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Lord Edgeware Dies

(Contains spoilers!)

Bundle_ 20 Nov 09 at 2:30 p.m. GMT

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I just wanted to know what everyone thought of the Lord Edgeware Dies adapt w/ David Suchet.

I absolutely loved it from beginning to end. It's one of my favorite of the Poirot adapts. It was exciting, humorous (when it needed to be), it also showed the glamour of the acting world, the costumes were fashionable, the scenery looked just as AC described, the actors they got fit them perfectly (which was refreshing), the revelation of how and why Lady Edgware did it was done very well, and most of all it stayed very true to the book. Even though I had read the book, I still found myself intrigued by the mystery as if I had never read about it all. In my opinion this was an A+++ production. Overall, I was pleased that my favorite Poirot book was portrayed so wonderfully: it does it  justice.  If you haven't seen it then I highly recommend it.

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vansittart 09 Jan 10 at 5:59 p.m. GMT

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I thought 'Lord Edgware' was one of the very best of the earlier Poirots - very stylish and very well cast - I am also one of those who thought Helen Grace was just excellent as Jane Wilkinson. The switch is a difficult one to handle on screen and I'm not sure that having the same actress in both roles (al la Faye Dunaway) is the way forward either. On the whole I thought it worked pretty well.

I too preferred the screen version to the book!

stylestocurtain 09 Jan 10 at 11:27 a.m. GMT

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I agree, I love Jane's monologue at the end - when she just freely admits it so casually and proud of it all "Oh I'm not going to deny it, Percy - why should I?" - really very fine acting! "I thought I had you, ze greet French detectif, round my little finger"!

I also love the ending to One Two Buckle My Shoe when Poirot is recounting when he first saw the buckle - the suspense and music in that bit is just amazing.

MissQuin 09 Jan 10 at 10:42 a.m. GMT

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I watched Lord Edgware dieds last night. I got confused near the start as Hastings mentioned his wife Bella! I thought, hold on, didnt he marry Dulcie? Then I remembered that in the programme there was no Dulcie. How those twins get muddled!

When Jane appeared, I thought at first, she was different to the book's Jane. She was serious, appeared clever and thoughtful. Jane's character in the book comes accross (until the end) as shallow, flippant, bubbly and takes nothing too seriously. As the episode went on, I felt that the actress was right for Jane.

spoilers: I know I much prefer the final chapter of LED, than the TV's gathering all the suspects in a room scenrio. In the end the way Jane spoke about the murders, was an almost childlike selfishness. She seemed bewildered that Poirot could have had her arrested. The final line of "do you think they will put me in Madame Tussauds?" was brilliant.

I did laugh at the Poirot impression! Overall all a fairly good episode.

When I watch film/TV adaptaions of AC books, I'd love to switch off. But my brain butts in! Things like "THAT DIDNT HAPPEN IN THE BOOK!!!" The worst was Murder is Easy, More like Murder is Cheesey. That episode wasnt good for my health, I'm sure my blood pressure went up!

stylestocurtain 07 Jan 10 at 10:45 p.m. GMT

I guess it's a tough one ... if Jane & Carlotta looked too similar it would've been too obvious, if they look too different (as they did) it gives the trouble of passing one off as the other ... I don't think they could have got away with showing just the back of Carlotta at the dinner party, since that's what they did to Jane when she goes to the house in Holburn ...

When in the flashback Carlotta is walking down the Palace Hotel Stairs dressed as Jane and she turns to the clerk and says "Could I have a taxi please", I always wonder if this is Carlotta putting on a voice or Jane's voice!! It's my favourite bit of the whole film :D

Bundle_ 07 Jan 10 at 9:25 p.m. GMT

You're right, Katherine: the whole switching scheme is more conceivable in the book than on screen. So for that I'll cut them some slack. But really what they should have done, to play fair, was just shown the back of her and have not portrayed the party scene for that long so the audience wouldn't get suspicious. But then again they should be catering to the people like us who read AC's books and already know the plot.

