I know I've already made this episode request, but the Marple adaptation of Endless Night seems particularly relevant here. I'd be curious to see you compare the handling of the narrator twist in both of these adaptations. EDIT: Silly me I should have waited to the end if the video XD
I feel sorry for people who have to adapt this story. My mom had a saying. An artform gains legitimacy when it proves it can do something that no other medium can do. A good example? Undertale for video games. Undertale screws with the idea of player agency, save scumming, the idea of a second playthrough, it can't really work in any other medium. Roger Ackroyd to me is that for print medium. There are points in the narration of the book where, if you're paying attention, leave you with no other conclusion BUT the correct solution, but you disregard it entirely because you're used to the tropes of the medium. It's a fascinating novel, but even by following the ideas you mentioned, it's never going to have the same impact it did on paper.
Even if they thought that making Poirot read the journal would convey an inverse twist, it still made no sense to put Japp so front and center as opposed to Sheppard. I wonder whether it was force of habit after inserting Japp into so many stories that originally didn't feature him. (Although I don't know whether the essence of the twist lays as much in the 'successor to Hastings' factor as much as the 'the narrator did it' part.) It suddenly occurs to me to wonder whether this type of plot twist would work for a first person detective video game? I can't really tell, since I haven't played many games, but it feels like something that could work.
Since Dr James Sheppard is revealed to be an unreliable narrator it is not an unreasonable nor farfetched possibility that Dr Sheppard was actually innocent of murderer but protecting someone else. Pierre Bayard, in •Qui a tué Roger Ackroyd• (published in English as •Who Killed Roger Ackroyd•, translated by Carol Cosman), argues that Caroline Sheppard was the killer.
Styles is on the list. I have yet to see the 1928 silent film, The Passing of Mr. Quin, so I don't know if I'll do a video on that, but I will go into the Mr. Quin stories when covering Three-Act Tragedy.
I was looking forward to your thoughts on this one. In my eyes it's probably the worst adaptation the Suchet did, because of how badly they mangled the twist. I hope that the Japanese or Russian version does a better job.
I detest how so many of the early BBC Poirot stories end with a stupid chase scene. I will take a thousand silly cartoon ducks over another one of those.
Oof I'd do the same, with both the Murder of Roger Ackroyd and The Big Four, mainly because I really want to see them do justice to No. 4 as a versatile actor and master of disguise.
@@42ambrosia Maybe it could be a mini-series because the Big Four feels more of a short story collection with Poirot solving how the killer did it in the very same chapter the murder happens in
10:04 "There's the 1931 film "Alibi," which is considered a lost film. There's the Japanese version that's OVER 3 HOURS LONG! And there's a Russian version too." Translation: there's only one adaptation that's watchable. Seriously... who has that much spare time (either to learn Russian or watch an interminably long, probably campy Japanese movie)?
They did this well for Micheal Rogers, they did this well for Charles Cartwright but the *ONE* most important story in the Christie canon, they can’t do that correctly!
You haven't read Christie's The Man in the Brown Suit? It was written before Roger Ackroyd and uses the same twist with the narrator. I think pretty much everyone is disappointed with the Suchet adaptation of Ackroyd. Totally missed the feeling of the original book.
Ahem, spoiler warning. It does have more or less the same twist, but I don't think it had the same impact as Ackroyd, maybe because it's more of an adventure thriller than a detective story.
@@MysteryMiles It didn't have the same impact at the time either. Or Ackroyd wouldn't have taken the public by storm the way it did. But it is the same trick. Just more effectively used later in Ackroyd. For one thing, Ackroyd has a single narrator while Brown Suit does not.
Now I'll be up all night trying to think of that other book and if I've read it. LOL EDIT: I've found out which one....... and no I haven't read it. LOL But thanks to wikipedia.....
I haven't watched the adaption yet but I've read it'd very disloyal which is extremely dissapointing. Particularly as there's no other TV/film version and the ITV Poirot adaptions were generally accurate (compared to their Marple adaptions).
You see, I think maybe the way to do this was not unlike KNIVES OUT or THE GLASS ONION, namely set up someone else seemingly as the killer then create a shocking reveal in that way. This would mean changing the story considerably from one medium to another, but I don't object to that.
![The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie | Book Review [CC]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/i9iMIVyNau8/mqdefault.jpg)
I did read the book, I was shocked, then me and my mother saw the film adaptation, and it was nothing like the book so Miles, *i feel your pain*
I know I've already made this episode request, but the Marple adaptation of Endless Night seems particularly relevant here. I'd be curious to see you compare the handling of the narrator twist in both of these adaptations.
EDIT: Silly me I should have waited to the end if the video XD
Now that you’ve teased it, I really want to know more about that wacky looking Japanese adaptation!
I feel sorry for people who have to adapt this story.
My mom had a saying. An artform gains legitimacy when it proves it can do something that no other medium can do. A good example? Undertale for video games. Undertale screws with the idea of player agency, save scumming, the idea of a second playthrough, it can't really work in any other medium.
