“PERIL AT END HOUSE” (1990) Review

“PERIL AT END HOUSE” (1990) Review

I just realized something. I have never read Agatha Christie’s 1932 novel, “Peril at End House”. I find this ironic, considering that I have seen the 1990 television movie adaptation of this novel at least three or four times. One of these days, I will get around to reading Christie’s novel and comparing it to the television adaptation. Right now, I am going to focus on the latter.

Directed by Renny Rye and adapted by Clive Exton, “PERIL AT END HOUSE” is the first full-length television movie aired on “AGATHA CHRISTIE’S POIROT”. It is also about Belgian-born detective Hercule Poirot’s efforts to prevent the murder of a young socialite, during his vacation in Cornwall. The movie begins with Poirot and his friend Arthur Hastings arriving at a Cornish seaside resort for their vacation. While conversing with socialite Magdala “Nick” Buckley on the resort’s grounds, Poirot notices that someone had fired a bullet into the brim of her floppy hat. Poirot exposes the bullet hole to Nick, who finds it difficult to believe that someone wants to kill her. She points out that aside from her house – End House – has no real assets. Poirot decides to investigate her inner circle, who includes the following:

*Charles Vyse – Nick’s cousin and an attorney
*Mr. and Mrs. Croft – an Australian couple that has leased the lodge near End House, who had suggested Nick make a will six months earlier
*Freddie Rice – a close friend of Nick’s, who is also an abused wife
*Jim Lazarus – an art dealer in love with Nick
*Commander George Challenger – a Royal Navy officer who is also attracted to Nick

Poirot eventually advises Nick to invite a relative to stay with her for a few weeks. Nick invites her distant cousin Maggie Buckley. Unfortunately, someone kills Maggie, after she makes the mistake of wearing Nick’s dress shawl during an evening party. Even worse, the killer eventually achieves his/her goal by sending a box of poisoned chocolates to Nick, while she was recuperating at a local hospital.

“PERIL AT END HOUSE” possessed a certain plot device that Christie had used in several of her novels. I would describe this plot device. But to do so would spoil the rest of the story. It took me years to spot this plot device. And I should be surprised that I have not come across anyone else who has spotted it. And yet . . . I am not. The fact that it took me several years to spot this particular plot device only tells me that Christie has utilized it with great effect in some of her more interesting and well-written mysteries. Thankfully, “PERIL AT END HOUSE” proved to be one of those well-written mysteries.

I must admit that Clive Exton did a pretty damn good job in adapting Christie’s novel for the television screen. He stuck very closely to the original novel’s plot . . . with a few changes that did no harm to the overall movie. Both Exton and Rye presented a well-paced production to the audiences. They set up the story with Poirot and Hastings’ arrival to Cornwall and continued on with without any haste or dragging feet. The only time the movie threatened to put me to sleep occurred between the story’s second murder and the revelation of the killer . . . . when the story threatened to ground to a halt. I have one last problem – namely the appearance of Chief Inspector Japp. I realize that Japp did appear in the novel. But his appearance merely dealt with Poirot’s request that he investigate the Crofts, whom the Belgian detective suspected of being forgers. The cinematic Japp immediately appeared following Maggie Buckley’s death as the main police investigator. And Cornwall is not under Scotland Yard’s main jurisdiction.

The production values for “PERIL AT END HOUSE” proved to be top-notch. Rye shot the film’s exterior scenes in Salcombe, Devon; instead of the county of Cornwall. I found that curious. However, both he and cinematographer Peter Bartlett certainly took advantage of the movie’s setting with Bartlett’s photography of Salcombe’s charming, Old World style. This was especially apparent in the movie’s opening sequence that featured Poirot and Hasting’s arrival by airplane. Actually, production designer Mike Oxley did an excellent job of recreating an English vacation resort in the early 1930s. The production practically reeked of the Art Deco style of that time period. However, I was especially impressed by Linda Mattock’s costume designs. I was especially impressed by those costumes worn by actresses Polly Walker, Pauline Moran and Alison Sterling. My only complaints about the movie’s visual styles were the actresses’ hairstyles. No one seemed capable of re-creating the early 1930s soft bob. The actresses either wore a chignon or in the case of Sterling, a Dutch Boy bob made famous by actress Louise Brooks in the late 1920s.

