FROM BOOK TO SERIES: HERCULE POIROT (shoe)

OMGosh!!!!
I remember seeing part of the opening for this episdoe before, but had missed a LOT before it and the rest of it afterwards ... and it was such a great story, but I am writing this part first before listening to the audiobook because there's a bit I would like to talk about ...
That they put into the beginning part which I had missed.

and as usual ... SPOILER ALERTs from here on out ... and ...

NONE OF THE EMBEDDED VIDEOS AT THE END ARE MINE - I ONLY INCLUDE THEM FOR YOUR CONVIENINCE ... so you won't have to go hunt for them.

okay

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

And yes ... the buckle will help to solve the murder mysteries.
Body Count in episdoe: 4, by the end

So the episode opens with what looks like a really bad drug-scene ala 1960's ... it becomes important later in the show ... but then it jumps to a news reel - like they used to show in the movie theaters/cinema back in the day ... I used to love watching these on Saturday mornings on TCM ... oh I miss that channel, but it's considered a "premium" channel now and I don't feel like paying for it, plus it looks like they are colorizing the films and such ...

Oops - off on a tangent again ... the News Reel is about Prince EDWARD'S trip to India in 1924 or 26, I don't remember which (and really it isn't that important) ... At first I thought they had made a mistake ...

They say he is "Edward Prince of Wales" and apparently tha is how is was addressed ... but I thought he was called "Prince David" because that was how the family addressed him during this time and after he abducated his throne ... 

I find it rather interesting ... In the series "The Crown" which looks at the Royal family during Queen Elizabeth II's reign, she calls him "Uncle David" not "Uncle Edward" ... and both series (Poirot & The Crown) were filmed/designed/writen ... I'm actually not sure how to word it ... by the BBC television!

I actually don't know why they included the News Reel, other than to give a time context, but they could have easily done the job by having someone say "1926, what a year we will always remember!" when they are toasting the engaged couple ...

While I love history thrown into these things ... it is just so forced!

The costume designs for the time of the book looks to be from around the 1920s - but then I only know the styling in America, not so much for England - the skirts were "tea length" or mid calf ... the shoes were a medium heel and they had big buckles on them ... and hats - oh yes, always a hat.

But still ... by the 30's skirts were a little higher to the knee ... heels, while still mid-high (2" at most) they were slimmer, and buckles, if you had any, were clip-on add-ons so one pair of shoes could go with several outfits.  We are talking everyday, walking around clothing ...
Evening clothes would have been long, flowy gowns in a light fabric ... shoes would likely have been a slightly taller by again thinner heel.

I love the clothes of the 1920s and 1930s -- that's why I noticed these things.

Trivial ... but if you notice the details, it can be bothersome.

This story is one about a trip to the DENTIST OFFICE ... now, if you're like me, that just put a shiver down your back ...
Don't worry - They show very litle of the dentist offices at that time ... maybe that's why I didn't watch a lot of this episode over the years ...

Then there's the "American" accents that a couple of actresses try to pull off ... very few British people can do it, especially if they are playing characters from a particular region.

The guy who played Mark Healy on "Roseanne" (the original series) and Doyle on "Angel" during the first couple of years, pulled it off really well ... by the way, Doyle used his REAL voice/accent, Mark was his "American" accent ...

Alan Rickman did an American accent in the movie "Die Hard" when he first meets up with Bruce Willis' character ... it was "okay" I guess, but it was definately more of a Californian type of accent.

The gals in this episode were supposed to be from New York ... and I'm sorry, but no matter where you are from in NY state, you are going to have a definate accent!  And neither of these ladies pulled it off at all.
While they did a fairly good job wiping out their British accents, every once in a while you can still hear it ... but - eh - I think they needed a little more time with a Speech Coach, preferably one from America.

Yeah - I know, I'm getting picky ... and it is a pretty good telling of the story all in all.

They also had a group of llittle girls, doing the British version of Hopscotch on the sidewalk outside of the dentist office building ... i remember using a domed topped hopscotch outline, the one wih a large square box with an "X" drawn through the center in order to make 4 compartments ... the British version (I've seen kids these days use this kind more often) is just a series of square boxes drown stacked on top of each other in singles or doubles, then each of the boxes are numbered 1-10, in sequential order ...
The girls are supposed to be singing the nursery rhyme "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" ... but it is NOT the one I learned as a child ... the one I learned stops at "10, A Big Fat Hen - Now we start at 1 again" ... but it sounds like the British version of it goes all the way up to 20!!!

When I find it on the Audiobook (because each chapter is title the verse which corresponds to its number) I will type it on this post ... likely near the end.