Roger Ackroyd to me is that for print medium. There are points in the narration of the book where, if you're paying attention, leave you with no other conclusion BUT the correct solution, but you disregard it entirely because you're used to the tropes of the medium. It's a fascinating novel, but even by following the ideas you mentioned, it's never going to have the same impact it did on paper.
Even if they thought that making Poirot read the journal would convey an inverse twist, it still made no sense to put Japp so front and center as opposed to Sheppard. I wonder whether it was force of habit after inserting Japp into so many stories that originally didn't feature him. (Although I don't know whether the essence of the twist lays as much in the 'successor to Hastings' factor as much as the 'the narrator did it' part.)
It suddenly occurs to me to wonder whether this type of plot twist would work for a first person detective video game? I can't really tell, since I haven't played many games, but it feels like something that could work.
Since Dr James Sheppard is revealed to be an unreliable narrator it is not an unreasonable nor farfetched possibility that Dr Sheppard was actually innocent of murderer but protecting someone else.
Pierre Bayard, in •Qui a tué Roger Ackroyd• (published in English as •Who Killed Roger Ackroyd•, translated by Carol Cosman), argues that Caroline Sheppard was the killer.
Bayard likes to do that.
Could you please make a video about the mysterious mr quin or the mysterious Affair at Styles?
Styles is on the list. I have yet to see the 1928 silent film, The Passing of Mr. Quin, so I don't know if I'll do a video on that, but I will go into the Mr. Quin stories when covering Three-Act Tragedy.
It’s odd how they did the narrator thing so well in Agatha Christie’s Marple but not Poirot
You mean Endless Night? Yeah. I agree
Now I want to read the book 💕👏👏
The book is much, much better. Always try to read each novel or short story before seeing the movie interpretation.
Really enjoying your videos.
Ferrars rhymes with terrors-at least according to Murder Ink in reference to E.X. Ferrars.
I enjoy your videos so much that I automatically add a "Like' before I watch each one. You *never* disappoint!
I'm dying to watch the Japanese adaptation. I love their Orient Express and want so much to see the others.
I was looking forward to your thoughts on this one. In my eyes it's probably the worst adaptation the Suchet did, because of how badly they mangled the twist. I hope that the Japanese or Russian version does a better job.
The Russian version does a VERY GOOD job!
They literally made an adaptation which was deprived of almost everything that made the book so great LOL
Wow, too bad you read ackroyd after you saw it. I imagine that would’ve really spoiled the beauty of the book for you.
I'll never know for sure. But I've read it four times and I still always enjoy it. :)
They did a horrible job here.
I detest how so many of the early BBC Poirot stories end with a stupid chase scene. I will take a thousand silly cartoon ducks over another one of those.
ITV.
If I was 20 years older, I’d adapt “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd” and just to know that some scriptwriter won’t change it, I’ll write it myself!
Oof I'd do the same, with both the Murder of Roger Ackroyd and The Big Four, mainly because I really want to see them do justice to No. 4 as a versatile actor and master of disguise.
@@42ambrosia Maybe it could be a mini-series because the Big Four feels more of a short story collection with Poirot solving how the killer did it in the very same chapter the murder happens in
10:04 "There's the 1931 film "Alibi," which is considered a lost film. There's the Japanese version that's OVER 3 HOURS LONG! And there's a Russian version too."
Translation: there's only one adaptation that's watchable. Seriously... who has that much spare time (either to learn Russian or watch an interminably long, probably campy Japanese movie)?
I'll be honest, before it got taken down from UA-cam, I tried watching the Japanese version. I got through about ten minutes.
❤❤
They did this well for Micheal Rogers, they did this well for Charles Cartwright but the *ONE* most important story in the Christie canon, they can’t do that correctly!
You haven't read Christie's The Man in the Brown Suit? It was written before Roger Ackroyd and uses the same twist with the narrator.
I think pretty much everyone is disappointed with the Suchet adaptation of Ackroyd. Totally missed the feeling of the original book.
Ahem, spoiler warning. It does have more or less the same twist, but I don't think it had the same impact as Ackroyd, maybe because it's more of an adventure thriller than a detective story.
@@MysteryMiles It didn't have the same impact at the time either. Or Ackroyd wouldn't have taken the public by storm the way it did. But it is the same trick. Just more effectively used later in Ackroyd. For one thing, Ackroyd has a single narrator while Brown Suit does not.
Now I'll be up all night trying to think of that other book and if I've read it. LOL
EDIT: I've found out which one....... and no I haven't read it. LOL But thanks to wikipedia.....
I haven't watched the adaption yet but I've read it'd very disloyal which is extremely dissapointing. Particularly as there's no other TV/film version and the ITV Poirot adaptions were generally accurate (compared to their Marple adaptions).
Not sure why but thought you might pull a unreliable narrator gag in this video, given you are the narrator.
You see, I think maybe the way to do this was not unlike KNIVES OUT or THE GLASS ONION, namely set up someone else seemingly as the killer then create a shocking reveal in that way. This would mean changing the story considerably from one medium to another, but I don't object to that.