Fun fact: Rachel Sterling and Toby Stephens are respectively, the children of Diana Rigg and Maggie Smith, who co-starred in the 1982 adaptation of EVIL UNDER THE SUN.
Five Little Pigs is incredible. I've seen the whole series a ridiculous number of times, and this is absolutely my favorite. It's so moving and well cast and acted. I love the music and the cinematography. This is my default first episode that I show people who aren't familiar with this series.
It's beautifully adapted. And it's a well written story. But it vexes me. We have seen Poirot plant a person to use as a witness before. So I fully expected him to do it this time. It's such an obvious overlook that it sours the book for me.
I just want add a neat little fact about the Five Little Pigs adaptation: the actress that plays the woman who hires Poirot is a former paralympic athlete - she's a double leg amputee! It's really neat to go back and watch it again and noticing how they frame and film her.
We’re in complete agreement regarding “Five Little Pigs” and “A Murder Is Announced.” Back in ‘85, when the latter was first broadcast in the U.S. on the “Mystery” TV series, I’d just finished reading the book, and upon seeing the series, I couldn’t have imagined it being done better.
Five Little Pigs and A Murder Is Announced are two of my absolutely favorite Christie adaptations! They're just... perfect. And, shocking no one who knows and loves (?) my comments on your videos, they both have elements of queerness in Christie: one as an example of adding a queer element to a Christie adaptation done right and one that is a rare instances where Christie herself put in a (textual) queer element. One particularly striking thing about FLP is that it's really the only Suchet adaptation I'd actually call beautiful on a visual level. Whoever was the director/cinematographer really went for it. Elyson's script, the direction, and the acting (one of the best casts of the Suchet era) all make for a story that's genuinely moving in a way a lot of other adaptations aren't. The ending is one of the saddest and most beautiful things I've ever seen. A Murder Is Announced, meanwhile, is just so damn FUN and clever and just the height of Hickson's Marple. I hope you return to both FLP and A Murder Is Announced in the future, Miles, so we can really dig our teeth in. Hope the Clue run is going swimmingly!
I would add the costuming in Five Little Pigs is also, as far as I can remember, top notch. It generally tends to be with the Suchet series, but here, I love, love how they did the 1920s, which in terms of historical costuming is a hugely misrepresented era. 😊
I think the FLP adaptation was without a doubt the best Suchet/Poirot adaptation in the series. (Conversely, I thought “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd,” one of my favorite Poirot novels, among the worst adaptations.)
I love it! They nailed the nostalgic atmosphere & made it even more emotional & touching than the book. Imo, it's just as great as the great book it was based on, if not better. ❤
Except for "The Moving Finger," I agree with you. In my opinion, the adaptation with Joan Hickson is much better. Joan Hickson was the ultimate Miss Marple, and David Suchet was the ultimate Poirot. Peter Ustinov was great, but he was always Ustinov. I did like Albert Finney as Poirot, though. As quirky as he was, he was much closer to how I picture Poirot than many other actors who portrayed him.
I agree with your take on Finney. Other actors may be more "likeable" than Finney's Poirot, but book Poirot wasn't really written to be likeable. Ustinov and Suchet are fun to watch, but both take TREMENDOUS liberties with the character (and get away with it because they are so charming when they do it).
I agree with your assessment of "best Poirots": 1) David Suchet and 2) Peter Ustinov. Also, I agree with the first 3 movies. Somehow I cannot deal with this version of Murder on the Orient Express... Great video!
One thing that always fascinates me that doesn’t get talk about often is the cultural impact Albert Finney’s portrayal of Poirot made in the pop culture of the time. If you search for any parody on Poirot that aired in the 70’s or 80’s, many of them used Finney’s Poirot. And this was when Ustinov was still doing his run of theatrical and tv films! Of course, nowadays, Suchet and Ustinov have stuck in the heart of many fans, but I think it’s neat that once upon a time, Finney was *the* Poirot. And I think Finney’s performance deserves some recognition, especially with having to redo the 30 minute denouement over and over and still maintain that level of energy
Good point. I always assumed it was because the Finney MOTOE came out in the '70s and therefore may have been influenced by the Peter Sellers' Cluseau PINK PANTHER franchise?