“PERIL AT END HOUSE” featured some solid performances by the cast. David Suchet gave his usual excellent portrayal of Hercule Poirot. I was especially impressed by the on-screen chemistry he managed to produce with Polly Walker. The latter gave a standout performance as the killer’s main target, Madgala “Nick” Buckley. Walker did an excellent job of transforming Nick from the charming “Bright Young Thing” to a wary and frightened woman, who realizes that someone is trying to kill her. Alison Sterling was also excellent as one of Nick’s closest friends, “Freddie” Rice. Next to Walker’s Nick, Sterling gave an interesting and skillful portrayal of the very complex Freddie. Hugh Fraser, Pauline Moran and Philip Jackson were also excellent as Arthur Hastings, Miss Lemon and Chief Inspector Japp. All three, along with Suchet, managed to re-create their usual magic. The movie also featured solid performances from Paul Geoffrey (whom I found particularly convincing as an early 30s social animal), John Harding, Christopher Baines and Elizabeth Downes. I found the Australian accents utilized by Jeremy Young and Carol Macready, who portrayed the Crofts, rather wince inducing. But since their accents were supposed to be fake in the first place, I guess I had no problems.

For some reason, “PERIL AT END HOUSE” has never become a big favorite of mine. It is a well done adaptation of Christie’s novel. And I found it visually attractive, thanks to the movie’s production team. The movie also featured some excellent performances – especially from David Suchet, Polly Walker and Alison Sterling. Naturally, it is not perfect. But that is not the problem. I cannot explain my lack of enthusiasm for “PERIL AT END HOUSE”. I can only assume that I found nothing particularly mind blowing or fascinating about its plot. It is simply a good, solid murder mystery that has managed to entertain me on a few occasions. Perhaps . . . that is enough.

“BOARDWALK EMPIRE” Season Five (2014) Episode Ranking

Due to Season Five of “BOARDWALK EMPIRE” being limited to only eight episodes, I decided to rank those episodes from favorite to least favorite. Created by Terence Winter, the series starred Steve Buscemi:

 

“BOARDWALK EMPIRE” SEASON FIVE (2014) Episode Ranking

1. (5.03) “What Jesus Said” – Escaped convict Albert “Chalky” White and his unstable companion Milton hold a mother and daughter hostage, while seeking refuge from the law in this tense episode. Margaret Thompson is forced to deal with Arnold Rothstein’s widow over funds from a past deal.

2. (5.01) “Golden Days for Boys and Girls” – This colorful season premiere finds Enoch “Nucky” Thompson in 1931 Havana, Cuba with occasional girlfriend Sally Wheat, making a deal with the Bacardi Rum Company and dodging a gangland hit. Meanwhile, Charlie “Lucky” Luciano begins his attempts to take control of the New York mob.

3. (5.05) “King of Norway” – Eli Thompson and Nelson Van Alden, now working as collectors for Al Capone in Chicago, hit a snag in their business relationship when Eli’s affair with Van Alden’s wife is exposed during June Thompson’s trip to the city. Chalky arrives in Atlantic City to seek help from Nucky regarding the location of mobster Dr. Valentin Narcisse.

4. (5.04) “Cuanto” – Sally Wheat has a troubling encounter with a Cuban federal patrol. Nucky helps Margaret deal with Mrs. Rothstein’s threats of blackmail and Van Alden is exposed as a former Federal agent, when Lucky Luciano visits Chicago.

5. (5.06) “The Devil You Know” – Chalky and Narcisse have their final showdown over Daughter Maitland and her child in Harlem. Van Alden finally faces Capone over the exposure of his past as a Treasury agent.

6. (5.07) “Friendless Child” – Flashbacks reveal what led the younger Nucky to introduce the adolescent Gillian Darmody to Commodore Louis Kaestner in the 1890s. And the much older Nucky has a disastrous showdown with Luciano and Meyer Lansky.

7. (5.02) “The Good Listener” – This episode reveals the strained state of Van Alden’s marriage to Ingrid. Gillian hopes to find a way to escape from the women’s sanitarium, to while she has been confined. And Nucky discusses the attempt on his life in Cuba, with Johnny Torrio.

8. (5.08) “Eldorado” – Luciano seals his position as boss of the Mob Commission. Capone faces trial for tax evasion, thanks to the Treasury. And a surprise for Nucky and a tragedy is revealed in the episode’s last minutes in this somewhat unsatisfying series finale.

“MAD MEN”: Wasted Partnership

 

“MAD MEN”: WASTED PARTNERSHIP

Looking back on Season Two of AMC’s “MAD MEN”, it occurred to me that the rivalry between the series protagonist, Don Draper aka Dick Whitman (Jon Hamm) and a supporting character named Herman “Duck” Phillips (Mark Moses), seemed like a complete waste of time . . . story wise. Do not worry. I am not criticizing the writing of Matt Weiner and his staff. At least on this subject. Instead, I am criticizing the behavior of two male characters, who I believe had the potential to be a winning advertising team.

