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Witness for the prosecution


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Old 28-12-2016, 22:16
Takae
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Enlighten me.
Why was the girl in the trench anyway? A most unlikely place to find an attractive woman.
I wondered that too. Has anyone got an explanation?
Romaine Vole/Hielger.
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Old 28-12-2016, 22:39
Prince Monalulu
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Romaine Vole/Hielger.
Why, not who.

The trench was near to town wasn't it, if there's shelling, hide in trench rather than building I'd have thought, if there are snipers about keeps you out their line of sight below ground.
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Old 28-12-2016, 22:58
pedrok
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I thought it a nasty, horrible version.

Christie was dark, you don't write stories of murder without darkness, but that was just nasty.

There comes a time when an adaptation moves so far from the original, it becomes all but a new story. This headed in that direction.
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Old 28-12-2016, 23:13
Granny McSmith
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Why, not who.

The trench was near to town wasn't it, if there's shelling, hide in trench rather than building I'd have thought, if there are snipers about keeps you out their line of sight below ground.
I'm not aware that civilians wandered around the trenches, however. I must admit, it seemed unlikely to me that she'd be there.
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Old 28-12-2016, 23:20
si29uk
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I am not sure I am going to make it to the end of this one. I am fed up with the smog, the heavy soundscape and the unnecessary sex scenes.

I am no prude - but I want the story to be the focus not the middle-aged solicitor failing to reach orgasm because of his bad chest.

It feels like the screen-writer and director want to show how clever and artsy they are rather than telling us a great story. This should have been a 90 minute single drama - not padded out to 2 hours in this way.
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Old 29-12-2016, 00:10
nethwen
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It's just dawned on me. How did Romaine get away with being charged with perjury, again?
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Old 29-12-2016, 00:15
Prince Monalulu
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It's just dawned on me. How did Romaine get away with being charged with perjury, again?
She didn't, she went to prison.
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Old 29-12-2016, 00:16
saralund
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Well, I thought it was brilliant. If you went into it looking for a classical Suchet-Poirot detective story, it might have been a disappointment. But I loved that they made it into a comment on the effects of the first world war on the people who survived it.

Thought the performances were excellent, especially Andrea Riseborough as Romaine (who didn't escape a perjury charge at all. She went to prison, and met up with Stephen when she got out.)
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Old 29-12-2016, 00:17
nethwen
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She didn't, she went to prison.
Thank you.
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Old 29-12-2016, 02:05
Takae
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Oops. I obviously misread the question. Thanks for the correction.
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Old 29-12-2016, 08:52
roddydogs
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Anyone managed to get a link to a reasonable copy of the 1957 film, all the U.Tube ones are hopeless, or else they want you to join something.!
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Old 29-12-2016, 08:55
molliepops
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This was brilliant I never read the book so wasn't aware of the story, the twist at the end was such a surprise !

Btw in the First World War if trenches were near towns and that often happened young ladies would visit soldiers I know my uncle came home with a wife and child begotten in that manner.
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Old 29-12-2016, 08:59
jenco
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According to IMDB there is a new movie of WFTP due out in 2018. Starring Ben Affleck who is also directing and producing. Matt Damon producing too.
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Old 29-12-2016, 09:26
Eater Sundae
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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
Thanks. I'll look out for it.
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Old 29-12-2016, 09:42
mal2pool
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well I tried watching the 1957 version but got bored with it. couldn't get into it. Tyrone Powers character looked a lot older than in the new version. It was mostly Charles Laughton character having the main screen time.
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Old 29-12-2016, 10:24
misfitt
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Agatha Christie is set to loom even larger in the British TV schedules after BBC One agreed to show seven new adaptations of her classic mysteries.
The books to be filmed over the next four years include Ordeal By Innocence and Death Comes As The End.
Another, The Witness For The Prosecution, has previously been announced - taking the BBC's total of forthcoming Christie dramas to eight.
The commissions follow the long-running and much-loved Miss Marple and Poirot.
They also come on the back of the TV version of her thriller And Then There Were None, which was shown last Christmas.
And David Walliams and Jessica Raine starred in Partners in Crime, based on Christie's Tommy and Tuppence detective novels, on BBC One last year.
Of the seven newly announced adaptations, three titles have been revealed:
Ordeal By Innocence, in which a son is posthumously pardoned of murdering his mother - meaning another member of the family must be guilty
Death Comes As The End, set in Ancient Egypt, in which a young woman suspects her priest father may be tied up in the death of a concubine
The ABC Murders, about a serial killer working his way through the alphabet in 1930s Britain, tracked (in the book at least) by Hercule Poirot
Meanwhile, The Witness For The Prosecution will be a two-part dramatisation of the 1925 short story of the same name, starring Toby Jones, Andrea Riseborough and Kim Cattrall.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-37174913
Please no more partners in crime though as that show was poor
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Old 29-12-2016, 10:27
misfitt
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Wish I hadn't wasted my time watching this tripe. Far too many twists and turns, sometimes writers just try too hard to be interesting and fail miserably. And all the coughing and spluttering made me feel sick, especially when he coughed phlegm all over his poor wife's face mid-hump. Terrible programme.

