book vs movie
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Jimmy-128 — 18 years ago(March 17, 2008 10:34 PM)
So did I, but I usually do.
I don't mind the changed endingChristie okayed it, and that's the end of the discussion. But what I do mind are changes made that make the plot even more improbable than it is. Example (and possible spoiler): Emily Brent can clearly see the General from where she's sittingso why doesn't she notice the murder? -
steven-87 — 17 years ago(June 21, 2008 05:04 PM)
The book is light years ahead of any movie version (so far, that isI live in hope!).
Try reading the novel by candlelight from start to finish.
The only major flaw I can find within it is the "death" of Wargrave - a) it lets Vera off and b) there just wasn't time for any of those left to dress him up in wig and gown.
I reckon Ms Christie must have been stuck for an idea at that point and went for a compromise.
I'd love to ask her :-)) -
knave84 — 17 years ago(August 05, 2008 02:24 PM)
I liked the book better than the movieI liked the different ending of the movie but still I didn't enjoy the general feel of the moviewhile reading the book it felt more like a horror story..the movie was more on the amusing and light side..I think a more serious remake is worth it..more menacing, frightening and more on the psychological side..
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wtl471629 — 17 years ago(August 08, 2008 09:35 AM)
SPOILER WARNING
I agree with everyone that we need a version faithful to the book ending. When Agatha Christi approved of the movie ending we have to remember that the movie version she was talking about was the first one made. Now it is time to have one faithful to the book. All of the versions have basically the same ending as the 1945 version in that the last two planned victims were really innocent and the Judge is killed off. That ending is old so let's get one that ties with the book. Anthony Hopkins would be great as the judge. -
viaggio1 — 10 years ago(July 02, 2015 06:08 PM)
Saw the movie when I was a kid, and really enjoyed it. Watched it again recently, and then read the book. The movie is definitely a bit creaky, showing its age here and there, and has perhaps been superseded by all the movies that have pilfered from it through the years !
But compared to the book, I found the movie much more enjoyable. It was easier to feel for and relate to the characters in the movie in the book, they very much come across as stick figures, put in stressful situations.
Ir was also really smashing to see all of those superlative character actors working together on-screen !
It
was
fun
in one way
to read the book (knowing the probable outcome) by trying to look for clues and red herrings along the way that may have pointed to the killer, but in the end the movie really does a better job of foreshadowing the villain.
Having seen the movie first, I felt that the first 10 pages and the last 10 pages of the book were really good the setting-up of the story, and the final unraveling of the mystery.
The rest of it
meh
.
Perhaps a good audio recording of the story, with great voice actors, might do the trick, but in the end, I found most of the book pretty dry going, compared to the movie.
J'ai l'il AMRICAIN ! -
irishtom99 — 10 years ago(September 15, 2015 06:10 AM)
when I read the book in my teens,Ialways found her willingness to hang herself a bit drastic..she had no real motive to kill the others..if she explained it was lombard who was the killer and she defended herself,she would probably not even be charged.
suicide was considered a sin..she also didnt have the financial wherewithal to set the scheme up,etc..the "hollywood" ending was actually more believable. -
Eric-62-2 — 10 years ago(March 06, 2016 06:38 AM)
The movie/stage ending for too long gets a bum rap. To me, the novel's ending is ridiculous because it is entirely based on Wargrave playing a psychological game to induce Vera to hang herself (without revealing his presence no less!) that just rings stupid IMO.
And frankly, if Wargrave is so demented that he ends up luring two people who are innocent that IMO makes him a more chilling and demented figure. Make everyone else guilty and IMO you're making the murderer come off as something he shouldn't. In the end, there should be an irony that the self-appointed executioner of those he deems guilty for committing crimes against the innocent..is in the end about to be hoisted on his own petard by trying to do the same to two innocent parties (more so in Vera's case than in Lombard's).
I don't like the novel's ending and in general I refuse to have anything to do with a version that thinks it can be shoehorned into a dramatic telling. -
maggieameanderings — 10 years ago(March 16, 2016 11:28 PM)
irishtom99 said:
when I read the book in my teens,Ialways found her willingness to hang herself a bit drastic..she had no real motive to kill the others..if she explained it was lombard who was the killer and she defended herself,she would probably not even be charged.
I never figured she hanged herself because she would be suspected of being U.N. Owen. That would never hold up. How would a poor games mistress from a third rate school buy a millionaire's island complete with luxury mansion, then furnish it and hire help for it? She was broke. (That's also the reason why there's no way Lombard set this up either.) Whoever did this had a lot of money and the police would know that.
I figured she hanged herself because she felt guilt over Cyril, sadness over losing Hugo, depression in her life, then she gets put through this hellish situation which strained her nerves to the breaking point. Then add in the psychological suggestion of the poem's ending and she finds the noose in her room when she's almost in a fugue state..and she hangs herself. -
Jimmy-128 — 9 years ago(July 25, 2016 06:56 PM)
I figured she hanged herself because she felt guilt over Cyril, sadness over losing Hugo, depression in her life, then she gets put through this hellish situation which strained her nerves to the breaking point. Then add in the psychological suggestion of the poem's ending and she finds the noose in her room when she's almost in a fugue state..and she hangs herself.
Agreed. Maeve Dermody does a terrific job of playing that mindset in the BBC version. -
maggieameanderings — 10 years ago(March 16, 2016 11:29 PM)
The book. I was so disappointed when I saw this movie. I didn't realize at the time that Christie wrote the revised ending with two people surviving. But even knowing Christie wrote it, I still don't like it.