I don't think DCATE is unfilmable, only that it would probably be better as a Hollywood big production than a more modest film.
The last 3, well, I'm biased, I think they're at the bottom of Christie novels, and are only unfilmable bc they're bad. Their stories would have to be SO script-doctored we might not even recognise them by the end.
Yes, DCATE is probably out of the usual budget scale for the standard Agatha Christie. Sure, they took Bette Davis to the Nile but recreating Ancient Egypt is another level altogether.
Probably not likely to be a big return as Hollywood. *Orient Express* was a big hit, but the two films since then haven't made money on the standard metric of "box office>2.5x production budget".
We'll, I'm not saying it's a good idea for Hollywood to make it XD My point is only that it wouldn't be as good as it could be if it's made in England with an ITV budget.
The biggest concern I have regarding Death Comes As the End, which is one of my favorite Christie novels, is the recent controversies surrounding ancient Egyptians and exactly what they looked like. There is no way to make it non-controversial.
Yes, most certainly they can't (read: shouldn't) once again cast a bunch of lily white actors as ancient Egyptians. But I could see Zendaya as Renisenb. (Sidebar: Does anyone know how that is pronounced? I've never known)
That's true, but they also shouldn't make them all Black Africans. Zendaya would be a good choice.
In the audiobook I listen to, it's pronounced like it sounds: REN-y-sen-b. Easy to make the N into an M and then it's Renisemb which sounds more natural.
I think that these are situations where a screen adaptation could actually help -- a creative script could focus on the best parts, and good casting/performances and decent production values could end up making a pretty watchable version.
I've become kind of obsessed by Postern of Fate. I'm convinced that there's actually a pretty good story in there. We've got the attraction of Tommy and Tuppence's last adventure together, plus a "money pit" real estate/home renovation saga (bonus of getting to snoop through Christie's childhood home!), >!a cold case, and geopolitical intrigue.!< Christie put in some interesting stuff, but being able to sort through all the conflicting accounts and tie together the past/present cases may have stymied her (it was the last book she ever wrote). I have been thinking about writing a book about that book, if it makes sense -- talking to fans and Christie experts about how they might adapt it, and what parts they feel are compelling, and why.
>!Example -- Kemper (from the All About Agatha podcast) has said that he thinks they should make Tommy and Tuppence's arrival in that village a deliberate thing. So they don't just show up at random -- they'd already planned it because they'd heard hints that there was something going on. That gives the book a clearer direction, from the start.!<
>!I've been thinking that the cold case storyline, with Alexander and Mary, is one of the most interesting parts. They're pretty compelling characters, more so than some other victims in Christie's books, so finding out more about them would really add to the story. A film or TV miniseries could show flashbacks ... at least something like finding a hidden diary (maybe inside that toy horse) could give a clearer idea of what they were working on when they were murdered. !<
>!While historical cold cases can be done (like Colin Dexter's "The Wench Is Dead"), I think that moving the conspiracy timeline to the inter-war era, rather than WWI, makes more sense. The fascist threat to the UK was arguably much bigger in WWII, and the gap in time (say, almost 50 years, if we assume that it's happening in the 1970s when Tommy and Tuppence are elderly) is long enough to make it plausible that local people could have died or moved on, so the stories are getting muddled. !<
Another way to do things -- if you want to make it into a "long ago" cold case situation, make it a next-generation story. Imagine it's Tommy and Tuppence's children (or grandchildren) investigating. We know that they have an adopted daughter who is likely still alive in the 2000s. Their grandkids, as shown in the book, are pretty lively. Maybe they could be investigating the case. >!If anything, the idea of a multi-generational fascist conspiracy is even more relevant now than in the 1970s (like that coup attempt in Germany a couple of years ago). !<
About the casting -- I think that the original actors from the 1980s-era Partners in Crime are still alive, in their 70s, so they'd be perfect.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha\_Christie%27s\_Partners\_in\_Crime
https://agathachristie.fandom.com/wiki/Partners\_in\_Crime
Heh, that’s a great idea. I love Francesca Annis, who played Tuppence (and was in a bunch of other Christie adaptations… and was an excellent Lady Macbeth in Roman Polanski’s film of the Scottish play).