Its a very good episode though ... I do suggest watching it.

Chapter names:
Chaper 1: One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
Chapter 2: Three, Four Shut he Door
Chapter 3: Five, Six Pick Up Sticks
Chapter 4: Seven, Eight Lay Them Straight
Chapter 5: Nine, Ten A Big Fat Hen
Chapter 6: Eleven, Twelve Men mus delve (which means "dig" or "dig up")
Chapter 7: Thirteen, Fourteen Maids A'Courting
Chapter 8: Fifteen, Sixteen Maids in the Kitchen
Chapter 9: Seventeen, Eighteen Maids in Waiting
Chapter 10: Nineteen, Twenty My Plates Empty

The novel opens with a simple reading of the poem/nursery rhyme ... then from there it opens in the apartment of Poirot's dentist - and we see he is a bit of a curmudgeon ... or a cranky older man.
He lives with his sister, and at their breakfast table he complains about those who work at his practice ... but don't worry, his sister knows how to defuse him ... 

It then jumps to a man who hurts his tooth with a toothpick ... he already had an appointment made at noon, but he becomes rather important to the story later.

In the book, Poirot shows up via taxi (as opposed to the episode where he appears to have walked there) ... Agatha Christie did a very good job at describing how people seem to feel about going to the dentist ... even the unruffled Poirot is not a fan, but he battles through.
She spends quite a while on Poirot's dental visit - from Poirot's point of view ... without actually using any first person narrative.
Very skillful!

Later, Poirot gets a phone call from Inspector Japp ... the dentist is found dead later that afternoon, and Poirot is called in when Japp simply wants his opinions about the dentist, and if he would have been likely to kill himself ...

And from here - everyone who was a patient that morning, now is a "suspect" until cleared ... Poirot, of course, gets cleared at once.

While leaving, Poirot sees a taxi pull up and a leg get out ... he notices the ankle & leg first (typical guy) and then he notices the shoe - and unlike in the episdoe ... it was the second shoe which loses its buckle.  He also notices that the nylons were "cheap" - poor quality - and the shoes were, while not bad, "provential"

Miss Seal meets Japp and Poirot at the Glengari Court Hotel ... and Poirot again notices her shoes.  And that the buckle hadn't been "sewn on" yet (I didn't think they sewed the buckles on, I thought they were like clip-on earrings).  That buckle comes back in the end.

I am not sure exactly what I should and shouldn't mention anymore ... the more I listened to the audiobook, the more I realized there are people who were dropped ... facts which got mixed up ... character who were combined ... 

It makes this very tough to write ...

First, the murderer is the murderer -- but the contortions that Poirot goes through can NOT be protrayed in only an hour ... oh I can see why Japp was going to just walk away from this ... but leave it to Poirot to figure it out!!

And it all hinges on the confession of a single suspect ... which clears him, and shines the bright light of Poirot's mind to another location.

Did you know that in the "description" area of the audiobooks there is a highlighted "transcript" feature in which there is a copy of what is being said printed out AS it's being read?  So if you are interested in either learning to read English better, increase your vocabulary (have to know how to spell a word to find it in the dictionary), or actually Read the text ... I suggest clicking on that.

I have not been able to find thie episode yet on YouTube ... but when/if I do, I will strike this out and place it here:  FOUND IT!!!!

Enjoy!

Episode:

Audiobook:

 

FROM BOOK TO SERIES: HERCULE POIROT (clouds)

I AM LATE .... very late!  I think ... actually I don't remember if I already posted about this book or not ...
I keep falling asleep during the audiobook ... which kind of makes sense - it is not one of my favorite episodes either.
This episdoe was aired about 10 days ago (the last one in April ... I'm so far behind ... I've got another Poirot and a Marple to do yet for this week as well ... I've got to catch up)

Its not a bad story - I guess I've just seen it done and redone so many different times by other shows that it's become almost "cliche"

DEATH IN THE CLOUDS
Originally, the navel was released as "Death in the Air" - I'm not sure why they changed the name ... after all it was "Air" in boh the US and the UK

It's an interesting premise ...

Airplanes ... tennis ... gambling ... illegitimate children ... and blackmail all lead to death by a wasp ... kind of.

It actually is fairly close to the book - very few things are different ...

The series episdoe includes a scene at a tennis match - a rather famous match according to IMDb.com ... it seems to be a match between the British champion and the German champion ... which face off against each other again during the Munich Olympics, after this novel, which Hitler attended ...
And that is one difference, really ...

While Agatha Christie is good at writing detective stories - predicting the future just wasn't her forte ...

