And Then There Were None
Dec. 30th, 2015 09:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessOr yet another salvo in The BBC Can Do Agatha Christie Adaptations, Too campaign. (See Partners in Crime. Or don’t.)
Again, I played catch-up on this, watching the first two episodes one after the other, and then the third part last night. Spoilers for all of it.
Slightly arty opening – the title credits made more sense in the second episode - and a tendency to use visual symbolism a lot. I know that the balance between creating an atmosphere, which they did well, and getting into the story is tough, but sometimes (the dozenth shot of the house on the island under the slightly shrouded full moon) I think they got that balance wrong. In hindsight, we had whoppers of clues in how the show introduced all the people being brought to Soldier Island.
Stellar cast, with only the secretary being new to me (Maeve Dermody reminded me a bit of quite a few other actresses, lookswise, but I thought she was good, and having looked her up, because I was wondering if she was Irish and wanted to praise her for maintaining the accent when acting opposite Turner, it turns out she’s Australian). Of course, this being Christie, they were mainly playing types and some of them for not very long, but you could see the appeal of playing someone nasty and self-deceiving/working with other good actors. There was Charles Dance and his resonant voice. Douglas Booth was perfectly cast as a less conniving Titus Abraxas (and even if the other reasons for doing the job hadn’t appealed, I bet that car swung it for him.) I was disappointed that Anna Maxwell-Martin’s maid was packed off so quickly. She managed shades of grotesqueness and class issues in a small part that was basically Battered Wife. Noah Taylor’s accent held better than Sam Neill’s, if we’re quibbling, and Miranda Richardson was very good, ditto Toby Stephens (no longer eye candy) in a less restrained part – I loved when Vera got to slap him, as I wanted her to (my excuse is that I was reading TDKR tie-in novelisation over Christmas and am in a very Catwoman state of mind). Also, Burn Gorman and the ‘it’s still the portentous time that is August 1939’ moustache AND Aidan Turner getting to do his Irish accent and playing a unrepentant mercenary killer (of Africans. I had to check the history of the book title, but I was aware that Christie’s attitude towards race was of her time and culture – and I’d also be interested to see if the adaptation felt freer about making the doctor such a chauvinist snob?).
Turner played Lombard DELICIOUSLY, I might add. No wonder everyone fell for him when he was a vampire.
The set-up is genius, though, isn’t it? As soon as you realise that ‘the Owens’ aren’t turning up, and here are these ten killers left all alone on this island to be picked off. And they each had their own damning flashback – I mean, Mrs Rogers could have tried to stop her husband, but he was so abusive and controlling she’d probably get off on a lesser charge in a modern court of law.
I was amused at their 1930s English sang-froid after the second killing, although without The Bletchley Circle’s Susan, they didn’t sit down and try to work out who would know about all the killings and see if there was a connection there until quite late on. But obviously they were being frightened out of their wits, which was interesting to watch.
It frustrated me, although it was deliberate, that we never got to hear the doggerel in full, so that we could guess how each killing would come about.
At the end of the second episode, I had a pet theory. I don’t remember if I’ve read the book or seen an adaptation – I probably have. I was right, although I’d changed my mind whilst watching the third episode, because I did believe the judge had been killed (even though I KNEW no-one had heard the shot, but then there was so much going on...) and was thinking that it had something to do with the serial killer he’d hanged before wavering over another red herring.
They dangled (sorry) out the Special K flashbacks with Vera, never letting us know for sure until the end. The secretary/companion/young lady in these types of books is usually the heroine, after all.
I think maybe they overdid the ghosts, because this clearly wasn’t The Turn of the Screw, not with the meticulous planning.
Other popculture things popped into mind, like the suggestion (Gorman was good in the last episode, and it was rather ambiguous as to whether his character’s homophobia was a little bit self-directed) that this island was hell. I can’t have been the only one who went ‘No, this isn’t Lost’. And I do hope ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ was a direct lift from the book.
It couldn’t have gone on for much longer than three parts, as it’s basically nasty people freaking out as they get killed off one by one, and the fewer there are, the more the pool of suspects/solutions decreases. But it was classy (and more effective than Partners in Crime). Also, Aidan Turner was in it. That was always going to be a good thing.
Again, I played catch-up on this, watching the first two episodes one after the other, and then the third part last night. Spoilers for all of it.
Slightly arty opening – the title credits made more sense in the second episode - and a tendency to use visual symbolism a lot. I know that the balance between creating an atmosphere, which they did well, and getting into the story is tough, but sometimes (the dozenth shot of the house on the island under the slightly shrouded full moon) I think they got that balance wrong. In hindsight, we had whoppers of clues in how the show introduced all the people being brought to Soldier Island.