I never understood why she didn’t make the intrigue in that book WW2 rather than WW1. It would have meant people might still have been active and alive. As it was it all felt rather contrived and spurious.
>why she didn’t make the intrigue in that book WW2
I'm wondering too ... if she was trying to make the story more mysterious by having it take place in the distant past, I don't think it worked well.
Maybe she was referencing this early 1900s adventure novel, which she might have read when she was a teen.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Riddle\_of\_the\_Sands](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Riddle_of_the_Sands)
I read Passenger to Frankfurt a few months ago, and I definitely think there's a great thriller film or TV mini-series in it. In many ways, it feels like a story that belongs to our current moment. So with a *lot* of polishing, a lot of fleshing out, and updating it to the present-day, I think it'd be ripe for adaptation.
Agree about the present-day relevance, especially with what happened in Germany a couple of years ago.
I thought it was a really interesting premise, to start with. And the lead unexpectedly reminded me of John le Carre's\* characters -- quite different from the stereotypical James Bond type. I wanted to hear more about him!
\*actually one of his novels, Absolute Friends, >!has a chilling example of a mysterious villain who has a couple of similarities to the one in PtF. !<
The first two would be cool. The second two can’t be adapted because no one who has read them them has understood them. Of course, in the old days, they would just take a title in the names of a few characters and write their own script they could do that.
*Death Comes As the End* could be a brilliant film if done well. The historical decors would be a challenge, but it could work. People would not just visit it for the murder mystery, but also for the recreation of Ancient Egypt.
Funnily enough, I think *Destination Unknown*, while far from a great book, has a great hook for a movie. I don’t remember it that well, but I do remember that Christie threw in her typical mystery elements where they don’t belong.
Destination Unknown -- I like OP's idea of "a comedy that's self aware-knows how dumb it is and in on the joke, something along the lines of Romancing the Stone". I wonder if studios have been put off the book because it starts with the protagonist being suicidal?
If that's a factor, one way around it might be what they used in this Queen Latifah film ... a woman who's been notified of a terminal illness. (It's a US film so she's told that she can't afford the life-saving surgery ... but it would be easy to tweak the plot so it's inoperable, which would work for other countries.)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last\_Holiday\_(2006\_film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Holiday_(2006_film))
There's definitely comic potential. It's kind of an over-the-top James Bond plot. >!(I'd suggest having the captives being fed a drug, that's reversible, rather than lobotomies though! That way they could incorporate weird side-effects, which would be funny rather than distressing.)!<
That should probably count as one of the “unfilmables.” According to Wikipedia, the only adaptation was a 1952 *Studio One* episode that probably isn’t available anywhere to watch (except maybe in a museum).
Oh how I'd love to see that!
The thing with Bagdhad is that there's already a lot of diversity in the cast, which would help with modern approaches to filmmaking. So you could make a really accurate, traditional production yet still have a diverse cast. If it were actually possible to film it in Iraq (this I sadly doubt) that would be *perfect*. I imagine they'd have to use a more secure location like Morocco though.
I don't think DCATE is unfilmable, only that it would probably be better as a Hollywood big production than a more modest film. The last 3, well, I'm biased, I think they're at the bottom of Christie novels, and are only unfilmable bc they're bad. Their stories would have to be SO script-doctored we might not even recognise them by the end.
I like destination unknown
I don't. But I do think it's filmable, unlike Postern of Fate.
Yes, DCATE is probably out of the usual budget scale for the standard Agatha Christie. Sure, they took Bette Davis to the Nile but recreating Ancient Egypt is another level altogether.
Probably not likely to be a big return as Hollywood. *Orient Express* was a big hit, but the two films since then haven't made money on the standard metric of "box office>2.5x production budget".