The episode opens on a paza, where Poiro meets Jane Gray - and they make her a stewardess on a small charter flight
The story begins on the plane, Jane Gray is just a passenger who is trying her best NOT to notice the man seated across from her ... Poirot is trying to sleep through the duration of the flight, but he also notices Jane.

I think the most interesting thing between the book and the novel is ... that plane!!

You see, in the episode, all the seats face the same way - very much like planes these days.  The plane looks like it sits about 40 (maybe), and there seems like those employed by the passengers sit in the area where the stewardesses sit during the flight.

In the novel, it sounds as if there is a "first class" and "economy class" area aboard the flight ... a woman breaks her fingernail and sends her Ladies Companion back to bring her an emery board - well the beauty case which had the emery board in it ...

This is all very interesting -- you see, Airlines didn't really take off until after WW2 ... Although, shorter trips were still available, but the planes were rather small. 
This flight, according to the book there were 11 on board, but I don't know if that includes the stewards or the pilot/co-pilot ...

So the flights were small ... and in order to get on and off the plane, you didn't go down a long corriidor which could be taken away ... you had to go up/down a flight of stairs.

My mother had to get off a plane in the 70's by steps ... the airport had gotten hit by a freak snow storm and they weren't able to get to the terminal, so they had to disembark via a portable staircase ...
Oh she was MAD at my father!  We didn't hear them say anything about the flight having been changed or that anything had gone wrong ... so we were waiting and waiting at the boarding gate where she was supposed to come in to the terminal.
He finally decided to go down to luggage claim and there she was ... her face beet red with anger!  Oooooo ... Dad got an ear full in the car all the way home and then some.

Oops ... tangent.

You know what?  here are some links to the episode, parts 1&2 of the audiobook, and a little something special which I found of Youube ...

THESE ARE NOT MY WORKS ... NOT MY VIDEOS ... I only like them for your convenience.  

Poirot Episode - not the greatest quality but it was all I could find
http://youtu.be/SDq7nSL9ccA?si=v_xXnaMayxx5c3jl

Adudiobook - part 1
https://youtu.be/1ALGqdyAeso?si=MFFPRb6_wPKBngRu

Audiobook -- part 2
https://youtu.be/5U1wq4_hJ3E?si=HDgBIIHeg_8VjiCV

BBC Radio Show - I found this as well ... thought you might enjoy it
https://youtu.be/aHqnxvd9KIg?si=yR5NEcT6gS48W2l7

FROM BOOK TO SERIES: HERCULE POIROT (abc)

Sorry - I didn't mean to publish this until after I had finished the audiobook - and that took nearlya week (I kept falling asleep during it, its been a busy week around here)
But now I am done ... I can now update and publsh this now.

===========================

Every time I see the titla of this case, i can never remember who solves the case ... then I remember, its Poirot, of course.

We will look at the PBS series firest (via BBC) simply because it is the easist to do while watching .... and I've seen it several times before ... not one of my favorites - not so much because Poirot nearly FAILS on this one ... but the acting is so bad by the background (non-regulars) actors.

And now - as always ... 

SPOILER ALERT

The A-B-C MURDERS

The episode opens at a train station ... a train is rolling in, and someone is getting a ticket punched for "Victoria".
Turns out it was Captain Hastings returning cayfrom a trip to someplace where he was able to kill a cayman.
He see Poirot waiting for him ...
Poirot takes him back to his very own apartment, stating that until Hastings can get his own apartment back, he will be staying at Poirot's place, with him.

I just can't see this -- Poirot is a very particular with things, time ... he's kind of like Sheldon Cooper, only Belgium.

Hercule Poirot tells Hastings that things have been quiet while he's away ... but now that he's back they can go on the "hunt" again.

And POOF -- a case shows back up.
The ABC murderer has named himself ... but since its only the "A" murder which has been committed - why would he name himself "ABC"?

Inspector Japp shows up in this production as well ... he's the inspector on the case.
Poirot leaps to the concludes that the next person will have a last name beginning with "B" and living in a city beginning wih a "B" ... interesting conclusion since there's only been ONE killing so far, way too early to find a pattern of any sort.

They then pop over/into a movie theater where they are showing a movie about a murderer .... and they focus in on one man in the audience.
This same man later is in a library where he mets a man who speaks about murder and begins to laugh melialchy. 

After victim 3, there is finally a link to nylon stockings ... 

The interesting part is murder #4 -- Poirot totally messes it up ... and its too late to stop it.

But, is the murderer who we think it is???

Of course, they are trying to squeeze a novel into only 45 minutes - 1 hour ... and it would seem that a series of crimes which follow the alphabet would seem rather simple to follow (a each scene is a train schedule turned to the pageturned to where the murder took place)
But ... while they do a good job at telling about how Poirot is trying to work it out, you know very early WHO it is!!
It would have just been nice if someone had actually READ the book BEFORE writing the screenplay for the show ...