Stellar cast, with only the secretary being new to me (Maeve Dermody reminded me a bit of quite a few other actresses, lookswise, but I thought she was good, and having looked her up, because I was wondering if she was Irish and wanted to praise her for maintaining the accent when acting opposite Turner, it turns out she’s Australian). Of course, this being Christie, they were mainly playing types and some of them for not very long, but you could see the appeal of playing someone nasty and self-deceiving/working with other good actors. There was Charles Dance and his resonant voice. Douglas Booth was perfectly cast as a less conniving Titus Abraxas (and even if the other reasons for doing the job hadn’t appealed, I bet that car swung it for him.) I was disappointed that Anna Maxwell-Martin’s maid was packed off so quickly. She managed shades of grotesqueness and class issues in a small part that was basically Battered Wife. Noah Taylor’s accent held better than Sam Neill’s, if we’re quibbling, and Miranda Richardson was very good, ditto Toby Stephens (no longer eye candy) in a less restrained part – I loved when Vera got to slap him, as I wanted her to (my excuse is that I was reading TDKR tie-in novelisation over Christmas and am in a very Catwoman state of mind). Also, Burn Gorman and the ‘it’s still the portentous time that is August 1939’ moustache AND Aidan Turner getting to do his Irish accent and playing a unrepentant mercenary killer (of Africans. I had to check the history of the book title, but I was aware that Christie’s attitude towards race was of her time and culture – and I’d also be interested to see if the adaptation felt freer about making the doctor such a chauvinist snob?).
Turner played Lombard DELICIOUSLY, I might add. No wonder everyone fell for him when he was a vampire.
The set-up is genius, though, isn’t it? As soon as you realise that ‘the Owens’ aren’t turning up, and here are these ten killers left all alone on this island to be picked off. And they each had their own damning flashback – I mean, Mrs Rogers could have tried to stop her husband, but he was so abusive and controlling she’d probably get off on a lesser charge in a modern court of law.
I was amused at their 1930s English sang-froid after the second killing, although without The Bletchley Circle’s Susan, they didn’t sit down and try to work out who would know about all the killings and see if there was a connection there until quite late on. But obviously they were being frightened out of their wits, which was interesting to watch.
It frustrated me, although it was deliberate, that we never got to hear the doggerel in full, so that we could guess how each killing would come about.
At the end of the second episode, I had a pet theory. I don’t remember if I’ve read the book or seen an adaptation – I probably have. I was right, although I’d changed my mind whilst watching the third episode, because I did believe the judge had been killed (even though I KNEW no-one had heard the shot, but then there was so much going on...) and was thinking that it had something to do with the serial killer he’d hanged before wavering over another red herring.
They dangled (sorry) out the Special K flashbacks with Vera, never letting us know for sure until the end. The secretary/companion/young lady in these types of books is usually the heroine, after all.
I think maybe they overdid the ghosts, because this clearly wasn’t The Turn of the Screw, not with the meticulous planning.
Other popculture things popped into mind, like the suggestion (Gorman was good in the last episode, and it was rather ambiguous as to whether his character’s homophobia was a little bit self-directed) that this island was hell. I can’t have been the only one who went ‘No, this isn’t Lost’. And I do hope ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ was a direct lift from the book.
It couldn’t have gone on for much longer than three parts, as it’s basically nasty people freaking out as they get killed off one by one, and the fewer there are, the more the pool of suspects/solutions decreases. But it was classy (and more effective than Partners in Crime). Also, Aidan Turner was in it. That was always going to be a good thing.
no subject
Date: 2015-12-31 03:26 am (UTC)Maeve Darmody I had seen once before, on one of the earlier episodes of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, though I had to look her up on IMDB to figure out where I had seen her. I thought it was a shame that Anna Maxwell-Martin was gone so fast but she seemed to have the least gruesome death of them all, which was a blessing compared to how everyone else died.
I read the book years ago and didn't remember who the killer was but decided not to be spoiled and watched the whole thing play out. Towards the end, I was thinking that if Vera and Lombard had teamed up, perhaps they might have been able to catch the real killer had she not panicked and thought that Lombard was the killer.
no subject
Date: 2015-12-31 10:03 am (UTC)Wise woman! I didn't think it very good, but it was entertaining enough for me to keep watching.
And Then There Were None was a much better adaptation.
Yes, less messing about and better casting.
Towards the end, I was thinking that if Vera and Lombard had teamed up, perhaps they might have been able to catch the real killer had she not panicked and thought that Lombard was the killer.
Yes, they were definitely dangling that before us, I was thinking the same between having the first two parts and watching the third, but, Vera was clearly unravelling from the pressure.
I've found a copy of the book and will probably read it to see how much was changed.
You say you love mysteries, and I know you like period drama. Did you see The Bletchley Circle at all?
no subject
Date: 2015-12-31 03:32 pm (UTC)I did, and loved it! Though, I think I liked the first series better than the second probably because Anna Maxwell-Martin's character didn't appear much in it.
I've been binging my way through a lot of period shows recently. Was watching ITV's Jekyll and Hyde and though I didn't much like it at first, it did pick up towards the end though not sure if they'll bring it back for another series. The Frankenstein Chronicles had a smoother plot but I really didn't like the ending to the series and I doubt I'll be watching it again since I heard they did pick it up for series 2.
no subject
Date: 2016-01-04 09:41 pm (UTC)I might have given The Frankenstein Chronicles a try if I could get ITV Encore.
But next on my list is War and Peace.
no subject
Date: 2016-01-04 10:41 pm (UTC)