![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Random TV and Movies
A while back, I bought some of the American Poirot/Marple adaptions:
Evil Under the Sun
Death on the Nile
The Mirror Crack'd
I'd seen the second before, ages ago, so I was hopeful they'd be at least all right.
I finally got round to watching them, and I was honestly surprised.
Evil Under The Sun is funny, and has a lot of what felt like witty dialogue to me. It also has Maggie Smith and Diana Rigg playing off each other beautifully, along with Roddy McDowall who is entertaining as hell. I spent a good portion of the movie snickering and cackling.
And the dresses! OMFG, there's so many fake jewels and shiny patches of sequins.
I'm not sure Ustinov's Poirot is a great Poirot, but he manages to be entertaining--actually, he really reminds me of Horace Rumpole, and Ustinov would make a great Rumpole (Leo McKern, otoh, would be a terrible Poirot).
Despite knowing the plot and everything (aside from the changes to some of the plot in both cases, I've seen the Suchet adaptation several times), it was still fun to watch. And it was worth it for the cast alone, as they're all fantastic and enjoying their scenery.
I also appreciate that Rigg's version of Arlena is much more worldly and a lot less in the "Poor innocent me, I just don't understand" wide-eyed mold that both the novel and the Suchet version tend towards.
Slight addendum: Jane Birkin passed away recently, and I'd like to state that she was amazing in her part in this one, and I actually liked her better than the actress in the Suchet version (she has such elan, does Birkin, and particularly at the end does a much better job)
Death on the Nile I'd seen before, quite a long time ago. It was a pleasant surprise to see Maggie Smith again (and her costuming is to die for). Having both re-watched the Suchet version and listened to the novel not long ago, it was interesting to see the tightening of the cast/changes they chose with this one (they were generally wise). The one quibble I had was that I found Simon sort of ugly, and didn't get why anyone would want him (but this version was much closer to the novel version than the one in Suchet's, who was much more boyish).
The one down-side was their racist Egyptian river captain character. The actor tried his best (and managed to be excellently deadpan a couple of times that I'm sure were not the director's intention), but it was terrible to watch him be the 'stupid' comic relief. He was clearly added in for humor, and it falls flat 99% of the time.
It also didn't feel very atmospheric - one thing you can say about the Suchet version is that everyone is clearly dying in the heat and the weather is sweltering. This version didn't feel that way - no one seemed to be sweating through their clothing or wishing it were cooler. Which is a pity, as part of the reason that whole debacle in the salon works is due to the obvious heat still making everyone extra sharp and emotional.
That said, it's not a terrible adaptation.
The Mirror Crack'd
It's bad. There's no other description I can come up with. Individually, there are parts which are... ok. Lansbury is actually fine as Marple (even if I don't think she's old enough), but she's up against some tough competition on keeping things on track.
Hudson and Taylor sparkle against each other, and Taylor is actually quite good! It's just that she's so consciously "I'm An Actress Everything Is Fake" it doesn't work so well with this story.
Taylor and Novack are also great - their cat fight was fucking incredible, and I could have watched them go off at each other for an hour. Unfortunately, it's the only time they interact. Novack on her own is fine, but she's been directed to act like she's in a porno, and it jars.
Then again, Fox (the police detective) seems to think he's in a Keystone Kops Kaper, and jars even more than Novack. Badly.
I spent 95% of the movie wincing and asking, "why is this so bad. The parts should be amazing. And yet."
Do not recommend. It's not even in so bad it's good contention. If you want a version of the Miss Marple story, either Hickson or McEwan did perfectly all right adaptations (though the Hickson one is very very long).
I do however acknowledge that both Ustinov adaptations are fine, and watchable.
-
Someone linked me to this drama show from the 50s about a female cop, Decoy - it's on Youtube. I thought the first episode was all right, but something about the transfer does something weird to the visual that makes my eyes not like it.
I'll probably watch it slowly, as it seems the stereotypical woman undercover = prostitute type of thing with only their one token woman.
-
I also tried watching some random tv on Netflix, and failed:
Fubar - Concept seems amusing, but the second-hand embarrassment is high, and there's nothing new about the character beats. I skimmed most of the first episode and a bit of the second, and gave up. Not for me, sadly.
Kleo - set in Germany before/after the fall of the Berlin wall, and a little too visceral for me. I also felt like I couldn't get a read on the lead, and that the other side of things (some dude who looks like 90% of the other dudes, so I couldn't always tell them apart) was boring as fuck. Managed one episode before checking to see if wiki gave any indication if it got better. Spoiler: it doesn't. Also: the person responsible was clearly the dude she was fucking and yet, he isn't her first revenge target? Bullshit.
