Being a ginormous fan of this phenomenal female writer, I purchased the DVD boxset of "The Agatha Christie Hour" quite a long time ago already, but somehow, I've always been reluctant to watch. That's because the name Agatha Christie stands synonym for convoluted and compelling murder whodunits, and these 50-minutes tales right here are a mishmash of styles & genres. Some of them are crime/thrillers, but there are also drama stories, comedies and even love stories! One must remain open-minded, so eventually, I will watch all short movies, but I'm not in a hurry. I absolutely wanted to start with "Mystery of the Blue Jar", however, because I know that tale by heart. It was included in a narrated version on an audio-CD I once owned and repeatedly listened to. The story isn't great, but it has a fantastic and truly original twist at the end that you can't possibly see coming. Before watching any other tales of the "The Agatha Christie Hour", I had to see how convincingly the climatic twist of "Blue Jar" got processed.
Well, this episode/short film was quite a disappointment! I knew from beforehand the tale was very talkative, so I can't really blame it for the slow pacing and dull moments, but the whole thing is so damn lifeless! The people who voiced my ancient audio version were a lot more vivid and passionate, the mystery was a lot more tangible and the infamous climax was bleaker and more abrupt. The story is about a young law student Jack Hartington who hears a woman's voice cry "Murder! Help, Murder!" every morning at 7:25 when he's at the golf court. The beautiful French girl who lives nearby with her ill father doesn't hear the screams, and Jack fears that he's losing his sanity. Luckily, the acclaimed psychiatrist Dr. Lavington offers his help to investigate where the screams originate from. The original denouement of this tale is genius and, like the other reviewer cleverly pointed out, a typical Christie trademark, but somehow this TV-version "softened" it into a weak footnote with a forced happy ending.
Well, this episode/short film was quite a disappointment! I knew from beforehand the tale was very talkative, so I can't really blame it for the slow pacing and dull moments, but the whole thing is so damn lifeless! The people who voiced my ancient audio version were a lot more vivid and passionate, the mystery was a lot more tangible and the infamous climax was bleaker and more abrupt. The story is about a young law student Jack Hartington who hears a woman's voice cry "Murder! Help, Murder!" every morning at 7:25 when he's at the golf court. The beautiful French girl who lives nearby with her ill father doesn't hear the screams, and Jack fears that he's losing his sanity. Luckily, the acclaimed psychiatrist Dr. Lavington offers his help to investigate where the screams originate from. The original denouement of this tale is genius and, like the other reviewer cleverly pointed out, a typical Christie trademark, but somehow this TV-version "softened" it into a weak footnote with a forced happy ending.