My issues with the episode:
1)Japp shows up at the beginning and then at the end ... he is NOT the main Inspector in this story
2)Hastings is MARRIED at this time ... and while Christie doesn't say it, one must assume the marriage is strained - he expects to be apart from her for about 6 months while in London "on business"
3)The never gives the impression that Poirot feels like the "madman" is getting the upper hand (I do like this aspect in the episode)
4)Poirot PRAISES Hastings in the novel, for his "uniue" way of looking at things - although, he simply looks at things differently than Poirot - but still, he seems more annoyed with Hastings in the episode than anything else.

There are also little bits of history worked in ... that many Americans may not understand but in England .... everyone would have remembered.

The bit of history involves King Edward VII (David) who gave up his throne in order to marry Wallis Simpson.

In the novel there is a small scene which is simply brushed over ... but if you know the story of David and Wallis, you would understand!

It all bagan with a photograph ... David (then Prince David) was on a cruise with a group of friends ... the photograph shows Wallis Simpson TOUGHING his arm while the group was speaking.

GASP!!!!

Litle moves like this can give away so much ...

In the book - a young woman touches the arm of a man .... I don't even know if Christie realized that she had written it in there ... but I cannot imagine she missed it completely!!!!
I think the touch revealed so much more about this pair than even Poirot realizes.

This is a two part audiobook, and I have not been able to find a copy of the episode yet ...

I will embed part 1 of the audio here, it sould have a link on its own to part 2

Please remember ...

THESE ARE NOT MY WORKS ...I only include them to make it easy for you to find them.

FROM BOOK TO SERIES: HERCULE POIROT (mirror)

 Have I mentioned yet that when our local PBS station airs Poirot, they do it in groups of TWO, in most cases??

This is the other one shown this week ... again, I found both the video of the episode as well as an audiobook version on YouTube -- I will embed them both at the bottom of the post.

And like the last one, the stories of each are very different - this one even more so ... so lets start with what they have IN COMMON ... which is very short.

I may be able to do this without having too many "spoilers" but be aware, there IS a 

SPOILER ALERT

So yu can't complain if you see something which you did not wish to see ...

THE DEAD MAN'S MIRROR

The series episode was an hour long ... as well as the reading of the audiobook, in fact it was a tad longer than that ... well, if you want to call 2 hours a "little" longer, that is.

So what do these two versions have in common?
1)Hercule Poirot is in it and investigates
2)The murder is meant to look like a suicide
3)A mirror is broken 
4)the general composition of the household is the same
5)Murderer is the same person

But that's it!

In the series, we have the normal team of Poirot, Hastings, and Japp ... only Poirot in the book, but he does know one of the officers at the local police station.

The episode opens in an auction house, the book opens with Poirot reading a letter in his office.

The book then has Poirot go to a gathering to find out about the person who wrote the letter .... but he does not meet up with Hastings at all ... 

Miss Lemon does NOT appear in EITHER telling, by the way - I know she has her own set of fans out there.

Now what's different ...
1)Poirot is "summoned" to the household by the murdered man
2)Poirot shows up just before the body is discovered
3)The gun is on opposite sides of the body
4)the Medical Examiner (aka Police Surgeon) is the one who points out the alinement of the bullet is a bit off (think CSI ... way back then too!)
5)the way the murder is commited is different - almost as if it were a whole different story.

This is very interesting actually -- because until the doctor says anything, it seems that Poirot is more than willing to accept this as a suicide ... very interesting, indeed.

5)the position of the mirror breakage differs as well -- this will make a difference in the end!

Its rather interesting though - Poirot goes about PICKING STUFF UP in the room, at least in the book, BEFORE the police arrive!
Everybody knows that's a huge No No!!
In fact, its actually a CRIME

EMBEDDED VIDEOS

bbc ePISODE

Audiobook

FROM BOOK TO SERIES: hERCULE POIROT (grand)

 I never considered this would happen when I started this  blogging series ... but it has ... this story is NOT a stand alone story ... it actually was published in a compendium ... no, that's not the word ... in a collection of short stories, gathered and then published together in a book.
I am not sure if this because the stories were first published in magazines/papers which was common during the Great Depression and World War 2, all around the world.

But let's not get off on a tangent ... let's talk about

THE JEWEL ROBBERY AT THE GRAND METROPOLITAN

The BBC series episode begins with a peek at an old movie - the jest is about the pearl necklace, which was stolen and had disappeared without a trace for many years ... well now its back - and going to be the center piece of a new stage production.

