I will view it with an open mind.

Now that the comparisons are over (at least for me) I do indeed like and appreciate some of Kevin Elyot's work i.e. Death On The Nile was very well done and extremely entertaining, as was Five Little Pigs: I really can't praise them enough!! And I consider him and Clive Exton to be among the best Christie screen writers.

Bundle_ 23 Sep 09 at 8:49 p.m. GMT

(I will also continue my post)

Peril at End House is one of my favorite Poirot's and as a huge fan of the book I found the adapt a treat to watch. And not just because of the way it was adapted, which was wonderful to say the least, but the acting was stellar and the characters looked like they were supposed to. It was a tad irksome when they split the show in half but it was worth the wait.

One Two Buckle My Shoe was wonderfully done, in fact I am surprised to see you write otherwise, go leafs. It had that eerie and chilling feel like the book had as well as being entertaining. And credit is due to everyone involved in it. If it deserves kudos it is because everyone did his or her part.

The Murder of Roger Ackryod is his worse one. But if you can allow Kevin Elyot his failures at least allow Exton's, as well as the other adapters that have a great AC adapt under their belt: it's only fair.

Bundle_ 23 Sep 09 at 8:47 p.m. GMT

I don't consider this a competition. Anyone who can make a entertaining/faithful adapt is a winner in my book, especially as I do consider Kevin Elyot as a very good screen writer as well. But if we are going to compare their work I will have to use Elyot's Mrs. McGinty's Dead to Exton's The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

First: MMD is only half faithful to the book; of which the book is far superior, in my opinion. And I feel as if the adapt ran on, and on, and on! And to make matters worse, it was not entertaining. I think that this is because Elyot didn't pick key elements from the story to incorporate into the adapt i.e. when Miss Oliver got out of her car to greet Poirot as a busshel of  appless came toppling from her lap; I consider this a significant part of the book as you can really get a sense of Ms Oliver's persona.

As for The Mysterious Affair at Styles, I'm sorry, but I absolutely loved that one! This is a case of the story line sticking close to the book while staying interesting at all times, mainly because very little was omitted from a great book! My mother also enjoyed it, as did a friend of mine who doesn't read AC novels.I think AC would have really liked this one as well because she kind of liked her work to stay true to her books.

And at least Exton had the Styles story line development down. Kevin Elyot's idea was to rush McGinty. Slow and steady wins the race in my opinion.

go_leafs_nation 23 Sep 09 at 7:53 p.m. GMT

[continued]

-    The A.B.C. Murders is Exton’s best. Here, there is plenty of story to keep the whole thing interesting, while Japp, Hastings, and Miss Lemon don’t intrude as forcibly as they do at other times.

-    The success of One, Two, Buckle My Shoe is not the screenwriting, but the direction and editing, which save the show. The movie again drags on, but (for instance) having children play games and laugh ominously/eerily is an effectively creepy touch. In short, the movie is good, but it isn’t because of the script.

-    Hercule Poirot’s Christmas is a dreadful butchering. Far from faithful, it introduces unnecessary characters, and yes, I’m thinking about Japp, who ruins the whole thing. The attempted comic touches are embarrassing, it’s boring as a movie, and the entire motive is given away very obviously in the first five minutes. 

-    The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is another horrid one. Japp bumbles around unnecessarily, the suspects are distanced, dull and dreary (not to mention the small suspect list is further cut down). The ending is nowhere near as shocking as in the book; clues are blatantly and carelessly revealed. Plus, the second added murder is ridiculous.

-    Murder in Mesopotamia has varied degrees of success, but the screenwriting is somewhat poor. Hastings is thrown in additionally, and does nothing but bumble around uselessly. The solution is also fairly obvious, as Exton was never really too great at concealing vital clues as they were being revealed.

go_leafs_nation 23 Sep 09 at 7:52 p.m. GMT

[continued]

14 are short episodes that are (let's be honest) nearly irrelevant. Many had to be dramatically altered to fit the 50 minute time slot (they don't call them short stories for nothing).

Thus, we are left with seven feature-length films: Murder in Mesopotamia; The Murder of Roger Ackroyd; Hercule Poirot's Christmas; One, Two, Buckle My Shoe; The A.B.C. Murders; The Mysterious Affair at Styles; and Peril at End House.

-    Peril at End House is decently written, but it is split up into two episodes, which is sort of a letdown.

-    The Mysterious Affair at Styles is extremely un-engaging. It’s 103 minutes long and feels every last second of it. It moves at a boring, slow pace, and there’s nothing very interesting about it to keep the story interesting.

go_leafs_nation 23 Sep 09 at 7:51 p.m. GMT

I now propose to expand on my previous post, thanks to the wonders of a) not being in school at the moment and b) IMDb.

Bundle, you praise the late Clive Exton far too much. There are 21 adaptations written by him according to IMDb (I've removed titles where he is listed as a script consultant, but the list is too lengthy to post on the boards).