@@lilliedoubleyou3865 In truth, there’s no concrete way of knowing if Seller’s Clouseau had an influence on Finney’s Poirot. Most likely not since Clouseau is very much a bumbling sleuth for comedic purposes while Finney’s is very over the top but still commands the scene with the authority of an experienced detective. Not to mention Finney is no stranger to being very hammy as shown in his portrayal of Scrooge.
@@lilliedoubleyou3865The character of Clouseau was inspired by the character of Poirot. He is a parody of said character--the book character, not the film version.
The adaptation that I think nailed it for pre-war to post-war was the 1987 Miss Marple At Bertram's Hotel. Joan Hickson as Miss Marple fits in so beautifully at the hotel. Then we see her at the cafeteria and it hits home how much has changed and how out of place she looks even though, being Miss Marple, she adapts. She adapts because she has to. But she doesn't belong. While she *belonged* in that hotel setting.
Thanks for the recommendations for Five Little Pigs and the Moving Finger. I really enjoyed those books. The Moving Finger was the first Marple novel I read and I preferred it to the Murder at the Vicarage. A Murder is Announced is the best Marple adaptation perhaps alongside Angela Landsbury’s The Mirror Crack’d. Ursula Howell gave a gripping performance as Miss Blacklock as did the Elaine Ives-Cameron who played the servant Hannah and the actress who played Bunny. I thought Joan Hickson’s interpretation of Miss Marple worked so well with this story.
Other than the Moving Finger, which to be fair I need to revisit, your choices are great. One thing I really appreciate about the Finney version of Orient Express - I can watch it over and over again, which is not true with a lot mysteries.
Thank you, looking forward to the Murder on Orient Express all adaptations now! It stuns me sill that Finney could be Scrooge, Saturday Night Sunday Morning and Murder on Orient Express.
YES!!! Five Little Pigs is my absolute favourite! I'm not so sure about Moving Finger, just because it's such heightened reality and the dialogue often feels artificial
Boy, are we on the same wavelength or what? LOL Suchet, Ustinov, Finney and Branagh in that order, although I haven't seen any of Branagh's films yet (and I might not ever). I'd love to see a new adaptation of "A Murder Is Announced", although I might end up regretting it, unless they would manage to get my choice of Helen Mirren as Miss Marple.
All the Hickson adaptations nail it. I was particularly impressed by the changes made to adapt Nemesis to television, such as the addition of Miss Marple's nephew, that don't detract from the novel in any way, but make it more televisual.
The Lumet version of Orient Express is a brilliant film. He makes the train itself one of the characters, and that's just one of many intelligent and correct decisions. Albert Finney is my favorite Poirot, with David Suchet being a very close second.
I completely agree that all of these adaptations are some of the top ones. Five Little Pigs has a hazy feel that tells you the characters are remembering happier times. I don't think the Branagh Orient Express is worthy of shining the Finney version's shoes personally
I was trying to find, what Agatha Christie novels have been adapted for movies, and stumbled across your video, good information. Now I shall see the movies on my tablet. Thanks.
*4 adaptations, 4 observations* : Five Little Pigs is such a captivating, well-adapted story, it's one I love rewatching again and again. It's flawless. Well... maybe. I do have the minorest of niggles. The character you're alluding to whose backstory is changed, there's a scene where he makes a very personal/rather damning admission to Poirot. He does this (with very little provocation) despite the fact that it's the 1930s and owning up to something like that could lead to imprisonment with hard labor. And then after weeping his eyes out (in the briefest of cuts) he's all "not that I give a shit." It came wholly out of nowhere and was the only clumsy thing in the whole production, but it's barely a blip on the radar. So glad you mentioned the music. A Murder is Announced: I've only seen the AC's Marple adaptation (the one featuring Ariadne Oliver, er, I mean, Zoë Wanamaker), but that's one of my favorites for that series, so if this one is even better, I'll just have to find some time, hunker down, and enjoy it. The Moving Finger: I'll have to give this one another chance. I'll admit, it wasn't one of my favorites, I think I was put off by the poison pen letter aspect, which real life or fiction is genuinely an upsetting idea. Still, I trust your recommendations, so I'll give it a shot. Side note, what really caught my attention was the garish artistic direction with the brash use of reds and greens in... virtually every shot. Murder on the Orient Express: there's nothing to add. I say this without hyperbole, it's my favorite film OF ALL TIME with an all-star cast all helmed by my favorite director OF ALL TIME. Suchet is probably the definitive Poirot but Finney might be my favorite. I see what you mean, but I don't see him as alien. Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean is alien. I interpret Finney's Poirot is simply wholly confident and comfortable with who he is and what he enjoys. I can't wait for your analysis of the many MOTOEs. I hope you're be forgiving to the Suchet version, I've honestly come to really enjoy it.