But then yet again, AC shouldn't have made the characters look so drastically different. I know that she wouldn't have been able to have them look so much alike because then the mystery would be too easy to solve. But perhaps Carlotta could have been described as being slender, and with expressive eyes or something like that.

It's hard for me to say if the switch was effective in One Two Buckle My Shoe as I had been expecting it already when I first watched the adapt. I have a vague idea though that they should have added something a little more to her countenance like some braces on her teeth..

stylestocurtain 07 Jan 10 at 6:57 p.m. GMT

I agree - although, did it work in One Two Buckle my Shoe? I read the book before the film you see!

If they had used Carlotta instead, if they kept the camera at a distance maybe no-one would've noticed ... then again it mightve been too obvious.

I'm not so sure that Brian Marsh and the butler Alton looked so like each other as well! I don't know who played who in that scene of the butler leaving Lord E's house in the night ...

(incidently, with people looking like other people, I thought they cast really well in Hickory Dickory Dock Miss Lemon's sister - I thought the actresses were sisters in real life!)

Katherine 07 Jan 10 at 6:40 p.m. GMT

Oh I'm sure that was deliberate. Helen Grace & Fiona Allen look nothing like each other after all, and it would have been very obvious even if you'd seen her very briefly that Jane was not the same character. In fact it's pretty ludicrous that anyone would have been taken in: they have completely different figures after all!

The Ustinov version got around this by having Faye Dunaway play both parts. I'm not sure that's the right solution either. It's one of those things (like the butler in Three Act Tragedy) that is much easier to pull off in print than on screen. (Although I was very impressed with how they overcame a similar problem in After the Funeral.) But as it stands, in Lord Edgware dies, it's definitely not playing fair with your audience.

Bundle_ 07 Jan 10 at 5:18 p.m. GMT

Oh yes, I was going to mention that they used the original Jane at the party. I wonder if that was on purpose to throw the audience off the track, or was it a mistake?

stylestocurtain 07 Jan 10 at 5:03 p.m. GMT

I agree with the cheating of showing Jane at the dinner party - bad!!

Oh but I thought Helen Grace was brilliant as Jane! The sexy actress who appears innocent but actually has a ruthless character ... Loved it.

I thought Carlotta was brilliant in it. Totally believable as the flamboyant American performer!

Oh and if I'm going to really nit-pick - Jane didn't wear gloves when tampering with the letter of Carlotta's, so she could've easily been caught that way!

Katherine 07 Jan 10 at 4:27 p.m. GMT

It's funny how tastes differ, isn't it? My main problem with this adaptation - apart from the outrageous cheat of showing Jane Wilkinson at the dinner party and not Carlotta - is how weak and wooden Helen Grace is as Jane. I couldn't believe for one moment that she was a charismatic and sexy actress who had men falling at her feet!

stylestocurtain 07 Jan 10 at 4:07 p.m. GMT

I think it's the best adaptation with Suchet - it has everything!

Most of all there's a real sense of artistry in it - all the cast look the part both in physical features and the costumes, which were done down to a T. Everything about it was very glamorous 30s. Lady Edgware was brilliantly cast - stylish but not overstated!

The locations were great too - I love the delightful contrast between Lord Edgware's gloomy London mansion and Lady Edgware's bright and modern house, and Carlotta's daring black and white apartment. The music too built a lot of suspense up.

I hadn't read the book before this and shouted in disbelief at the screen when the murderer was revealed! It worked much better with his little audience at the end (I gather that doesn't happen in the book?)

I was a bit miffed though that, even though it was just for a second, in the sequence leading up to the murder, it was actually the actress who played Jane Wilkinson who was at the dinner table and got up for the phone call, rather than the actress who played Carlotta ... like they did in One Two Buckle My Shoe (or did that give the game away too easily?)

Attica76 03 Jan 10 at 4:12 p.m. GMT

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I agree with Bundle that it's one of the best adaptations with Suchet and they managed to keep close to the book, too. Jane Wilkinson was especially well cast.