I watched the first episode but as good as And then there were none last year. I doubt I will watch the second as got bored halfway through. I have seen this at the theatre though.
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Old 29-12-2016, 10:35
Chris1964
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I am not sure I am going to make it to the end of this one. I am fed up with the smog, the heavy soundscape and the unnecessary sex scenes.

I am no prude - but I want the story to be the focus not the middle-aged solicitor failing to reach orgasm because of his bad chest.

It feels like the screen-writer and director want to show how clever and artsy they are rather than telling us a great story. This should have been a 90 minute single drama - not padded out to 2 hours in this way.
Yes, If there was a way to "unsee" things-that scene would be somewhere near the top of my list and it certainly isn't because of any inclination to be a prude.

Overall ok, but nowhere near as good as "And then there were None" last year.
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Old 29-12-2016, 10:38
Swanandduck2
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Well, I thought it was brilliant. If you went into it looking for a classical Suchet-Poirot detective story, it might have been a disappointment. But I loved that they made it into a comment on the effects of the first world war on the people who survived it.

Thought the performances were excellent, especially Andrea Riseborough as Romaine (who didn't escape a perjury charge at all. She went to prison, and met up with Stephen when she got out.)
But that's totally separate from Agatha Christie's story. If the BBC want to commission a drama on that theme, fine. But hanging it on Agatha Christie's name, just to attract an audience who enjoy her books, is deceptive, no matter how much they try to dress it up in artsy 'new interpretations' language.
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Old 29-12-2016, 10:38
StressMonkey
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I wasn't sure whether to watch as having seen the films and with almost every legal procedural having done their own homage, I did wonder where they could do with it that would keep it true (ish) to the book (in the major plot point/twist) yet still keep it interesting. And I'm glad I gave it a go. I thought it was excellent. Focusing on the Solicitor and telling his story really gave a fresh angle to an old story. I thought the acting was superb, the script, direction and atmosphere fantastic.
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Old 29-12-2016, 10:42
mal2pool
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I thought everything about it was spot on. Toby Jones tortured soul with leonard vole reminding him so much of his lost son. We knew there was something deep down troubling Toby all the way through. I knew his wife had fallen out with him somehow but didn't know why until the end.
Romaine hypnotising toby with her song on the moon. so toby thinking of his son and his dead relationship with his wife.
Emily French's relationship with mr vole was spot on. Understated, not a sexual relationship just an obsession of an old lady.
The smokey choking atmosphere that engulfed the story, then the air cleared when they thought the case was all over.
all the actors did a fine job. loved the ending too.
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Old 29-12-2016, 10:47
Faust
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I am not sure I am going to make it to the end of this one. I am fed up with the smog, the heavy soundscape and the unnecessary sex scenes.

I am no prude - but I want the story to be the focus not the middle-aged solicitor failing to reach orgasm because of his bad chest.

It feels like the screen-writer and director want to show how clever and artsy they are rather than telling us a great story. This should have been a 90 minute single drama - not padded out to 2 hours in this way.
It always amuses me when someone complains about a 'sex scene' then follows it up by stating they are not 'a prude'.

It's similar to those who claim they are 'not prejudiced' by stating some of their best friends or neighbours are 'black' etc.
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Old 29-12-2016, 10:54
JeffG1
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It's similar to those who claim they are 'not prejudiced' by stating some of their best friends or neighbours are 'black' etc.
Yes, I know it's a hackneyed phrase, but I have never quite understood why it's picked on as being prejudiced. (Not that it's something I'd use myself, mainly because it doesn't apply in my case. )
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Old 29-12-2016, 10:56
Swanandduck2
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It always amuses me when someone complains about a 'sex scene' then follows it up by stating they are not 'a prude'.

It's similar to those who claim they are 'not prejudiced' by stating some of their best friends or neighbours are 'black' etc.
You don't have to be a prude to find unnecessary sex scenes an annoying distraction in a drama.

ETA: Sorry, I think I misinterpreted your post there. I agree, no need to clarify that you're not a prude simply because you're criticising an unnecessary sex scene.
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Old 29-12-2016, 10:57
derek500
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Emily French's relationship with mr vole was spot on. Understated, not a sexual relationship just an obsession of an old lady.
Didn't we see him coming up for air in one scene?
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