Evil Under the Sun
Death on the Nile
The Mirror Crack'd
I'd seen the second before, ages ago, so I was hopeful they'd be at least all right.
I finally got round to watching them, and I was honestly surprised.
Evil Under The Sun is funny, and has a lot of what felt like witty dialogue to me. It also has Maggie Smith and Diana Rigg playing off each other beautifully, along with Roddy McDowall who is entertaining as hell. I spent a good portion of the movie snickering and cackling.
And the dresses! OMFG, there's so many fake jewels and shiny patches of sequins.
I'm not sure Ustinov's Poirot is a great Poirot, but he manages to be entertaining--actually, he really reminds me of Horace Rumpole, and Ustinov would make a great Rumpole (Leo McKern, otoh, would be a terrible Poirot).
Despite knowing the plot and everything (aside from the changes to some of the plot in both cases, I've seen the Suchet adaptation several times), it was still fun to watch. And it was worth it for the cast alone, as they're all fantastic and enjoying their scenery.
I also appreciate that Rigg's version of Arlena is much more worldly and a lot less in the "Poor innocent me, I just don't understand" wide-eyed mold that both the novel and the Suchet version tend towards.
Slight addendum: Jane Birkin passed away recently, and I'd like to state that she was amazing in her part in this one, and I actually liked her better than the actress in the Suchet version (she has such elan, does Birkin, and particularly at the end does a much better job)
Death on the Nile I'd seen before, quite a long time ago. It was a pleasant surprise to see Maggie Smith again (and her costuming is to die for). Having both re-watched the Suchet version and listened to the novel not long ago, it was interesting to see the tightening of the cast/changes they chose with this one (they were generally wise). The one quibble I had was that I found Simon sort of ugly, and didn't get why anyone would want him (but this version was much closer to the novel version than the one in Suchet's, who was much more boyish).
The one down-side was their racist Egyptian river captain character. The actor tried his best (and managed to be excellently deadpan a couple of times that I'm sure were not the director's intention), but it was terrible to watch him be the 'stupid' comic relief. He was clearly added in for humor, and it falls flat 99% of the time.
It also didn't feel very atmospheric - one thing you can say about the Suchet version is that everyone is clearly dying in the heat and the weather is sweltering. This version didn't feel that way - no one seemed to be sweating through their clothing or wishing it were cooler. Which is a pity, as part of the reason that whole debacle in the salon works is due to the obvious heat still making everyone extra sharp and emotional.
That said, it's not a terrible adaptation.
The Mirror Crack'd
It's bad. There's no other description I can come up with. Individually, there are parts which are... ok. Lansbury is actually fine as Marple (even if I don't think she's old enough), but she's up against some tough competition on keeping things on track.
Hudson and Taylor sparkle against each other, and Taylor is actually quite good! It's just that she's so consciously "I'm An Actress Everything Is Fake" it doesn't work so well with this story.
Taylor and Novack are also great - their cat fight was fucking incredible, and I could have watched them go off at each other for an hour. Unfortunately, it's the only time they interact. Novack on her own is fine, but she's been directed to act like she's in a porno, and it jars.
Then again, Fox (the police detective) seems to think he's in a Keystone Kops Kaper, and jars even more than Novack. Badly.
I spent 95% of the movie wincing and asking, "why is this so bad. The parts should be amazing. And yet."
Do not recommend. It's not even in so bad it's good contention. If you want a version of the Miss Marple story, either Hickson or McEwan did perfectly all right adaptations (though the Hickson one is very very long).
I do however acknowledge that both Ustinov adaptations are fine, and watchable.
-
Someone linked me to this drama show from the 50s about a female cop, Decoy - it's on Youtube. I thought the first episode was all right, but something about the transfer does something weird to the visual that makes my eyes not like it.
I'll probably watch it slowly, as it seems the stereotypical woman undercover = prostitute type of thing with only their one token woman.
-
I also tried watching some random tv on Netflix, and failed:
Fubar - Concept seems amusing, but the second-hand embarrassment is high, and there's nothing new about the character beats. I skimmed most of the first episode and a bit of the second, and gave up. Not for me, sadly.
Kleo - set in Germany before/after the fall of the Berlin wall, and a little too visceral for me. I also felt like I couldn't get a read on the lead, and that the other side of things (some dude who looks like 90% of the other dudes, so I couldn't always tell them apart) was boring as fuck. Managed one episode before checking to see if wiki gave any indication if it got better. Spoiler: it doesn't. Also: the person responsible was clearly the dude she was fucking and yet, he isn't her first revenge target? Bullshit.