25 Nov Poirot: Dumb Witness (1966)

Script Mysteries

Egad. Watching these Suchet versions of Poirot is a real adventure. Following the tradition set by the BBC, each episode has a different adapter and director. The idea is that it is supposed to keep things fresh. After all, the selling points are the characters and the good will of the Christie name. So everything else is up for negotiation.

This director decided that pink skies would be the main value. The screenwriter thought that just filling space until the surprise ending would suffice. There is no thinking here, no detecting, no mystery in the story. The only mystery in these episodes is solving the mystery of what the creative team intended.

In this case, the murderer is Douglas Watkinson, who murders Dame Agatha. He does so in a brutal way and then hides behind a gaggle of actors who have to pretend they are Victorian actors, with all the comic exaggerations.

Posted in 2005

Ted’s Evaluation — 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

IMDB