Following senior partner Roger Sterling’s (John Slattery) second heart attack in the Season One episode (1.11) “Indian Summer”, one of the Sterling-Cooper’s clients had advised Bert Cooper (Robert Morse), the firm’s other senior partner, to make Creative Director Don Draper a junior partner. Which Cooper did at the end of the episode. He also told Don that as one of the partners, he should be the one to find someone to replace Roger as the Director of Account Services. In the following episode, (1.12) “Nixon vs. Kennedy”, Don hired Herman “Duck” Phillips.

In the Season One finale, (1.13) “The Wheel”, Duck seemed appreciative of how Don’s creative skills landed Kodak as a client for the firm. Yet, the early Season Two episodes clearly made it obvious that storm clouds were hovering on the horizon for the pair. In the Season Two premiere (2.01) “For Those Who Think Young”, Duck informed Roger that he believed younger copywriters with a bead on the youth of the early 1960s, should handle their new Martinson Coffee account, instead of veteran copywriter Freddy Rumsen (Joel Murray). Don dismissed the idea, claiming that a bunch of twenty year-olds lacked the experience and knowledge on how to sell products. But Roger forced Don to go along with Duck’s plans and hire the latter’s protégées – Smith “Smitty” (Patrick Cavanaugh) and Kurt (Edin Gali). Pete Campbell’s (Vincent Kartheiser) father perished in the famous American Airlines Flight 1 crash on March 1, 1962 in the second episode of the season, (2.01) “Flight 1”. And when Duck convinced Roger that Sterling Cooper should dump the regional Mohawk Airlines as a client and use Pete’s personal plight to win the bigger American Airlines (who sought to change advertising agencies following the disaster) as a new client. Naturally, Roger and Cooper dismissed Don’s protests and went ahead with Duck’s idea.

In the end, both men lost and won their arguments. Instead of gaining American Airlines as a new client, Sterling Cooper ended up with no client altogether. In (2.04) “Three Sundays”, Duck informed the Sterling Cooper staff that their efforts to present American Airlines with a new campaign had been for nothing, when the airline fired Duck’s contact. Many fans saw this as an example that not only had Don been right about not dropping Mohawk, they also seemed to view Duck as someone who was no longer competent at his job. However, three episodes later in (2.07) “The Gold Violin”, Duck proved to be right about hiring the much younger Smith and Kurt as copywriters for the Martinson Coffee account. Their efforts led to a new client for the Sterling Cooper agency.

But despite the success and failures of both men, Don and Duck continued to duke it out over the heart and soul of Sterling Cooper. Only once, in (2.08) “A Night to Remember”, did both men seemed capable of working seamlessly as a partnership, when their efforts led to Sterling Cooper landing the Heineken Beer account. But this ability to work as a pair failed to last very long. One, both men seemed adamant that their particular expertise in the advertising business – whether it was Creative or Accounts – only mattered. Two, Don received most of the praise from Cooper and Roger for the success of the Martinson Coffee account in“The Gold Violin”. Granted, Don tried to give some of the praise to Duck (who mainly deserved it), but he really did not try hard enough. And finally, Duck became so resentful of his failure to acquire a partnership in the firm that he maneuvered a takeover of Sterling Cooper by the old British advertising firm that he used to work for. The main conflicts between Don and Duck seemed to be twofold – Don’s preference to take the nostalgia route over the future in his advertising campaigns (unless forced to) over Duck’s willingness to look into the future of advertising (television ad spots and younger employees, for example); and each man’s belief that their respective expertise in the advertising field is the only one that matters.

Most viewers seemed to view Don as the hero of the conflict between the two men and label Duck as the villain. This preference for Don even extended to his belief that Creative was the backbone of the advertising industry. Personally . . . I disagree. Not only do I disagree with Don and many of the viewers, I would probably disagree with Duck’s view that advertising needed to solely rely upon images – especially television spots. Frankly, I am surprised that no one had ever considered that both Don and Duck’s views on the future of advertising are equally important. Don and other copywriters might create the message or jingo to attract the public. But it is Duck’s (and Pete’s) job to not only snag the client, but provide the client with the opportunity to sell his/her wares. Even if that means using television spots – definitely the wave of the future in the early 1960s.

