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Lemesurier Inheritance Adapt.

GKCfan 06 Feb 10 at 9:51 p.m. GMT

This is a follow-up to the recent post "Poirot to be axed?"  David Suchet has mentioned that there are six more episodes to film.  Curtain will be the last, and the others are presumably The Big Four, Black Coffee, Dead Man's Folly, Elephants Can Remember, and The Labors of Hercules.  Now, Labors, if it's to be done properly, should probably air as a dozen one-hour (or at least forty-something minutes) episodes.

Since the entire series has been set from WWI up to the mid-1930's, with increasing references to WWII, I think that Curtain should be set in the rather bleak desolation of the postwar world.  Also, Big Four and Black Coffee can be tweaked to be WWII-centric, as can some of the stories in Labors.

But there is one Poirot short story that has been lost in the shuffle, so to speak: "The Lemesurier Inheritance."  David Suchet has mentioned that perhaps, since it would be unlikely that an extra one-hour special will be greenlit, that it will be incorporated into another episode, possibly Elephants.  

There are other factors to be considered.  Several Poirot short stories have not been filmed because they are essentially shorter early versions of tales that have been adapted, such as "The Second Gong," "The Market Basing Mystery," "The Submarine Plans," "The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest," "The Christmas Pudding a.k.a. The Christmas Adventure," and the two recently discovered long-lost stories "The Dog's Ball" and "Capture of Cerberus," which is very different from the short story in Labors.

This gives me an idea as to how the ENTIRE Poirot canon can be filmed...

(See Part 2 below)

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McGinty 26 Feb 10 at 10:35 a.m. GMT

CatAmongthePigeons

I stand corrected on Sir Arthur Stanley -- but I still think the Hickory Dickory Death movie was really set in 1947.

The film of Hickory,Dickory Dock features the Jarrow March , which took place in October 1936, so even though it did take a long time for the 200 men taking part in the protest  to walk the 300 miles from Tyneside to London, it didn't take them 11 years - with or without the interruption of WW2 of 1939-1945.

CatAmongthePigeons 24 Feb 10 at 1:01 p.m. GMT

I stand corrected on Sir Arthur Stanley -- but I still think the Hickory Dickory Death movie was really set in 1947.

AndThenThereWereToon 24 Feb 10 at 3:07 a.m. GMT

CatAmong: the Sir Arthur Stanley in Hickory Dickory Dock isn't the same as the real life Sir Arthur Stanley at all.  Real Sir A was an unmarried Conservative politician.  Book Sir A was a famous chemical scientist with a wife and a son.  TV Sir A may have been a politician, but a Labour politician and again with a wife and son.

CatAmongthePigeons 23 Feb 10 at 10:50 p.m. GMT

I'd always thought that Hickory Dickory Dock was really set in 1947 -- the real-life Sir Arthur Stanley died that year, and the Fulbright Scholarship program didn't begin until '46 or '47, and the whole atmosphere seemed better suited to post-war London anyway.

As for Labours, I agree that it should be a 12-parter, a case a month, beginning New Year's Day 1938 and ending New Year's Eve 1939 -- England's last full year before the war.  Some labors -- "Boar" and "Geryion" -- would be easily adaptable to pre-war themes, and so would "Birds":  Herzoslovakia could border Czechoslavakia, the episode could begin with actual newsreel footage of Hitler's invasion, the two "Polish aristocratic ladies" could, possibly, be Jewish and the younger sisters of a Helena Rubenstein-type cosmetics/fashion empress (Poirot secretly hired, possibly, to help spirit them away to France/America?).  For some reason, I picture Buffy's Nicholas Brandon as the young stooge -- both in "Boar" and in "Birds"; even though the character in "Birds" is British, his response at the end of "Birds" seems more American to me.  "Capture of Cerebrus" might also have a pre-war theme -- instead of being an engineer, Countess Rossikov's son could be a nuclear scientist, one of those destined eventually to end up at Los Alamos (although they were first based at a university in the Midwest, I think).  The rest of you could take it from there.

Although, I have previously suggested Judi Dench as Amy -- the main character in "The Nemean Lion" (which could, by the way, tie-in with Krufts?) and "Flock"; she isn't afraid to do television, and she'd be good in it.  The producers probably won't go for it, though; I'd always thought Patricia Routledge would've made a much better Mrs. Oliver, for example.

I'd better stop now.

CatAmongthePigeons

MissQuin 08 Feb 10 at 3:17 p.m. GMT

I like the short story Lemesurier Inheritance and your programme ideas are really creative GKCfan. It's a shame it wasnt filmed with the other hour long episodes. If LI was added to another story, then it would become futher away from the orignal plot, which isnt going to please some AC purists.

On the other hand it's seems unlikely to be filmed on it's own, as an hour long one.  It would be such a contrast to the 1990's hour long programmes which were in such a different style. I love The Labours of Hercules and they would be great as hour long episodes. So perhaps Lemesurier Inheritance could be part of the the same series?

go_leafs_nation 08 Feb 10 at 1:01 p.m. GMT

I think that there's something in that idea of incorporating it into another adaptation. Elephants Can Remember is the best candidate, thanks to its weak story. If the plot idea of Lemesurier was used as a subplot, I think the story would become more interesting as a result.

