What whodunits did you see/hear/read?

[kjrwe]

I will have a look at 'The Copper Beeches' tonight. I don't like the way that animals are treated in the Holmes stories generally.

I had a look at 'The Eligible Bachelor' from one of the later series yesterday because it was being aired on TV. That's  a really creepy Brett episode.

I agree with you about animals in the Holmes stories. I wonder why Sir Arthur Conan Doyle treated animals this way in his literature?

I've seen the later episodes and I don't recall really enjoying any of them. Sad that this series went downhill so much after season one. I don't recall the story The Eligible Bachelor at all.

[greenbudgie]

I have been thinking that you do have a point about feeding the animals to avoid attacks in the Holmes stories. I had never thought of that. So much for Holmes deductive powers.

Conan Doyle was a doctor by profession but I don't know much about his attitude to animals. He may have been frightened of them or perhaps it was just his way of being the typical macho Victorian male. I know a retired policeman who has an absolute fear of dogs. I can't imagine how he carried out his work at times.

'The Eligible Bachelor' is from the third series ('Casebook of Sherlock Holmes'). In it Holmes has disturbing dreams which he takes as presentiments on a case. So this one is a psychologically creepy piece. Simon Williams is great as the beastly and sadistic Lord Robert. I recommend this one.

[kjrwe]

Last night I shifted gears a bit and I watched two faves from the early sixties: Charade and The Pink Panther. I just have to watch these about once a month or so!

Charade is a great thriller-whodunit - a serial killer is out to get certain characters.

The Pink Panther seems to be sort of an inverse whodunit-thriller. The viewers know from the start that Sir Charles is the culprit, but it's up to the inspector to figure this out...and to figure out his wife's role in all of this.

Later this week, I plan on watching the 1930s Torchy Blane films. Haven't seen those in a couple of years, at least.

[greenbudgie]

I haven't seen 'Charade' yet. I normally like Cary Grant so I will look out for that one.

I like the Mancini music for 'The Pink Panther' especially 'It Had Better Be Tonight' which keeps turning up in various points in different forms during the film. I often quite like when you know the perpetrator (as opposed to the whodunit mystery) in films. After all Hitchcock movies are mostly in that form.

I haven't seen any of the Torchy Blane series. The only time I've seen Glenda Farrell is in 'Mystery of the Black Museum' with the great Lionel Atwill in 1932.

I've put Hitchcock's 'Murder' into my DVD player but that is as far as I've got. That will probably be my next film to view if I don't get into any of the movies being aired on TV.

[kjrwe]

I haven't seen 'Charade' yet. I normally like Cary Grant so I will look out for that one.

I like the Mancini music for 'The Pink Panther' especially 'It Had Better Be Tonight' which keeps turning up in various points in different forms during the film. I often quite like when you know the perpetrator (as opposed to the whodunit mystery) in films. After all Hitchcock movies are mostly in that form.

I always seem to associate those two films with each other. Both from the same year, both stylish thrillers with a heavy emphasis on cinematography & music, both with plenty of stylish ladies clothes to admire....

Shouldn't be hard to find a copy of Charade somewhere.

[XhcnoirX]

Later this week, I plan on watching the 1930s Torchy Blane films. Haven't seen those in a couple of years, at least.

Have you read any of the stories by Frederickk Nebel that the movies are based on? I've not yet seen the movies (I should!), but read some of the Nebel stories, and they're pretty entertaining, but quite racy & pulp-y. I'm wondering how they compare to the movies, also because the main character was changed from a man to a woman

[kjrwe]

Have you read any of the stories by Frederickk Nebel that the movies are based on? I've not yet seen the movies (I should!), but read some of the Nebel stories, and they're pretty entertaining, but quite racy & pulp-y. I'm wondering how they compare to the movies, also because the main character was changed from a man to a woman

I haven't, I'm afraid. I try to find the original source material wherever possible, but I haven't actually looked for these stories.

I'll be postponing the Torchy Blane mysteries until next week.

Last night, I ended up watching a wonderful mystery from the 20s called The Unholy Night, which I've seen a few times already. Wonderful whodunit-thriller about a group of WWI vets who are being targeted by a killer. An attempt is made at the start of the film to kill one of these war vets. When he finds out that several of his friends had already been killed this way, he offers to have the rest of the soldiers from that regiment stay at his home until the mystery is solved. Look for Boris Karloff in an uncredited appearance as a lawyer responsible for reading a certain will.

Also, last night, I heard a terrific radio play: Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, part of the Campbell Playhouse series. This one stars Orson Welles and Edna May Oliver. Released in 1939. Highly recommended. It's quite faithful to the novel, with some of the subplots taken out.

[greenbudgie]

I watched 'Murder By Television' on YT the other day. I had to have the sound down so I put on the subtitles only to find that they were in Spanish. So I'll be trying it with the sound up when I can. Some pitch black scenes in it so I couldn't tell what was going on at times. But it was great to see Bela Lugosi.

[cigar joe]

And Then There Were None (1945) Directed by René Clair with Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, Louis Hayward, Roland Young, June Duprez.    
Vera Claythorne. Long time since I watched this, was on TCM the other day. 7/10

[Jessica Rabbit]

And Then There Were None, you'd rate that higher than I would. I love the book, but so far I don't think any adaptation has done it justice, including the latest BBC series.

[kjrwe]

I watched 'Murder By Television' on YT the other day. I had to have the sound down so I put on the subtitles only to find that they were in Spanish. So I'll be trying it with the sound up when I can. Some pitch black scenes in it so I couldn't tell what was going on at times. But it was great to see Bela Lugosi.

I don't know your situation, but do you have the option of buying headphones to plug into your computer so that you can still have the sound up?

[kjrwe]

And Then There Were None (1945) Directed by René Clair with Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, Louis Hayward, Roland Young, June Duprez.    
Vera Claythorne. Long time since I watched this, was on TCM the other day. 7/10

I would have liked this film a lot more if they had stuck to the REAL ending and if they hadn't turned it into a lighthearted comedy. I know that Agatha Christie herself changed the book's ending. I wish she hadn't. The book's ending is perfection.

[kjrwe]

And Then There Were None, you'd rate that higher than I would. I love the book, but so far I don't think any adaptation has done it justice, including the latest BBC series.

The 1980s Russian version comes pretty close to capturing the mood of the novel, as well as the correct ending. But even that film isn't perfect.

I haven't seen the new BBC series.

[cigar joe]

Watching in occasional sitdowns the complete A Nero Wolfe Mystery TV Series (2000) originally on A&E Television, with Timothy Hutton, Maury Chaykin, and Colin Fox. Very entertaining, check it out.

[dave jenkins]

Watching in occasional sitdowns the complete A Nero Wolfe Mystery TV Series (2000) originally on A&E Television, with Timothy Hutton, Maury Chaykin, and Colin Fox. Very entertaining, check it out.

I liked the idea of using a stock company for all the episodes. Aside from the principal roles, all the parts are played by a finite group of performers who return in various roles. That means the actor who, in one episode, turns out to be the villain, in another is just an innocent bystander. It confused me a little at first, but once I got the hang of it I really enjoyed it.