But many fans seemed to be blinded by their own preference for Don over Duck. And both characters seemed to believe that their ideas of what the advertising business should be were the only ways. The problem with both Don and Duck was that business wise, they needed each other. Look at how well they had worked together in mid-Season Two over the Martinson Coffee and Heineken accounts. Duck needed Don’s creative talent. Don needed Duck’s business acumen and ability to foresee the future in advertising. Unfortunately, both remained stupidly resentful of each other.

In the end, Don’s career managed to survive, despite the failures of two marriage and the near failure of his career, due to personal problems, heavy drinking and shirking. Duck, a former alcoholic who resumed his old habit in later years, was simply plagued with bad luck. Sterling Cooper’s British owners fired him after he had indulged in a brief temper tantrum. He worked at an advertising firm called Grey for a few years, before being reduced to a corporate recruiter. Copywriter Peggy Olson and Accounts executive Pete Campbell learned to maintain a balance between Creatives and Accounts whenever they worked on an account together. Yet, every now and then, I find myself wondering what would have happened if Don and Duck had managed to achieve the same.

“AGENT CARTER”: Fans and Romance

 

“AGENT CARTER”: FANS AND ROMANCE

When “AGENT CARTER” first aired last year, some fans were speculating on who would become Peggy Carter’s future husband. After all, 2014′s “CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER” revealed that by 1953, she was married and had kids. Fans were wondering on whether Daniel Sousa or Jack Thompson would end up as her future husband. But when the character of Dr. Jason Wilkes was introduced as a potential romantic interest for Peggy in Season Two, the reaction among the show’s fandom became WEIRD.

First of all, there were the fans who screamed holy terror, complaining about how the show included a love triangle arc in the first place. They felt this story arc was sexist and an insult to Peggy’s character. I noticed that most of these fans were major supporters of a relationship between Peggy and her New York roommate, Angie Martinelli. I could not help but wonder … if Peggy had been in a love triangle with Angie and another woman, would they be making the same complaints?

I also noticed that many fans reacted to Jason Wilkes in a similar manner as Daniel Sousa. They either dismissed him and pretended that he did not exist. Some tried to focus on any negative traits he might possess – in an effort to indicate that he was unworthy of Agent Carter or a villain. In fact, the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki page for Jason had this to say about his relationship with Peggy:

“This ambition extended into his personal life as well by manipulating a way to have a date with Peggy Carter, though she initially refused to go out with him.”

Way to go, MCU Wiki for dismissing Jason’s feelings for Peggy as mere manipulative ambition. But most of the fans became increasingly fervent … almost rabid in their support of a Peggy/Sousa relationship.

And finally, there is Peggy’s relationship with Sousa. Why was Peggy romantically interested in Sousa when Season Two began? What led to this? At the end of Season One, she wasn’t the least bit interested in started a romance with him. Then she shows up in Los Angeles at the beginning of this new season, expressing interest in him. Why? At least with Jason Wilkes, audiences saw some development of Peggy’s interest in him. But with Sousa … none at all, whatsoever. I get the feeling that he was the convenient white guy around to ensure that Peggy will never choose Jason.

Considering that Jason is an African-American character, I found these reactions rather … well, WEIRD. Dare I say racist? Because right now, I am beginning to wonder. I would not have minded a romantic triangle on this show. But the fan reaction to Dr. Jason Wilkes and his role in Peggy Carter’s life in Season Two seemed to have left an ugly taint in my regard for this show and the latter’s fandom.

Some people have justified the idea of Peggy Carter choosing Daniel Sousa over Jason Wilkes in this ridiculously written love triangle for Season Two of “AGENT CARTER”. They claimed that since Peggy and Sousa had “history”, it was only natural that she would choose him.

I say . . . BULLSHIT to that.

There was no law that Marvel had to follow through with Peggy and Sousa. She had not display any interest in Sousa, last season. And then suddenly, she was interested in him in the beginning of Season Two? Without any explanation?

Marvel’s history with non-white characters is pretty shabby. And the manner in which it dealt with this love triangle merely became another notch in its inability to portray complex non-white characters or interracial romances. Heck, they had an interracial romance between a black man and a woman of Asian descent in “AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.”. Melinda May and Andrew Garner anyone? And then they transformed poor Andrew into a monster. God. Honestly? Meanwhile, most of the other black characters in Marvel tend to be portrayed as asexual … and safe. Especially the men. Only the Luke Cage character promises to show any potential. And I can only wonder if there are fans already protesting the idea of a romance between him and another Marvel character named Jessica Jones.