Agatha Christie's Murder On the Orient Express is a Hercule Poirot mystery. The little Belgian detective with the egg-shaped head and fearsome moustache boards a train traveling from Stamboul (Istanbul, Turkey, I presume) across Europe. Among the other passengers on the train there is a rich American gentleman by the name of Ratchett. Poirot, as well as nearly everyone else on the train, takes an instant dislike to Ratchett. However, it still comes as a surprise when Ratchett is found murdered one morning... stabbed twelve times with a knife. Poirot must put his "little grey cells" to work to catch the killer - or is it "killers"?
Pros: This story is another example of how one can have no idea of the solution the first time through, but groan at how obvious it is the second time through. I don't know how she did it, but Christie was definitely the queen of crime.
Cons: There's a fuzzy moral ending, though I'm not sure if it actually is moral or not. It's hard not to sympathize in this case.
My Rating: T (a couple sexual references, one mild, one not. Very annoying.)
I'm not a big fan of the Christie film adaptations. They've changed the story (for no reason!) for a great number of the books, and many adaptations contain dirty references and things like homosexuality that were NOT in the books. I watched one with my mother and I was horrified when I saw that the directors changed the plot entirely and made two women kiss (again for no reason). I think my mother and I have been scarred for life.
ReplyDeleteI really don't understand WHY they change a perfectly good story. I hear AG, and I like how most of her books are clean for the most part. I began reading them when I was thirteen, and I'm still reading them.
Sorry for the ranty comment, but I've been dying to blow off steam for a looong while!
I'm glad you got the opportunity to blow off steam about this! I actually have a bee in my bonnet too about movie adaptations of classic books (and I consider AC books to be classics) that take liberties with stories.
ReplyDeleteI saw one AC movie where they ruined my favorite character - for absolutely no good reason! I've never seen the homosexual women one (do you remember which one it is? I want to make sure I avoid it), but I watched one with a gay man in it (though he was the murderer, so the movie didn't actually condone active homosexuality) that horrified me. Oh, and there was another one where a brother "fell in love" with his sister... blech. That was NOT in the book!
But the character of Poirot is improved in the movies, I think. He doesn't flat-out condone murderers committing suicide, for one thing, which a faithul Catholic (and, I think, most Christians) would never do. And he was quite religious in the new Orient Express movie (which I may or may not review sometime in the near or not-so-distant future), which was a pleasant surprise. There's one movie I have a love-hate relationship with (the murderer and his deeds were absolutely horrible... *shivers*) called "After the Flood" where Poirot talks about the forgiveness of God. I don't remember what he says, though I remember thinking it wasn't quite Catholic, but I also don't remember him actually talking about God in the books. So I guess the filmmakers can improve on some things, even if they ruin many more.
The one with the Dread Kiss is called A Body in the Library. Hmm, I didn't pick up on Poirot making references to God in the films, but that's because I haven't been watching the latest ones since as I previously mentioned, I have been scarred for life . :)
ReplyDeleteBased on the books though, Poirot does not condone murder at all, though MOTOE was the odd exception. I've been pleasantly surprised to find many Biblical references in AC books, and in one called They Came to Baghdad, there's quite a lot of Christian themes.
What?! They ruined BITL with lesbians?! Weird. Anyway, you're right; Poirot only mentions God in the latest episodes/movies. No, he doesn't condone murder in the books, but he does allow suicide as an escape from trial and execution. That always annoys me. Thanks for mentioning TCTB; I'll have to check it out. 'Twould be nice to read an AC with clear Christian themes!
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