Miss Marple: 4.50 From Paddington
Hello everyone,
Sorry for the late post. I am going on vacation this weekend, forgot my personal computer, and didn’t get this out in time. Instead of a 5 fun things this week, please enjoy reading about my latest Miss Marple book! Miss Marple continues to be the BEST. Today’s installment is great, but I have to say this is the first time when my clear favorite was not the book but one of the TV adaptations (and it was amazing).
The book I have today is called 4.50 From Paddington (also sometimes called What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw).
The Book
Overall, this was really enjoyable. One of the things that Agatha Christie does that continuously amazes me is just when you think a format is feeling trite or stale, she switches things up on you and does something completely different, and this was no exception.
When Miss Marple’s friend witnesses a woman being strangled on a train, she isn’t believed by the police, and in the absence of a body, she can’t prove anything. However, Miss Marple trusts her, and with some ingenuity and the help of a wonderful character names Lucy Eyelesbarrow, she discovers the body, and eventually helps figure out the murderer.
Were there one too many suspects in the case? Probably – this is the one consistent issue I have with these books. I also was annoyed that Lucy, who is a strong independent woman, gets into a love triangle – it felt forced. However, the rest of this book is great. I love that Miss Marple plays up the “old lady” role in this book, and I continue to appreciate the implicit trust the police (or at least some of them) show her in all these cases.
Adaptations
This was a fun week for TV adaptations! I feel like in a lot of ways, this book lends itself well to adaptations, and these were both pretty good, although one was almost perfect!
1987 – 4.50 From Paddington – Joan Hickson
Unfortunately, this book is one that relied not on the talents of Miss Marple but also on the talents of whatever actress plays Lucy, and the actress playing Lucy in this adaptation wasn’t as convincing as I would have liked. While this was pretty much faithful, what that meant was that some of the flaws (too many characters, the love storyline) ended up feeling prominent to me in a way that I didn’t love. However, it is a solid episode and still quite fun!
2004 – 4.50 From Paddington – Geraldine McEwan
This episode cemented the fact that I think McEwan is my favorite Miss Marple actress of the lot. She is delightfully sly and clever, and she plays up the old lady aspect, but never in a way that feels like she is actually acting. This adaptation changes some backstories and events, but somehow, the end result feels MORE put together than the original, with memorable characters who are easy to tell apart, and the ending actually works really well in my opinon, and makes Lucy feel more believable.
This is probably my favorite adaptation to date, and I really enjoyed it!
I’ll be back next week with a preview of a wonderful book coming out in May, and the week after with a look at A Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side.
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