GKCfan 07 Feb 10 at 9:31 p.m. GMT

go_leafs_nation, I completely understand your point.  Some of this is just my attempt to bring a "completist" attitude to the series.  Of course, this is just a rough outline and the integration of the other stories would be more subtle, but I'd be curious to see other people's ideas on whether "Lemesurier" should be adapted at all, and if so, how?

go_leafs_nation 07 Feb 10 at 6:54 p.m. GMT

I'm sorry, GKCfan, but as much as I'd like to, I'm not buying the idea. It would make a lovely reunion episode on any other TV series, but for an episode of Agatha Christie's Poirot, it seems like you're trying to squeeze in too many cluttered, unnecessary references to unfilmed cases (that essentially have been done under another name) that only a handful of people will be able to appreciate.

vintagewares 07 Feb 10 at 11:58 a.m. GMT

GKC Fan:  By God, I think you're right - a senior moment here on my part.  Thanks for your good memory and putting me straight!

vintagewares 07 Feb 10 at 11:56 a.m. GMT

GKCfan

Vintagewares, please correct me if I am wrong.  I don't mean to be rude, but I don't think that you're thinking of the Agatha Christie short story "The Lemesurier Inheritance"- as far as I know, it's never been filmed.  I believe that you may be thinking of the Sherlock Holmes short story "The Musgrave Ritual."  I think it was filmed with Jeremy Brett as Holmes.

GKCfan 07 Feb 10 at 12:15 a.m. GMT

Vintagewares, please correct me if I am wrong.  I don't mean to be rude, but I don't think that you're thinking of the Agatha Christie short story "The Lemesurier Inheritance"- as far as I know, it's never been filmed.  I believe that you may be thinking of the Sherlock Holmes short story "The Musgrave Ritual."  I think it was filmed with Jeremy Brett as Holmes.

vintagewares 06 Feb 10 at 11:38 p.m. GMT

I remember a television version in the U.S. of the LeMesurier Inheritance from about ten years.  The snooty butler, an ex-school teacher who had a firm grasp on his master's familiy history. was acted with great aplomb as was the scenes of trying to find under what tree the treasure was buried.  The butler came to a harsh end as per his just desserts by his dark Welsh maiden girlfriendwho was sick of his flirting with the housemaid.  Does anyone remember seeing this delicious episode?

GKCfan 06 Feb 10 at 10:15 p.m. GMT

Also, I think that "Lemesurier," Dead Man's Folly, Elephants Can Remember, Black Coffee, and The Big Four should be filmed first.  The Labors of Hercules should be filmed next, because they are essentially leading up to Poirot's retirement.  Although I don't think that they should be inserted into the main story, Inspector Japp, Miss Lemon, and Mrs. Oliver need to appear in the final funeral scene of Curtain in order to pay their respects.  

GKCfan 06 Feb 10 at 10:13 p.m. GMT

In the middle of the investigation, Poirot discovers two manuscripts in Hastings's suitcase.  Hastings explains that one is his unpublished account of a recent case ("Dog's Ball"), and the other is a fictional political thriller he has written based off of his personal fears for the state of Europe, starring a very Poirot-like detective.

The rest of the story unfolds as in the original tale.

In the last scene, an agent of the British Secret Service asked Poirot to retrieve some stolen blueprints that have fallen into the hands of the Nazis ('The Submarine Plans.")  Poirot and Hastings start out on another adventure as the episode ends.

What do you all think of this?

GKCfan 06 Feb 10 at 10:12 p.m. GMT

The recent "Marple" adaptation of "The Blue Geranium" shows that the short stories can be expanded.  "Lemesurier Inheritance" could be expanded into a full 90-minute episode, but instead of just stretching out the original story (of course some stretching would need to be done), all of the "lost" or duplicate Poirot mysteries could be incorporated into the storyline.

Here is my outline for the new adaptation:

It opens with Poirot doing his usual summation with Hastings in front of the culpable party in "The Market Basing Mystery."  The culprit confesses, and the case is solved.

The plot of "Lemesurier Inheritance" starts.  To keep things current, unlike the short story, where most of the victims are killed before the story starts, the first murder occurs before Poirot and Hastings come on the scene, and the rest of the killings happen in present-day.  Poirot is called on the case because Mrs. Lemesurier is a friend of people involved in "The Christmas Adventure/Pudding." 

Japp and Miss Lemon both appear in this adaptation.  Japp at first claims that he's busy with another case, based on "The Second Gong."  Japp gives them a brief outline of the case.  Poirot tells Japp over the phone who the killer is and Japp is freed to help solve the Lemesurier case.  Miss Lemon's brief subplot revolves around her trying to extract a withheld fee from a suspect that Poirot has exonerated from murder charges ("Baghdad Chest.")

(Continued in Part 3)