tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post6015424227374166983..comments2024-03-26T17:48:56.627+00:00Comments on 'Do You Write Under Your Own Name?': Murder is Over-ComplicatedMartin Edwardshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16082485795280777670noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-65981378630666727982009-09-16T22:38:30.711+01:002009-09-16T22:38:30.711+01:00BooksPlease and Uriah - I agree. It's all the ...BooksPlease and Uriah - I agree. It's all the more regrettable as I felt the episode got off to a really good start. I realise that some changes might be needed, but much of the extra material was off-beam, in my opinion.Martin Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16082485795280777670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-54409421317910821942009-09-16T10:29:13.904+01:002009-09-16T10:29:13.904+01:00Martin vegetable duck was spot on with his/her com...Martin vegetable duck was spot on with his/her comment. I posted about this a few days ago <br />http://bit.ly/4uvFi and still can't work why the Christie estate allowed this or even why it was done. <br /><br />The writers obviously knew nothing about people with learning difficulties and this plot line was ridiculous.Uriah Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02046023583067265187noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-19827983297110960562009-09-16T06:44:25.195+01:002009-09-16T06:44:25.195+01:00Oh dear! I really dislike it when adapters change ...Oh dear! I really dislike it when adapters change plots so radically.<br /><br />How can this possibly be "Agatha Christie's Marple" when she isn't even in the book? And as for spicing it up - I'm speechless.<br /><br />Oh well, why should I be surprised when this happens so often, but as vegetableduck says the problem is that people will think this is what Agatha Christie wrote!<br /><br />I recently watched the TV version of Rankin's The Falls - again a complete mismash - nothing like the book.BooksPleasehttp://www.booksplease.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-92095279671473870142009-09-15T19:36:57.929+01:002009-09-15T19:36:57.929+01:00Curt, Elizabeth, Dorte and Dean - thanks, I think ...Curt, Elizabeth, Dorte and Dean - thanks, I think we have a consensus developing!Martin Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16082485795280777670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-1836769978860158072009-09-15T19:36:02.485+01:002009-09-15T19:36:02.485+01:00Curt, I've often wondered how I'd react to...Curt, I've often wondered how I'd react to having my books changed for tv, but sadly, it's not arisen in practice. Though I did stipulate in my first tv contract that Harry Devlin should not be killed off!Martin Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16082485795280777670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-86708470108049892722009-09-15T17:21:17.269+01:002009-09-15T17:21:17.269+01:00Spot on, Martin. It got really grand Guignol towar...Spot on, Martin. It got really grand Guignol toward the end, amost laughably so. Some of the cast was wasted, I thought, on the goofiness. I like Julia McKenzie, having seen her on stage in London, but from what I've seen in Marple, she's far too bland.Dean Jamesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-32708343753526748932009-09-15T16:38:40.457+01:002009-09-15T16:38:40.457+01:00A pity they couldnĀ“t leave a good plot alone! Murd...A pity they couldnĀ“t leave a good plot alone! Murder is Easy is a great novel.Dorte Hhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14535044092722418173noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-52399875301144327172009-09-15T15:29:20.741+01:002009-09-15T15:29:20.741+01:00I was reading your post when I saw "sex with ...I was reading your post when I saw "sex with disastrous consequences, including incest, rape, abortion and murder" and was thinking, "Wait! I don't remember that in 'Murder Made Easy!'" Too funny. Clever title for your post, too.<br /><br />Elizabeth<br /><a href="http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow"> Mystery Writing is Murder</a>Elizabeth Spann Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15625595247828274405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7291823984059320518.post-26219919107249989832009-09-15T07:54:57.246+01:002009-09-15T07:54:57.246+01:00Martin, I don't for the life of me understand ...Martin, I don't for the life of me understand the desire of these adapters to "improve" Christie's plotting by changing key events, motivations and even identities of the killers in some cases! What is the goal? Is it to make Christie more "relevant"? Is it to "spice things up"? I don't see how it can be to improve the plotting, because they almost invariably make things cluttered and implausible when they resort to changes in the actual murder plot elements.<br /><br />Maybe in the case of Murder Is Easy, they changed it because there had been a previous American version? If that's so, it's too bad, because the 1982 version could easily have been improved with a faithful version.<br /><br />Of course I know Miss Marple isn't even int he book, but her addition would not bother me so much if they showed respect for the puzzle plot, the backbone of a Christie novel.<br /><br />I am frankly horrified the Christie estate agrees to this. The problem is a lot of people will watch the new adaptation and think that is what Christie actually wrote. They may never read the book. Christie was a great plotter, but they'll never know it from these adaptations! I think it's extremely distorting and I cannot imagine Christie ever would have approved of it. <br /><br />If they want to change the stories to that extent, why not just write entirely new plots that don't purport to be actual Christie works, you know, "based on the characters of Agatha Christie," like they do with Midsomer Murders? To me the whole enterprise just seems shabby and dishonest. They seem to want to cash in on Christie's name without showing her work the basic respect a great author is due (and she was a great author within her genre).<br /><br />Let me ask you, as a mystery novelist how would you feel if one of your novels were monkeyed with to that extent?<br /><br />I'm not talking up absolute textual fidelity either. I recently watched the Poirot Cat Among the Pigeons, and I believe they made a number of alterations, which was fine with me (the basic plot structure, as I recall it, was left intact). Obviously there have to be some changes in adapting a novel to film. But for them to significantly rewrite novels like they've been doing with a number of Marples and even some of the Poirots sticks in my craw.vegetableducknoreply@blogger.com