apparently everyone is riled up because the bbc writers modified (heavily) agatha's ending.
personally i liked it....HOWEVER i don't understand why movie/tv writers need to change things for audiences. the original works and is tight proof just like the rest of agatha's stories. i think it's kinda scummy to pick up the same name as the book but change the premise completely. why not name it something else and then say "loosely based on the book by agatha christie".
anyone else agree? how do you feel about this?
I'm still recovering from that mess of an ending. Imo the book ending may not be perfect either but that still didn't give the BBC the right to change it. Also after a great first half hour the revelation the killer + his motive feels terribly anti-climatic. Overall I just don't see the point of changing the ending if you're calling this an Agatha Christie adaptation. What do you think? And if you're not a fan of the book ending what/who being the killer do you think would've made it more interesting?
Thoughts on the show guys? Just released today via Amazon however was on BBC prior I believe. Getting good reviews thus far. No spoilers please.
The Argyle family is far from pleased to discover one of its number has been posthumously pardoned for murder – if Jacko Argyle didn’t kill his mother, who did? Dr. Arthur Calgary takes a ferry across the Rubicon River to Sunny Point, the home of the Argyle family. A year before, the matriarch of the family was murdered and a son, Jack, was convicted and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. Throughout the trial Jack had maintained his innocence, claiming he was hitchhiking on the night of the murder and he had been picked up by a middle-aged man in a dark car. Unable to locate this mystery man the police viewed Jack’s as a lie. Calgary was the stranger in question, but he arrives too late for Jack – who succumbs to pneumonia after serving just six months of his sentence. Feeling a sense of duty to the Argyles, Calgary is surprised when his revelation has a disturbing effect on the family – it means one of the family is a murderer.
A psychological endeavour on Agatha Christie’s part, this story signifies a shift in style from some of her earlier, light works, and focuses largely on conversation, memory and perception, as each sibling suspects each other of the murder of their somewhat eccentric foster mother. The book was dedicated “To Billy Collins with affection and gratitude”. It was he who had convinced Christie to leave her one-sided deal with the Bodley Head, the publishers of her first six books, and to switch to William Collins Sons & Co in 1926. Now known as HarperCollins, they are Agatha Christie's UK and US publishers to this day.
Source: agathachristie.com
Main adaptations (from Wikipedia)
- Film adaptation: a film adaptation was released in 1985, directed by Desmond Davis. It starred Donald Sutherland as Arthur Calgary, Sarah Miles as Mary Durant, Christopher Plummer as Leo Argyle, Ian McShane as Philip Durant, Diana Quick as Gwenda Vaughan, and Faye Dunaway as Rachel Argyle. The film's musical score by Dave Brubeck was criticised as inappropriate for its style of mystery.
- TV adaptations:
- The novel was adapted for the third season of the ITV television series Marple featuring Geraldine McEwan as the titular Miss Marple in 2007, although the character was not in the original novel. The episode guest-starred Denis Lawson as Leo, Stephanie Leonidas as Hester, Lisa Stansfield as Mary, and Jane Seymour as Rachel. This version changed considerably from the novel
- BBC One broadca
I am a little skeptic recommending this book as it is not her best book.
But I would recommend this as a taste of her writing before starting out Hercule Poirot series.
This book was one of her earlier books and hence the only psychological fiction she wrote since this book wasn't a success.
It is lacking in 'detectiveness'-unlike her other books but dives more into social observation. It's more of a book which lets you know how the author thinks about the world itself.
Overall 7/10: Unlike her other books, it's kinda meh and good, depends on who reads it
The book has been turned into a three-part series by the same writer who adapted And Then There Were None and Witness for the Prosecution in 2015 and 2016.
The miniseries will be shown in the UK on BBC1, starting this Easter Sunday. No news yet on when this might be shown in other territories.
