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Witness for the prosecution


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Old 27-12-2016, 22:53
Baz_James
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I haven't seen Margaret Rutherford's Miss Marple. She was a brilliant actress too, though.
She was. But totally miscast for Marple even though the films are great fun.
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Old 27-12-2016, 22:56
Baz_James
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She was brilliant as Miss Marple. The definitive version.
The definitive version if you're happy to completely ignore the books altogether, certainly. Nobody would pretend for a second that here Marple was in any way related to the one in the books.
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Old 27-12-2016, 22:56
lolly-licker
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To be honest, not a patch on And Then There Were None, but I think if you were hoping for into be the same level,you weren't going in with the right perspective...

Toby Jones and Andrea Riseborough were fantastic.
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Old 27-12-2016, 22:56
Paulie Walnuts
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Well speaking as someone new to the story, I thought that was brilliant, the scene between John and Alice was so raw and uncomfortable, that story was better than the murder mystery. Loved it in the end.
Same here, I thought it was excellent and very well acted by all.
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Old 27-12-2016, 22:57
Walter Neff
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I saw the film as quite a young child with my mother.

I can remember being terrified when Marlene Dietrich, her beret at an angle and her hair covering one cheek, pulled the hair back saying something about "Believe this ducky." And there was a horrific scar, hitherto unseen.
Her exact words were, "Want to kiss me ducky?" and it seems that her friend Noel Coward coached her with the cockney accent, and very good she was too.
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Old 27-12-2016, 22:57
Jenny1986
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She was. But totally miscast for Marple even though the films are great fun.
My only memory of these films is when Marple opened a cupboard and a cat 'jumped out' It was blatantly a stuffed cat being pulled by a string. It made me laugh for nearly 20 minutes, I was easily amused as a child.
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Old 27-12-2016, 23:00
mrbernay
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My only memory of these films is when Marple opened a cupboard and a cat 'jumped out' It was blatantly a stuffed cat being pulled by a string. It made me laugh for nearly 20 minutes, I was easily amused as a child.
TMC show the Rutherford Marples quite regularly
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Old 27-12-2016, 23:05
Jenny1986
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TMC show the Rutherford Marples quite regularly
Oh does it? Thanks I will keep an eye out. I thought TMC only showed endless episodes of Gunsmoke on repeat. With the odd John Wayne film thrown in.
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Old 27-12-2016, 23:07
Walter Neff
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The definitive version if you're happy to completely ignore the books altogether, certainly. Nobody would pretend for a second that here Marple was in any way related to the one in the books.
Agatha Christie did say that she always wanted Joan Hickson to play Miss Marple, and she finally got her wish.
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Old 27-12-2016, 23:07
Mirliton
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No - in the short story the it is revealed that Vole is guilty at the very end by his 'wife' - and that's how it ends. In the play/movie it is also revealed by Mrs Vole that Vole is innocent but Christie re-wrote it so that Leonard had a mistress and was abandoning Christine (as she was known in the movie) to be tried for perjury. Christine grabs a knife of the evidence table and kills Vole. The barrister who had got Vole off is persuaded to defend her and that's how that ends.
This from IMDB:

Spoiler


That's about four twists in that final scene then!!!! I don't mind twists, but it has to be believable. Then again, this is AC...
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Old 27-12-2016, 23:09
Department_S
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You'd think he would avoid Le Touguet = WW1 battlefields....
Not sure of your point. Le Touquet was not a location for any fighting in WW1 (although it does have war graves and the site of the Canadian hospital) . I didn't like the change of ending personally although admired the acting.
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Old 27-12-2016, 23:24
Sherlock_Holmes
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She was brilliant as Miss Marple. The definitive version.
Well, not if you go by the description in the AC novels (where Miss Marple was not a comedic action granny).
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Old 27-12-2016, 23:25
fiagomez
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Think I was slightly disappointed by that...

Will have to look up the original.
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Old 27-12-2016, 23:27
Imogen_Richards
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Same here, I thought it was excellent and very well acted by all.
Me too. I liked Billy Howle. He seems to be doing well, with main parts in The Sense of an Ending, The Seagull and Chesil Beach all forthcoming.
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Old 27-12-2016, 23:30
mrbernay
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Not sure of your point. Le Touquet was not a location for any fighting in WW1 (although it does have war graves and the site of the Canadian hospital) . I didn't like the change of ending personally although admired the acting.
Le Touquet is very close to the battlefields of the Somme. I doubt anyone who had probably been through Le Touquet to be repatriated to the UK would want to go there again
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Old 27-12-2016, 23:31
Verence
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I probably read the original short story many years ago, as I read pretty much anything by AC, but I don't remember the ending (or that she wrote two endings as mentioned above). Also, I've only seen the Billy Wilder film version, and not any other one. Can anyone tell me what other versions there are, so I can look out for it.
There was a 1982 tv movie version made by CBS with Ralph Richardson in the Charles Laugton role

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witnes...on_(1982_film)

That was only 97 minutes long.

The BBC version could have even shorter if they had cut out all the completely irrelevant nonsense about Mayhew's family life and all his coughing
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Old 28-12-2016, 00:55
Takae
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I agree.

Did Mayhew commit suicide in the end because of his wife's revelation or because he was wrong about the case ...or maybe both? Why did they bother with all that?
His wife didn't make a revelation, though. He already knew.