We are introduced to several different characers .... the first being a doctor who orders Poirot to take a vacation .... Hastings decides the seaside is best, and away they go.

They bump into the producer of the play and are invited to Opening Night - and Poirot agrees to go ... just to be "attacked" by paparazzi ... he is totally incensed!  And I find that rather interesting, after all - while Poirot likes to pretend that he doesn't like publicity, we all know he actually craves it.

Then the necklace gets stolen ... Inspector Japp shows up, and Poirot refuses to help solve the mystery -- he's supposed to be resting his "little grey cells", and its a way to stick-it to the producer for setting him up for free publiicity!!!

In the background runs a small comedy bit where people keep asking Poirot for 10 ginnies becuase the recognize him ... aparently there was a ploy that newspapers did at the time where it was like a living "Where's Waldo?" ... they would send out a person and dropped clues to where he might be at ...
And in the episode, the man happened to look very much like Hercule Poirot ... but we don't find out what happens with this bit until the very end.

Miss Lemon shows up - bawls Hastings out for allowing Poirot to do detective work when he was supposed to be resting (she whips these boys in shape!!)  ... she does her bit to help Poirot get background information on people.

Poirot has the producer of the play ARRESTED ... and when he is asked why, he simply replies "All publicity is good publicity" ... oh this was a funny scene ... 

Needless to say - Poirot solves the mystery and all ends well.

Kind of ...

Then I searched the web for an audio version of the book - I cannot tell you how many times I had to listen to it, the ones I kept finding were putting me to sleep - likely because of the reader and not the story, or it was because I wasn't feeling very well at the time ... I did find one version which I stayed awake for AND they even included a screen shot of a sketch which appeared in the story ... very interesting, they hadn't even touched on a sketch in the episode.

Since this was a short story, the total reading time was only 33 minutes!
So I can understand then needing to stretch things out in the episode - but they added sooooooo much!  Almost too much.

In the BOOK, the whole thing takes place at the Metropolitan Hotel (its not the Metropolitan Theater as in the episode) ...

There is NO play ...
There is NO director/producer
There are NO actors
There is no INSPECTOR JAPP - although he does get mentioned in the book, he does NOT actually show up.

Poirot has to deal wih the local police force ... not Scotland yard.  Which makes sense - it would be like calling out the FBI or CIA over a jewel robbery ... not generally done ... there are specific qualifications in order to call them out (in the US, murder isn't one of them either ... but it might be in Europe, I don't know)

Againg -- NO body count here.

But Poirot makes short work on solving the crime.

Oh and the vacation -- Hastings PAYS for it because he INVITES Poirot to go with him.

No doctor.
No Prescript for a rest.
No Miss Lemon!!!!
No Where's Waldo, either!!!!

Just a couple guys out for a restful weekend ...

and One set of pearls found.

===============================
The thing that really caught my attention was the Metropolitan .... you see IN America, we really do have a "Metropolitan Theater" ... I believe it's in New York ...
When my oldest daughter was very young (aged 2 0r 3) we would listen to it on Saturdays over the radio ("wireless") during lunchtime and if it was coming from the Metropolitan, we could enjoy the most beautiful operas!
It would continue to play as she took her nap ...
My kids grew up calling Classical music, "Tea Party Music", because they considered Saturday lunches as "Tea Time" with Mom ...
It only happened in the Wintertime, since during the summer we were often at the grandparents resort and they were either off doing work all day (Grandma kept them very busy) or they were scampering around trying to have fun that didn't end up at the hospital ... like WE were raised, well, hubby was raised - we didn't go to a resort very often as children - but I do remember a couple of trips.

Any how -- see, one of those tangents -- in the book the Metropolitan is a HOTEL ... kind of like the Ritz-Carlton in New York, I think ...
Think of the hotel in "Home Alone 2:Lost in New York" ... that kind of thing ...
$300/night type of thing.

I don't know if its still there, but in this story - it's one of the fancier hotels at the time ...

It just annoys me that they "Americanized" the story ... like we couldn't possibly understand that things are different over there.  If we have questions, we know how to find the answers to things.

=====================
Okay ... EMBEDDED videos ....these are NOT MY VIDEOS ... I put them in so yiu can listen to the story yiurself ... 
BUT THIS TIME i have an extra special treat -- I found a YouTube of the actually SERIES episode!!!

Now you know how I feel -- watch the show, then read/listen to the story ... that way you won't have the story completely ruined.

But in this case -- its almost like they are two tatally different stories, so I guess it doesn't really matter which you do first.

SERIES (there could be a second part to this,I have not watched it myself)

STORY