tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post7353549439653544504..comments2024-03-28T10:08:52.537+01:00Comments on Investigating Agatha Christie's Poirot: Episode-by-episode: Murder in the MewsEirikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-48745806373831376962024-01-01T20:32:58.282+01:002024-01-01T20:32:58.282+01:00I'm really getting tired of seeing people'...I'm really getting tired of seeing people's comments that push 'lesbian' plots on Agatha Christie stories. Have you even read the original text? People continually view Barbara and Jane (Murder in the Mews) Rhoda and Anne (Cards on the Table) as well as Miss Hinchcliffe and Miss Murgatroyd (A Murder is Announced) as being lesbians, simply because they are both single women living together and show distress over their friend's death. You do realise that straight single women frequently lived together back then, and still do. I myself am a single women, and along with my female peers, many of us have or still are living with other single women. It's due to various reasons, friendship, convenience, cost effectiveness, safety etc. Why readers/watchers of Agatha Christie love to see things that just aren't there is beyond me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-83173490872015799822020-09-13T08:48:19.891+02:002020-09-13T08:48:19.891+02:00It's so weird watching Poirot walk like other ...It's so weird watching Poirot walk like other people in these early shows. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-73220975374446569382018-03-11T11:58:44.580+01:002018-03-11T11:58:44.580+01:00Gosh I just love reading this blood and everyone&#...Gosh I just love reading this blood and everyone's insight. I am the same I watch these episodes daily. I love period dramas. I would love to go back on time visit that world of our little man.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11905462986774977775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-29676453586298353542017-02-17T17:03:58.582+01:002017-02-17T17:03:58.582+01:00These early adaptations are really good. They stic...These early adaptations are really good. They stick much more closely to the written source and are very thoroughly researched. I notice some people think Poirot's accent is unpolished here; perhaps so, but I like Suchet's earlier renderings more than the last couple of seasons, when he has become far more "foreign" and less familiar with English idioms. Here he is idiosyncratic but less intensely so. <br /><br />The sets: This first flat of Poirot's always bothers me as I think there are too many useless ornaments and they are not symmetrical enough. But the mews flat is really wonderful. The exterior is a Victorian building with the interior refurbished in an aggressively modern style, with a few "arty" Victorian pieces thrown in (the oriental screen and harp, for instance, which clash with the modernist furniture but are obviously used as photo props). Then the victim's room appears to be furnished with older, possibly second-hand pieces, and is much more feminine. This kind of detail makes watching and re-watching a great pleasure. And of course, the night club with its lavish detail is awesome.<br /><br />I also am very impressed with how thoroughly the main actors have their characters set, so early in the series.This means they were given sufficient time to think, and presumably to interact with each other in rehearsals. Notice how Hastings isn't upset when the children's firecrackers make him jump, and Miss Lemon's seriousness in the face of Poirot's quirks (though later she acquires a little twinkle). And Poirot's kindness to servants while being much more high-handed with upper class people - it's nice that this little trait was established so early in the series. Although one notices that Suchet didn't master the mincing walk this early.Lisanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-81136884703551134012015-07-01T12:39:45.853+02:002015-07-01T12:39:45.853+02:00I agree! The attention to period detail is what ma...I agree! The attention to period detail is what makes these early adaptations really stand out.Eirikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-45541530665967892642015-07-01T12:38:42.305+02:002015-07-01T12:38:42.305+02:00Good point! No, judging by Suchet's accounts o...Good point! No, judging by Suchet's accounts of the first series, they were made in order, with Clapham Cook being the first. But this was second, so he was still finding his way a bit with the voice. You can certainly hear a difference between these early adaptations and the final ones.Eirikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06440717274193966716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-14430051127356931382015-06-29T04:48:31.677+02:002015-06-29T04:48:31.677+02:00I was rather smitten by the voice of the girl who ...I was rather smitten by the voice of the girl who sang "Hindustan", I listened to it several times.<br />And I am impressed by the authenticity of the period costumes, autos, and a lot of art-deco.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-29801862609768766952015-02-04T20:54:06.152+01:002015-02-04T20:54:06.152+01:00One good reason for adding Hastings to this is tha...One good reason for adding Hastings to this is that he was in The Market Basing Mystery, which was rewritten as Murder in the Mews. (The same happens with The Incredible Theft/The Submarine Plans).<br /><br />Was this episode made first? Poirot's voice is noticeably different in places.Stuart Farquharnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-34613914682505246252014-11-28T01:30:20.163+01:002014-11-28T01:30:20.163+01:00In Nemesis, Miss Marples talks about Verity loving...In Nemesis, Miss Marples talks about Verity loving Chlotilde (sp?) in "an almost romantic way" (although that seems to be more a guardian-ward or teacher-student relationship than a friendship between peers) and Miss Marple says it's normal for a girl to feel that way about another female at a certain stage of adolescence, but that the natural order of things is for her to grow out of it and fall in "real" "adult" love with a man...which Verity did and Chlotilde couldn't accept.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-54592393598466046092014-11-27T05:39:42.892+01:002014-11-27T05:39:42.892+01:00Jane and Barbara have one of the healthier female ...Jane and Barbara have one of the healthier female relationships in a "verse" where there seems to be more female rivalry than friendship (and I refer, not to Christie in general, but to Poirot stories, because I think there is more genuine female friendship and solidarity in Marple and other Christie stories.) Jane and Barbara seem to even communicate about important things (because Jane knows about the baby.) I guess we can assume that Barbara, if she would really rather kill herself than live without her MP-fiance, didn't reciprocate whatever romantic feelings Jane might have had...which I find to kind of be the really sad part: Barbara, you were already living with someone who loved you more than Charles ever could! (Frankly, many women in Christie could have avoided their tragedies if they'd valued each other as much as they did men!)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-60600872499575394142014-08-09T00:02:30.331+02:002014-08-09T00:02:30.331+02:00Well, the subject of the blackmail is an out-of-we...Well, the subject of the blackmail is an out-of-wedlock child in the original. But Jane could have had the lesbian feelings without Barbara really reciprocating, since after all, Barbara has had affairs with men and was engaged to one.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-12288629167700852032014-08-08T18:31:28.125+02:002014-08-08T18:31:28.125+02:00@fangirl82 I thought the same as you, and so did m...@fangirl82 I thought the same as you, and so did my wife. I asked her, "Are they implying what I think they are?" And she said, "I think so." We were both surprised when the blackmail turned out to be over a bastard child instead of a lesbian affair, although that would doubtless have been only hinted at rather than stated explicitly in a Christie novel.dwasifarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09090538627904323456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8555477445321605035.post-56518608968446112662014-08-01T02:10:47.669+02:002014-08-01T02:10:47.669+02:00Jane seems to almost have been in love with Barbar...Jane seems to almost have been in love with Barbara - witness not only her deep grief but her resentment of the engagement - and I don't mean that as a bad thing. I prefer it to Christie female characters who will do anything for the guy, even kill their friends!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com