I read the book before seeing this episode and I was afraid they'd give away the switch of parts between Jane and Carlotta (like they did in One, Two, Buckle My Shoe). But they handled it really well  - if I hadn't read the book I would have never guessed, and they were really made to look like each other.

Another thing I was somewhat apprehensive about was Carlotta's imitations, and again they delivered the goods. The imitation of Poirot was a funny twist

padster 12 Dec 09 at 10:36 p.m. GMT

Thoroughly enjoyed this episode - am already making my way through a 2nd run of Complete Poirot collections 1- 6 of Suchet's Poriot so have many favourites for many different reasons. Common theme being the detail of costume, scenes, transport and locations. I am already building up a location listing but not easy for some episodes. Stuck on the actual house location used in Lord Edgware Dies .... believe it to be a listed house in London somewhere which I believe was also used in a brief shot in Cards on the Table. Can anybody help me name and find this location?

Puffinjill 22 Nov 09 at 6:55 p.m. GMT

I know, go leafs, I wasn't cowering in a corner waiting for you to hunt me down!!! I hope I'm not that pathetic!! And I hope you aren't that scary! I agree that the 15 minute time frame for editing posts is a little tight sometimes. However, it would of had to have been a six hour window in order for me to get back to my computer in time to click on 'spoilers' once I remembered as I had gone on a long walk and there isn't much I could do when I was miles from home and I remembered my mistake!

Enough said. Lets get back to the topic again.

go_leafs_nation 22 Nov 09 at 2:44 p.m. GMT

I didn't like the book, probably because I was on the right track and it was spoiled for me. That being said, the DS adapt was actually far more entertaining than the book. It was simply well-done.

And Puffinjill, I don't lie in wait with a sniper rifle to 'take down' people who don't put up spoiler warnings... ;)

[This just demonstrates that a 15 minute time frame is not enough.]

Tommy_A_Jones 21 Nov 09 at 3:25 p.m. GMT

Yes Bunbdle, for some stupid reason I sometimes say one but mean the other I am the same with They Do It With Mirrors and either The Mirror Cracked From Side To Side and less understanderbly A Pocketful of Rye and 4.50 From Paddington and A Murder Is Announced 

Bundle_ 21 Nov 09 at 3:10 p.m. GMT

You don't have to worry about ruining the book for anyone, Jill, as when I started the topic I put it under the Spoilers category so everyone knows that you read at your own risk.

And Tommy I think you meant to say The Murder of Roger Ackyrod adaptation bc that's when Poirot reads the murderers diary in a prison cell.

Puffinjill 21 Nov 09 at 2:12 p.m. GMT

So, so sorry!! My last post contains spoilers and I forgot to click on the button to warn everyone. So just beware if you read the post above this, it will give away some of the plot to you.

Sorry, everyone! I'm really very stupid at remembering to do this. Hope I haven't upset anyone by my stupidity.

Puffinjill 21 Nov 09 at 8:12 a.m. GMT

Haven't seen it in a while so I will get out the DVD and watch it again. I like the character of Jane Wilkinson! Just THE most complete egoist and totally unaware of anyone else or anything. Life should revolve around her and she is very adept at making it do so!!! Wish I had that ability, but not to the stage where murder would be in my mind!!!! AC writes her so well that she is completely beleivable and not just an overbearing, selfish, manipulative woman. She gives her immense charm which we all fall victim to, even though we can see her true character underneath.

It is a shame the adaptation was only a hour as a feature length film would have been good IF done well. Perhaps being done earlier in the series saved it from being chopped and changed too much!! Anyway, I will watch it again and see.

Tommy_A_Jones 20 Nov 09 at 4:06 p.m. GMT

I liked the Adaptation I thought ther idea of Poirot reading the Murderer's Memoir's in a Prison Cell I thought was excellent and I might be wrong buyt I think it was highly Original I know I will get slaughtered for this but I preferred it to the Book but as I have said bvefore perhaps I am letting the dissapointing ending cloud my judgement so will read it again sometime to see if I like it up until the end