I know that I have not been very good about posting responses to comments these past few days. I posted one response, then decided to take it off, only to put my comment back on, and ultimately took it off AGAIN. Good grief!!! I also changed a previous blog/entry once it was up… That doesn’t happen very often!

I have had “other things” on my mind these past few days. My husband was hospitalized on Monday, and, THANK GOODNESS he is back at home, and is OK. He is “so OK” that he is planning on going back to work tomorrow – Thursday. He has been hospitalized two other times (in the past +/- five years) and we thought for sure it was the same thing. Luckily, it was not.

So, I think that I am “back to normal” now and will get back into the swing of the site. Hopefully I will be able to post a comment without hesitating and wondering if I am wording it right… if my grammar is correct… if I know what I am talking about… if it makes sense… ETC

Thanks for being patient!

There were a few comments that were posted about the recent Murder on the Orient Express television movie – starring the wonderful David Suchet (as Hercule Poirot), which aired on Sunday, July 11, 2010. I enjoyed the comments so much, that I decided to write a response in this entry. Here are some of the comments:

Lisa – July 12, 2010 at 5:26 pm
“After seeing the special with David Suchet on the magnificent train I was quite excited about last night’s broadcast. I must say I was disappointed. Very little character development for any of the suspects, Poirot didn’t seem his regular self either. As a Catholic, I was confused by this infusion into Poirot’s character. Suchet is and was marvelous, the production brilliant, but the screen play-script! Why make adjustments to Agatha’s Christie’s magnificent story? I recommend buying the dvd of Suchet’s actual trip on the historic and romantic train. I hope the others in this series are better written.”

Kim – July 12, 2010 at 9:03 pm
“I also was disappointed in the version on PBS, and I was so hopeful because I love David Suchet as Poirot. But I guess when you leave out a character, you have to make someone else one of the killers. Really?? And the 2 scenes showing us Poirot’s thoughts on justice…really not necessary. I have noticed tho, that the newer episodes don’t adhere to the books, and that is what I am watching for. I love the books and want to see those dramatized.”

So, here are my comments:

I, too, was disappointed with this last Masterpiece Mystery! show… Murder on the Orient Express. Don’t get me wrong, I think that it was a good movie on its own merit… I simply don’t think that it belonged with ALL of the other episodes in the David Suchet Poirot series. This one was DARK>>> Much darker than all of the other episodes. And, much darker than the Agatha Christie mysteries I have read… including Murder on the Orient Express! I totally agree with Kim: “the newer episodes don’t adhere to the books, and that is what I am watching for. I love the books and want to see those dramatized.”

I know that budgets have been cut on a lot of television productions, and I am assuming this show has felt the cuts BECAUSE, after seeing the magnificently opulent train in the 1974 movie version of this same mystery novel (Yes, yes, I realize that “real” movies spend millions of dollars on their sets!!!) –  I have to say, I do not think that I would clamor to take a trip on this particular train. There was absolutely nothing extraordinary about the inside scenes. I had expected some type of almost-majestic fabrics, wood paneling, light fixtures… something! Lisa, I agree, there was nothing about the train that portrayed it as an “historic and romantic train.”

I was very surprised to see ANY reference to Poirot’s religion. Good grief! Where did that come from?!? I am pretty sure that I have never seen another Masterpiece Poirot show do that. Those scenes simply didn’t “belong” in this production. But, then again, almost all of the scenes didn’t belong! (Again, I think that the movie is good… it just isn’t anything like the others in this particular series.) Why bill this as a type of Poirot-returns show if it isn’t at all like the Poirot most of us have been watching for the last (+/-) 20 years?

This episode brought to my mind the Sesame Street song my children grew up with:
“One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn’t belong.
Can you tell which thing is not like the others,
By the time I finish my song?”

Well, in this case, it was this Agatha Christie Poirot episode!

PS>>>> If you disagree, please feel free to comment…

I know that the Cozy Mystery site has readers from all over the world, so I am sometimes skeptical about posting an entry that only relates to the USA. However, please bear with me…

For those of you site readers in the USA…

Happy 4th of July!