You are so eloquent!!🌹 That is what I was trying to say in my comment but you have said it best 🤩

I have to agree ,I'm an atheist like the vast majority of people in the UK, this film is based between the wars when people were more religious, secondly I suspect the religious aspect was added to set the ground work for Poirot's internal struggle in the decision he comes to in Murder on the Orient express and Curtain ,I like both versions the Ustinov version has such a fantastic cast , Piper Laurie , Carrie Fisher and Lauren Bacall among others what's not to like

Yeah, i saw a similar situation on "Penny dreadful" series, something like: -"you dont believe in God..." -"No, but you do".

@dianamanzanilla2261 Thank you so much what a lovely thing to say

Ironically, that's a bit like asserting that we cannot know the mind of God/ Poirot. It's a sort of all-purpose excuse.

And who knew Tim Curry would turn into Warner Oland in his old age

😂

He's definitely fun to watch. He isn't like the Poirot in the books, of course. He added so many things, like rampant Catholicism, an inability to be able to dance, and love affairs that never happened. However, he portrayed the character somewhat consistently, and is delightful to see.

Everything is true that you say, and it's also true that having a good grasp of the "B.S. bag" will if not help, at least cover the weak writing throughout the "story"

And no one will ever be able to topple his performance ❤️

​@kugelweg your kidding. David Suchet IS poirot he studied the books and Poirot is a Catholic in the book

Yeah, I'm not religious myself but that's the least of my concerns compared to all the other tomfoolery he described. 😂 I think some changes can work with these adaptations, but this sounds like the writers lost their damn minds!

Believe it or not, I toned it down.

@@MysteryMiles Oh, I believe it 😂 but you lecture in such a nice way that it is dificult to fault you for it.

I fully agree.

Amen. This shows how far prejudice can take you. I have always thought that nobody gives more consideration to religion than atheists.

Yes, and Monk. Dale the Whale.

Except it actually works

I agree with your observation. Also, considering the nun turned out to be the opposite of a person of faith, I feel that Poirot's attention to that aspect would serve to offer to assist the girl to a restoration of faith.

yesss the nun part was so weird it threw me for a loop when I watched it

Or David Suchet's own faith?

I'm a straight, white, cis-gender male. So you're asking the wrong person.

Please read John 3:16.. Jesus still loves you, no matter what you've done, or how far you've gone.. he will always love you.

@@MysteryMiles What does that even have to do with anything? You outright said the version is bad because a character shows or has some religious words. Why do you refuse to elaborate?

I agree. This has so many social issues - child abuse, sex trafficking, kidnapping - that it is no longer a cozy mystery. Christie writes whodunnits, not psychological thrillers. And neither movie gets Boynton right. She is terrifying in her control. And when she realizes how small her reach is, she is determined to branch out. That is one scary villain. Yet the ability to control others is fairly common, not to this extent I hope. It makes her recognizable while being a monster. That is what makes her so awful- she could be anyone we know who seems too controling.

@@Nana-Sheri Mrs Boynton IS many people we know of in the public eye. Think Meghan Markle and what she has done and is doing.

@@dawnklug6986 That's it. Exactly.

@@dawnklug6986 What the hell are you talking about? How is Meghan Markle anything like Mrs Boynton? lmao

Thank you! Someday definitely!

I thought the same thing!

Hello! I have seen the trailer. I couldn't really tell what was going on, so I don't have any opinions yet, but the séance elements made me wonder if the script was influenced by two other AC stories, "The Last Séance" and "Motive v. Opportunity."

@@MysteryMiles Now that you have mentioned them, I can see the influences, but the way the trailer was cut made it look like a horror film. I didn't even know it was a Hercule Poirot mystery until 1 min 20 secs in and I saw Kenneth with and the return of the moustaches. They even did the cliched reflection in the mirror but no one is really here. I'm not feeling confident. I almost wish he had adapted The Big Four.

Agree, It worked for me dramatically. Not sure how Poirot could have a 'crisis of faith' (in Orient Express) without giving him a 'faith'...

Yes they did........as to show his moral abhorrence to what the others did and to try to give him a separation from that group when he had to make the choice of one life lost vs that of the group.

Thank you so much! I'm curious about this Poirot fan group.

@@MysteryMiles I refer to a Facebook fan group.

I heard a rumor that Jennifer Garner was slated to play her, which I hope is false. I'd have to think about who I'd cast.

@@MysteryMiles Oh God. Why don't they have Lady Gaga as Miss Lemon and be done with it?

Although Joan Hickson’s version is undoubtedly closer to Christie’s work, I must admit that I prefer the Geraldine McEwan version. I will say that I do tend to like the Marple series over the Miss Marple series, so I’m sure that I’m biased. I love both series, though. Joan Hickson, Geraldine McEwan, and Julia McKenzie all bring different aspects of Miss Marple to life in their portrayals, and absolutely adore them all. I know it’s probably heresy to say so, but I also love that some non-Marple mysteries have been adapted into ones for Miss Marple as well, since it means I get to see more of her. I’d have to say that The Pale Horse has to be my favorite non-Marple turned Marple mystery. (I know! Please, don’t come for me, Christie purists!) I know you didn’t ask me, but can you image a Miss Marple played by Maggie Smith? 😮 Or decades from now, an elderly Natalie Dormer or Emma Watson could be cool. (Again, please don’t come for me! Lol)

If you mean KZfaq blocked some of my videos, I know. I'm working on new edits so I can re-upload them without getting blocked again.