I thought this was evidence of a man whose entire life is a lie, and given the one thing he really did care about was a source of vast pain, he has something of a death wish--or at least a lingering desire to see his life burn down. One detail that seems very clear is that this character liked Caroline very much, that she was in fact one of his very few friends. Here was a man acting from emotion, not hard logic. That Poirot went around stirring up this man's emotional memories brought this out makes sense to me, personally.
@@DavidMacDowellBlue Interesting interpretation. I'm not sure if I'd go as far as a death wish, but I do get the sense he acted from emotion a lot. The scene where he first meets Poirot and goes out of his way to comment about the waiter. Definitely a case of "the [lord] doth protest too much, methinks."
"the moving finger" is such an underrated book. One of my favs for sure. The adaptation was great too,, but it had some flaws. They left out some interesting scenes from the book, and added some completely unnecessary ones
0:43 This is absolutely one of my favorite if not THE favorite Agatha Christie adaptation. 04:11 Honestly I could do without the snarky comments about a very good actress (whose personal life baffles me on SOOOOO many levels). 05:48 This is lush and gorgeous and so fun, but I do prefer the David Suchet version--which is more compelling, more dramatic, more nuanced, and far more satisfying.
I LOVE Suchet's Murder on the Orient Express, even though it is thoroughly inaccurate to the book on which it is based. Once again, Suchet is inaccurate as Poirot too (he often was). I like Suchet's version anyway.
@@kugelweg In terms of absolute accuracy to the novel (which I personally do NOT consider a primary virtue in adaptation), Suchet's ORIENT EXPRESS is surely the second most accurate in terms of individual little details. I grant you the 1972 version is the most accurate on that count, but is less compelling or interesting (which to me is much more important). Suchet did an enormous amount of research to play the role, and evidently made himself into a holy terror on set where he could in that direction. He insisted on going through the set of Poirot's flat for example, and organizing the books as well as making sure they all lined up with each other! But he did not have a huge amount of say in terms of the scripts, which were very much a mix. Some were failures, and some were masterpieces and all points in between. But fidelity to every single detail is not a very strong value imho regarding adaptations. I say this as a playwright who has adapted other works, and had a chance to look at many, many other adaptations of the same books. I was, for example, startled beyond words when THE ABC MURDERS with John Malkovich (!) proved to be so very excellent! I honestly think it slightlly better as a piece of drama than the Suchet version which I love. But then, coming from theatre, my model is William Shakespeare who nearly always adapted his plays from other works and made startling changes, which turned them into classics.
I like it TOO, although Suchet is TERRIBLY off book in that one (more so than in all his other adaptations) and the story is LITTLE like the Christie story. I can forgive an adaptation for being inaccurate as long as it is deep and meaningful.
@@kugelweg If you think Suchet is off book, just wait until Miles covers the Molina version of MOTOE. I'm pretty sure someone busts out a laptop at one point.
@@Unownshipperand Vera Rosikoff lol. I a disagree about Suchet being off book, or at least that doing so was a bad idea. I think doing what it did allowed for deeper exploration of ideas and motifs.
Faultless analysis - keep them coming. You take Agatha Christie’s writings seriously and your respect combined with your analytics make your videos imperative viewing.
