u/WineOrDeath

I am studying MotOE extensively since I have recently been cast as Mrs. Hubbard in a regional production of Ken Ludwig's adaptation (written in 2015, first staged in 2017). To prepare, I have read the book, watched the 1974 movie (Finney), 2010 Poirot episode (Suchet), and 2017 movie (Branagh), and several stagings across YouTube.

I am not a big Agatha Christie reader (although I am starting to read more to understand how her writing style works to inform my acting decisions). But I do have to say that I always respect the decisions of the writer, which are made for very specific reasons. So here is my complaint:

&gt;!Why do so many of the screen versions not stick to the original book!< ??? (I am not sure if that is a spoiler or not, so I am erring on the side of caution.)

Going in order, I think >!the 1974 version is the closest!<, but even there >!what is the purpose for turning Bouc into Bianchi?!< I suppose that one is not a big deal, but it still made me wonder.

I know a lot of people liked the 2010 version, but I have to say that I really don't understand why >!they changed the plot such that Mary Debenham was the mastermind of the murder. One of Christie's most fun plot devices is having middle-aged women who are thought to be harmless actually be really intelligent and capable of masterminding whole conspiracies like this.!< I get it that decisions are made in film and on stage to highlight certain actors, but >!that whole cast was phenomenal and I just don't see the reason for it decision.!< I also don't get why they >!turned Poirot into this very religious figure.!<

The 2017 movie, while somewhat entertaining in spots, really irked me with >!how much they changed from the book. It was like they practically wrote an entirely different story. Like, why did they add this whole bit of Hubbard getting stabbed? (Perhaps influenced by the Ludwig adaptation, see below.) And that whole bit at the end with the gun and Hubbard attempting to shoot herself??? Fun theatre and Michelle Pfeiffer was great in that moment. But it felt like Branagh turned it into MotOE-inspired rather than a true telling of the story.!<

The Ludwig adaptation is not without fault here too, but I can at least understand why. >!They cut the number of conspirators from 12 to 8 to speed the show up. It also makes it easier to stage in smaller spaces. So they do things like combine Masterman and MacQueen into a single character, Hildegard Schmidt into Greta, etc. I understand the reasons for that, but the plot at least remains the same. Also, there is this whole bit that Ludgwig added with Mary being shot as a key piece of deflection. This was not at all in the book, although does make for a fun twist. But why add it?!<

Anyway, maybe this is more of a rant than anything. I enjoyed the book and will continue to read more Agatha Christie. I just don't understand >!why they can't stick to the OG story.!< Thoughts?