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Reviews
The Alphabet Murders (1965)
Better than some
The Wikipedia article speaks of the movie makers as going for comedy. I would say this was not the most well-advised decision. I first saw this in high school, when it came to TV a year or so after its release. We were studying Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot in English class. So I was psyched to see the flick.
It was a moderate disappointment. It looked like they tried to make Poirot slightly buffoonish. It looked like they tried to modernize the flick. It looked like
dare I say it? It looked like camp. Moicy. One of the besetting sins of the 1960's cinematically (I think) was we all were postmodern and pretentious, and time-honored movies and stories were passé. This came off looking like a Rock Hudson / Doris Day flick in a way.
I like Tony Randall. I like Robert Morley. Anita Eckberg ain't too bad. But it isn't classic Poirot. The adaptation of the book to the Brit TV series Agatha Christie's Poirot with David Suchet
that's classic Christie; and classic Poirot.
The Dreamer of Oz (1990)
the direct tie between the book and the movie
It's been years since I saw the movie. I tried taping it when it was first broadcast--the reception was awful. I thought the tape unwatchable. It was broadcast again. I think we were taping some other show.
But I watched the tape again--I had misplaced it--or thought I hadn't gotten the whole movie. I was pleasantly surprised.
The beginning of the show is the widowed Mrs. Baum at the Hollywood premier. Scads of reporters are trying to interview the cast. A single sharp young correspondent notices the elder lady. She's been invited as a token guest. No one really notices her--except the reporter. They sit on the front steps of the replica of the Henry and Em Gale house. She gives him the straight dope. The movie is told in flashback.
The end is pure shameless schmaltz. The interview ends. She doesn't even bother going in to watch the movie based on her husband's beloved book. She just stays outside reminiscing. The sounds of the opening theme music we're all familiar with are heard from the theater. The circle is complete. It's a lump-in-the-throat moment.