@@MysteryMiles I mean I can't find any Poirot on KZfaq as of a day ago! Best wishes

Agree with you there about Poirot's Catholicism in Orient Express. Not once in any of the books or short stories does Christie ever have Poirot going to mass, observing Lent, going to Confession, etc. I've always said it's like Christie made him Catholic because that fit his origin of a French speaking Belgian (as opposed to a German or Dutch speaking one) and then ignored the Catholic part entirely. Because saying "mon Dieu" isn't a specifically Catholic thing. So other than some occasional mentions of Poirot saying he's Catholic, we never see Poirot being a Catholic.

@@margaretalbrecht4650 I don't mind adaptations making him more religious, it fits with some aspects of the character, but in orient it was just STUPID.

​@@margaretalbrecht4650 I fully understand and respect your opinion on this subject. I also can appreciate Miles discomfort with the Suchet version's ending and Poirot (doing what could be interpreted as) proselytizing. I hope you'll give me a few minutes and permit me to humbly offer a counterpoint. I really think your interpretation of Christie's motives is accurate. Unless I'm mistaken, she chose Poirot to be a Belgian for no better reason than it made him an outsider (and of course because of the Belgian refugee population in England following WWI). Similarly, Christie seemed to treat his religion and a few other of his features as de facto without doing any proper research into those aspects. In my opinion, she approaches them with an outsiders perspective; I'd equate it to creating a character from Mexico and deciding, "Well his favorite music is Mariachi, obviously, look where he's from." I cite her well-known frustration with Poirot's popularity (and thus her need to write more stories about him), and her resentment of arbitrarily choosing Poirot's nation as Belgium, a culture she obviously wasn't an expert on. In my mind, Christie squandered an opportunity. For all Poirot's talk of psychology, she never examined the role Poirot's religious beliefs could play on his sense of right and wrong. Perhaps, you may argue, it didn't and he was either able to separate the two or he just didn't practice actively. There were certainly lapsed Catholics back in the 30s just as there are now, and there were certainly people who practiced their Christianity more quietly back in the past (Agatha Christie for example). However, it cannot be denied that the presence of the Catholic church was more significant than it is in 2023. Christie was a practicing Anglican, and the two denominations share some commonalities of practice, but also some fundamental differences in theology. I reiterate that Christie viewed Catholicism with an outsider's perspective. I won't argue that she held anti-Catholic beliefs as so many of her generation did (in fact, her 2nd husband was Catholic, although she didn't practice with him), but when she famously leant her support for the optional continued use of the Tridentine rite (practicing Catholic mass in Latin instead of English) in Post-Vatican II Britain, her reasoning contains slight hints of Orientalism. She didn't defend the old rite because of a theological preference, but rather because of the dramatic influence it'd had on art, literature, and culture. Her support came from aesthetics, not personal understanding. The Suchet adaptations on the other hand, bear an insider's perspective. Speaking as a Catholic, there's so much in that adaptation of Orient Express I recognize from my upbringing. The contrast of prayers between Poirot (giving thanks and reflecting his actions as being an extension of God's will) and Cassetti (asking for protection and forgiveness without having demonstrated sincere penitence for his crimes), Poirot's grappling with the suspects' violation of dogmatic law against the righteousness of their cause, and in the end his own struggle to maintain faith and not pass judgement. I love the 1974 Orient Express, it might actually be my favorite movie of all time, but it makes clear that because of their motives, we're supposed to side with the murderers even though they've now murdered. I respect the Suchet version for taking a more morally grey viewpoint and showing a somewhat deeper look at the internal turmoil of our protagonist as he rationalizes his final decision and deals with its spiritual ramifications on his soul. I can't say I'd blame you if you don't enjoy the extent to which Poirot is depicted actively practicing his Catholicism in the Suchet version. But Poirot is a Catholic in the early 20th century and in this adaptation, he's shown reflecting the attitudes and stances a man of his time might. I'm not going to defend his well-meaning but patronizing attitudes towards gay people or abortion shown in "Cards on the Table" and "Taken at the Flood;" as a citizen of the 21st century I reject those takes (and while we're on it, I don't like evangelizing either, though I'd make the case that's not what Poirot is doing at the end of Appointment with Death). Personally though, I think the choice to bring Poirot's religion to the forefront both makes sense to me and, in certain ways, it speaks to me. It's a struggle to maintain faith when there's so much hypocrisy in the world and even in the Church itself, but I thought it was comforting how Poirot's moral compass was depicted with his religious beliefs being one component of that compass. When so many other "period dramas" shy away from depicting religion in their main cast (cough, Downton Abbey, cough) out of fear of alienating a modern, more secular audience, I appreciate that the Suchet version gives a more unvarnished, true to history approach and explores a side of Poirot that even Agatha Christie couldn't from a place of authenticity.

@@margaretalbrecht4650if i not wrong, in one two buckle my shoe, Poirot is in a mass, and then he finally realizes who is the killer (even so, it is true that christe never seriously touches on poirot's religiosity)

I agree. That has no place in Agatha Christie!!

@@Nana-Sheri I mean, the books are PG-13, it has a little cussing, a little blood but abuse doesn’t fit anywhere! I bet if the scriptwriter wrote “Hercule Poirot’s Christmas”, they’d make it far more horrible than just old man cutting out his children out of the will!

He does refer to himself as a father confessor in some of his written stories

He used Poirot to propagate his own religious beliefs.

This comment is exactly perfect. You have thought through your reply wonderfully. However, I want to point out while Suchet did force his religious preferences into the role of Poirot, Suchet is not Catholic. He is Anglican. That doesn't make too much of a difference in the long run, since his personal, religious views should have been kept out of the Poirot adaptations. To be honest, many things should have been kept out of the Suchet adaptations, but that's a story for another time.