Good list. Everyone seems to agree that 5 LITTLE PIGS is excellent. Love the Hickson ANNOUNCED. ORIENT is a classic, no matter how many times they re-make it. FINGER is good but would put Geraldine McEwan's VICARAGE above it. Thanks for the upload.
I LOVE the adaptation of "Five little pigs". I think it's the first movie with Suchet I saw as a kid and it just stuck with me. It's my favorite. I would rewatch it more often, but it always makes me cry so much. I loved seeing Aidan Gillen in Game of Thrones, I'm so happy that he got the recognition he deserves. For a lot of people, he is synonymous with Littlefinger now, but for me he'll always be Amyas Crale. And Rachael Stirling as Caroline Crale is breathtaking. I remember wanting to be like her, when I grew up. 😅 That elegance, that poise! (when you think of the fact that she is the daughter of the late great Diana Rigg it all makes sense. 😉)
Dude, thanks for your awesome videos! There's not enough Agatha Christie channels out there, unfortunately, so it's great to have you filling that void!
I've seen all of these (and their same story counterparts) except this version of Murder on the Orient Express, and I don't know how I could have missed it. I will search for it and watch it. Thank you for adding a new Christie adaptation to my list!
74 Orient Express is one of my favorite movies of all time, and it speaks volumes about the 2017 version that I can look at it and recognize it as a pretty decent film after the original set the bar SO HIGH. Can't wait for the Orient Express video. I really... REALLY hope you talk about the video game. At the same time I kinda don't. I don't want to see you in pain.
Darn it. Your other recommendations are great, so I'm going to give The Moving Finger a try. I can't with Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple, so even MORE of her in this adaptation may be difficult. Finney's interpretation of Poirot was closest to Christie's own in the early books -- the "funny little foreigner" with off-putting habits, whom suspects underestimate. Though I love David Suchet's version, he makes Poirot more accessible and mundane.
Growing up, I loved watching the Poirot episodes (films?) with my grandparents, but now that I'm actually reading the novels, I'm reluctant to watch them again knowing how much the writers changed ... and for what? Is it more relatable to have characters now be gay, or engage in incest, or have wildly different motives, etc.? Translating a story from one medium to another definitely calls for adapting some things, but it feel really disrespectful to Agatha Christie's legacy to basically be like, "We want to make money off you, but we don't really believe in your stories, so we will rewrite them and throw in all this stupid stuff that modern stupid audiences love." I've heard the newest Miss Marple series is even worse than what they did to the Poirots.
I love the five little pigs adaptation but it’s a very sad story at the same time. My favourite MOTOE is the 2010 version because it’s so engaging to watch and has a very powerful ending.
Well once you get a chance to watch the new Murder is Easy (I've seen it already as I'm in the UK) I think that may fall into this category as it works for all the reasons you've drawn attention to here
The 1974 "Orient Express" is the best overall. The more recent Kenneth Branaugh nails the ending -- the entire theater where I saw it broke down in tears -- and the tv adaptation has the best Poirot but I dislike its castigation of the "conspiracy" participants.
I used to absolutely adore Death on the nile with Suchet (mainly fot its climate), though i haven't seen it in a while. I wonder if it was even close to that list, in your opinion?
I agree that all your choices are perfect BUT I've always preferred the 2005 Geraldine McEwan version of Murder is Announced. I know the Joan Hickson version is S Tier, but for some reason I've enjoyed the McEwan version more, even though it's A Tier at the most. I can't explain it.
I suspect the fact that she married Elon Musk (twice!) and that she begged him to buy Twitter to fight 'wokeism' years after the second divorce But I think she's a perfectly fine actor
@@Natilra Oh, ah I didn't know that about her. I had only seen her in a few of her earlier roles and thought she was a good actress. Yeah, I could see how that's not great.
