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Poirot: Murder on the Orient Express (2010)
Excellent, restrained version of a crime classic
Some of these later Poirot episodes have seemed somewhat indulgent, but this retelling of the classic Agatha Christie tale is a definite success. Restraint is the key: the story builds in a simmering manner. Poirot is distracted by the consequences of his actions (in an unrelated case alluded to at the start of the film) and his brooding anger finally explodes at the conclusion.
The main threads of Christie's story remain unchanged (including the conclusion) but the power of this version's ending is far superior to that of Christie's original. The 'all-star' cast which has so often overshadowed the later Poirot episodes is also more restrained (probably to keep the budget in shape) but this too works to the benefit of the film. Very much recommended!!
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont (2005)
A wasted opportunity.
Joan Plowright is good in this, and I imagine the producers only secured funding on the strength of her signing up to it. I had been looking forward to seeing this for ages - it sounded just my kind of film - and was very pleased to get the DVD this week.
But the film is so disappointing. A key part of the problem is presumably that the novel this is based on is both third-rate (the screenplay trots out one cliché after another: the London you see is the London Americans think of, red buses everywhere etc); and set in the fifties. The film needlessly updates the setting to the present day but in so doing makes an absolute nonsense of what is already a thin story.
The 'residents' of the hotel are poorly drawn stereotypes, and even the usually wonderful Anna Massey seems to be embarrassed to be in this mess. (The scene where she collapses is pitifully bad). Rupert Friend is a good male lead, and he clearly will go far, but the role he is asked to play is quite unbelievable and especially the bizarre scene where he & Mrs Palfrey visit his mother. Other cast members are either poorly used (Timothy Bateson - who was in the original cast of Waiting for Godot for goodness' sake - plays a muttering half-wit of a porter), or just rubbish. I laughed at the fact that the casting director of the film cast himself as the hotel manager, I don't think anyone else would somehow! The best part of the film other than Plowright is the cinematography which keeps trying to rise above the handicaps of the script & direction.
In essence this is a classic example of a film where you can see what kind of film the director imagined he was making but patently hasn't succeeded, and I'm hardly surprised that it hasn't gained distribution in the UK (or even a UK DVD release for that matter) as it is a very lacklustre and disappointing product.
Sasquatch: The Legend of Bigfoot (1976)
This film put me off cinema for years!
I was about 7 when this DIRE MONSTROSITY of a film was released. In the UK it was advertised on the TV in the summer of 1977 for weeks, as if it were some incredible blockbuster film. It was actually the first film I ever saw at a cinema, and I was put off going for years to come. The following week I was invited to go and see the new film "Star Wars" and I declined. To this day I have never seen it, in protest at having to watch Sasquatch! Seriously, even at the age of 7 I could tell that I was watching garbage. It's just so bad, it's almost unbelievable. Rambling nonsense that should NEVER have made it to a cinema. I was however amused to read all these years later that the director never directed again, just as well as far as I'm concerned. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!
The Rugged Island: A Shetland Lyric (1934)
Great film - now at last available on VHS!
This is an excellent film of a Scotland that has long since disappeared. Hard to find on VHS, but Amazon in the United Kingdom are now selling, copies. Well worth buying.
In 'The Rugged Island' a crofting couple living on the Shetland Isles are faced with choosing a new future overseas or staying just where they are. The VHS tape also contains the film 'Eriskay', which features the people of the Hebrides during the summer of 1934.
These old Scottish non-fiction shorts are an extraordinary way of looking back at a bygone age, history (almost) in the raw, and a world that might almost be another planet from a 21st century point-of-view.