Spoiler
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Old 28-12-2016, 01:11
Liza with a Zee
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I'm astounded that the Christie family have allowed Agatha's name to this adaptation. The gratuitous scenes which I would quite happily watch on a US "made for TV movie" has not place in Christie dramas. As a total Christie fan I'm saddened by the BBC chasing the ratings by putting in sex and violence explicitly, ITV Poirot and Marple are far superior. Really NOT Christmas Day viewing.
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Old 28-12-2016, 01:17
Liza with a Zee
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Agatha Christie did say that she always wanted Joan Hickson to play Miss Marple, and she finally got her wish.
Joan Hickson was an excellent Marple. Just as I imagine her, bird like with china blue eyes. I like Geraldine McEwab too.
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Old 28-12-2016, 02:10
johnloony
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The reaction of people to this (both here and on Twitter) seems sharply divided between those who are familiar with the film, who think it was rubbish and annoying; and those who didn't know the story, who rather liked it. The main twist (that Mrs Vole sabotaged her own evidence because she knew that he was guilty) remained intact but had much less impact in this version because of all the other extra stuff about Mayhew and his wife, and the maid.

Incidentally, a lot of people have mentioned the 1957 film with Charles Laughton, but equally good is the 1982 film with Ralph Richardson (and Donald Pleasence as the prosecuting barrister) which I watched yesterday just to remind myself.
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Old 28-12-2016, 02:42
Prince Monalulu
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Can't agree with the comments complaining about lack of suspense, mystery and tension. I thought there was plenty and it definitely went up several gears tonight compared to last night. It was chilling, dark and disturbing. Very good I thought. In contrast, I was unmoved by last year's totally incredulous ATTWN.
Just finished watching my recording, skimming through the thread.

Overall I'll have to agree with you, loads better than last year's effort, but that was down to the script/storyline, which was some dull mystery in the end, that I had to slog through.
I also didn't need to read a thread to understand what the hell was going on, fill the plot holes to keep my interest.
This actually had some human emotion to hang on to.
Can Vole ever completely trust his Wife, seemed to be some doubt in his mind, she might 'off' him at some point.
Always good when it leaves you wondering what happens to them when they're off-screen, never to be seen again.
Their 'explanation' as to why they were the way they were, was 'interesting', blaming it on the war.

About half hour into this, I was grinning knowing there are some twists to come and looking forward to them
The gloom/filter/fog, I liked it, added some atmosphere, could have worked without it, but it added a certain 'something' got used to it quickly.

As an aside, wasn't the Janet the maid also Vicky the Polish seamstress from Corrie?
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Old 28-12-2016, 03:01
Prince Monalulu
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I'm astounded that the Christie family have allowed Agatha's name to this adaptation. The gratuitous scenes which I would quite happily watch on a US "made for TV movie" has not place in Christie dramas. As a total Christie fan I'm saddened by the BBC chasing the ratings by putting in sex and violence explicitly, ITV Poirot and Marple are far superior. Really NOT Christmas Day viewing.
Sorry, I can watch drama all year round, including sex, violence and bad language, Christmas day is no exception, it's a murder mystery, murder is a violent dirty business.

A few years back BBC Two had a late night Film Noir season over Christmas, some of the films weren't up to much, not top notch, but I enjoyed it.
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Old 28-12-2016, 03:54
Lab
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Originally Posted by Liza with a Zee;84984192}
[/B
I'm astounded that the Christie family have allowed Agatha's name to this adaptation. The gratuitous scenes which I would quite happily watch on a US "made for TV movie" has not place in Christie dramas. As a total Christie fan I'm saddened by the BBC chasing the ratings by putting in sex and violence explicitly, ITV Poirot and Marple are far superior. Really NOT Christmas Day viewing.
To work backwards, in true Christie style, through your criticism...

Lastly, it's just as well the first episode of this series was shown on Boxing Day, not Christmas Day.

Secondly, Christie used a lot of suggestive language as was usual for the time, to insinuate what was happening or about to happen. Let's not forget her stories were written at a time when anything overly sexual could be banned from publication. I'm sure given the freedom of todays writers she would have taken any opportunity to 'sex' her stories up. It's not like she wasn't a bit of a goer herself.

Firstly, I'm sure the Christie estate are more of a business these days, all about making sure AC's legacy is kept in the modern idiom. Ergo, modernising Christie's early 20th century stories for a new century and a new audience will continue the legacy.
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Old 28-12-2016, 04:34
ennui 57
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Personally, I feel that some of the criticisms have been a bit harsh.

It was my cuppa tea, and I preferred it to a lot (well, most really!) of the usual Christmas stuff.

Thinking about it, perhaps Kim Catrall was a bit too attractive to be a sex-starved rich widow/spinster in the public's view, and so Vole's role as her killer was less believable? Dunno.

But I enjoyed it for what it was; even the 'greenish' tinge earlier.

I wonder why Agatha Christie is held in such high esteem? The ''Golden Age'' of crime novelists also include Margery Allingham: Ngaio Marsh, and Dorothy Sayers, whom I prefer to Agatha tbh

I don't suppose any of them would be considered particularly perceptive about the human condition these days, but I s'pose it all depends what you want from your drama.
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Old 28-12-2016, 06:29
hooter
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Personally, I feel that some of the criticisms have been a bit harsh.

It was my cuppa tea, and I preferred it to a lot (well, most really!) of the usual Christmas stuff.

Thinking about it, perhaps Kim Catrall was a bit too attractive to be a sex-starved rich widow/spinster in the public's view, and so Vole's role as her killer was less believable? Dunno.

But I enjoyed it for what it was; even the 'greenish' tinge earlier.

I wonder why Agatha Christie is held in such high esteem? The ''Golden Age'' of crime novelists also include [b]Margery Allingham: Ngaio Marsh, and Dorothy Sayers, whom I prefer to Agatha tbh[/B

I don't suppose any of them would be considered particularly perceptive about the human condition these days, but I s'pose it all depends what you want from your drama.
All three are very good who-done-it authors who largely seem to have been forgotten today......Shame,
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