The easiest way to determine the best Agatha Christie adaptions in the TV series Poirot and Marple is simple. If they were written by the late Kevin Elyot (i.e 6 episodes of Marple and 3 of Poirot), you can rest assured they were faithful to the source material. Other adapters made major, unnecessary, downright shameful changes. Not Kevin Elyot.
the 1974 Orient Express is one of my favorite films of all time and Five Little Pigs is my favorite Suchet. Can't wait for a dedicated Orient Express discussion. * * * * * POSSIBLE SPOILER: I will also die on this hill- In the 1974 version they gave Poirot a final line that improves on the book ending. In the book Poirot solves the mystery, gives his conclusion and than basically peaces out. I find that so strange considering he is a former policeman. He makes the right decision, but it always left me cold. In a way, I think the book ending is more fitting for modern Sherlock- someone only interested in solving a puzzle rather than any fallout. In the Suchet and Branaugh versions he gives long histrionic speeches which don't match the book at all. The final line in the 74 version is perfect- he will wrestle with his reports to the police and his conscience. Succinct just like the book but much more appropriate. Chef's kiss.
I understand your feelings on this matter. I have often thought it strange that Poirot could compartmentalize the misdeeds of others in order to make easy decisions about how and why they should get away with the crime he detests most. However, we see it several times in Poirot's career--The Double Clue where he would have had the countess arrested but didn't because his job required discretion, The Labors of Hercules where he not only protects women who are commiting crimes, but he actually aids them in their quest, The Chocolate Box where he understands and seemingly forgives the murderer and allows them to die peacefully.
I like both of your interpretations on this matter. Additionally, I think it's important to remember WHEN the Finney adaptation movie was made. This film is smack dab in the middle of the New Hollywood movement or the American New Wave of cinema. The Godfather came out only 2 years before, Bonnie and Clyde only 7, and Chinatown came out the same year as this film. Traditional genre pictures of the Classical Hollywood era were being reevaluated and turned on their heads. Audiences felt sympathetic to people who acted outside the law for good reasons and traditional institutions of justice were depicted as not always able to punish the guilty. Add to it, this film's director Sydney Lumet. Here's a man who made Serpico the year before and would make Dog Day Afternoon the year after. Here are two films that directly channel these two themes. I believe wholeheartedly that the 1974 film is channelling the popular sentiment of the time.
One other thing: while the Branaugh version of MOTOE does nothing for me, I will say I appreciate the Suchet version and his final speech. It WORKS completely as a character study for Poirot and examines an aspect of him that none of the other adaptations have. The Suchet series leans into Poirot's Catholicism more than other versions have before or since. I know this is an immediate turn-off for some, but historically it fits. Furthermore, it's an interesting interpretation of how Poirot frames or sees his role as a detective/bringer of justice. More importantly, it fits the context/theme of a test of faith for Poirot. Seeing all semblance of civilized society crumble as (final spoiler alert) not 1 or 2 but *12* respectable men and women agree to a cold, calculated, and particularly cruel act of revenge would shake a person's confidence in humanity (regardless of the circumstances) to the core, so the outburst is warranted. It makes his final decision, to ultimately not expose them, to walk away and bear the burden of the truth, that more impactful.
Oh interesting! The Moving Finger is one of my favorite novels, and I don't remember being particularly impressed by the adaptation. Maybe I'll have to have another look at it. I do remember the Murder is Announced being really really good! (Bang on the head with your reference to Roger Ackroyd there... sigh. They really. Yeah.)
The only improvement to the 1974 Murder on the Orient Express would be David Suchet. David is way too emotional and dark in his Murder on the Orient Express.
Agree enthusiastically with Lumet's Murder on the Orient Express and with Joan Hickson's A Murder is Announced. I dunno about Moving Finger. I remember disliking it intensely when I first watched it: Actress playing Marple was all wrong as was the tone of many of the changes. I don't remember Suchet's Five Little Pigs, but the novel was really good.
I remember seeing Murder on the Orient Express in 1974 at my local cinema. I was 10 years old. I loved Albert Finney's portrayal of Poirot. Even after many more adaptations, with many different actors in the role, for me Finney is still THE definitive Poirot.
Even in David Suchet's versions they had already taken a lot of liberty with the actual stories. And the more recent, the more cliché, PC and strange they become. All this thanks to AC's grandson, great grandson and family who seem to have never enough of money.😅