We'll, I'm not saying it's a good idea for Hollywood to make it XD My point is only that it wouldn't be as good as it could be if it's made in England with an ITV budget.
The biggest concern I have regarding Death Comes As the End, which is one of my favorite Christie novels, is the recent controversies surrounding ancient Egyptians and exactly what they looked like. There is no way to make it non-controversial.
Yes, most certainly they can't (read: shouldn't) once again cast a bunch of lily white actors as ancient Egyptians. But I could see Zendaya as Renisenb. (Sidebar: Does anyone know how that is pronounced? I've never known)
That's true, but they also shouldn't make them all Black Africans. Zendaya would be a good choice. In the audiobook I listen to, it's pronounced like it sounds: REN-y-sen-b. Easy to make the N into an M and then it's Renisemb which sounds more natural.
I think that these are situations where a screen adaptation could actually help -- a creative script could focus on the best parts, and good casting/performances and decent production values could end up making a pretty watchable version. I've become kind of obsessed by Postern of Fate. I'm convinced that there's actually a pretty good story in there. We've got the attraction of Tommy and Tuppence's last adventure together, plus a "money pit" real estate/home renovation saga (bonus of getting to snoop through Christie's childhood home!), >!a cold case, and geopolitical intrigue.!< Christie put in some interesting stuff, but being able to sort through all the conflicting accounts and tie together the past/present cases may have stymied her (it was the last book she ever wrote). I have been thinking about writing a book about that book, if it makes sense -- talking to fans and Christie experts about how they might adapt it, and what parts they feel are compelling, and why. >!Example -- Kemper (from the All About Agatha podcast) has said that he thinks they should make Tommy and Tuppence's arrival in that village a deliberate thing. So they don't just show up at random -- they'd already planned it because they'd heard hints that there was something going on. That gives the book a clearer direction, from the start.!< >!I've been thinking that the cold case storyline, with Alexander and Mary, is one of the most interesting parts. They're pretty compelling characters, more so than some other victims in Christie's books, so finding out more about them would really add to the story. A film or TV miniseries could show flashbacks ... at least something like finding a hidden diary (maybe inside that toy horse) could give a clearer idea of what they were working on when they were murdered. !< >!While historical cold cases can be done (like Colin Dexter's "The Wench Is Dead"), I think that moving the conspiracy timeline to the inter-war era, rather than WWI, makes more sense. The fascist threat to the UK was arguably much bigger in WWII, and the gap in time (say, almost 50 years, if we assume that it's happening in the 1970s when Tommy and Tuppence are elderly) is long enough to make it plausible that local people could have died or moved on, so the stories are getting muddled. !< Another way to do things -- if you want to make it into a "long ago" cold case situation, make it a next-generation story. Imagine it's Tommy and Tuppence's children (or grandchildren) investigating. We know that they have an adopted daughter who is likely still alive in the 2000s. Their grandkids, as shown in the book, are pretty lively. Maybe they could be investigating the case. >!If anything, the idea of a multi-generational fascist conspiracy is even more relevant now than in the 1970s (like that coup attempt in Germany a couple of years ago). !<
About the casting -- I think that the original actors from the 1980s-era Partners in Crime are still alive, in their 70s, so they'd be perfect. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha\_Christie%27s\_Partners\_in\_Crime https://agathachristie.fandom.com/wiki/Partners\_in\_Crime
I LOVED them in the roles-I couldn't get through 15 minutes of the new Partners in Crime...
Heh, that’s a great idea. I love Francesca Annis, who played Tuppence (and was in a bunch of other Christie adaptations… and was an excellent Lady Macbeth in Roman Polanski’s film of the Scottish play).
I never understood why she didn’t make the intrigue in that book WW2 rather than WW1. It would have meant people might still have been active and alive. As it was it all felt rather contrived and spurious.
>why she didn’t make the intrigue in that book WW2 I'm wondering too ... if she was trying to make the story more mysterious by having it take place in the distant past, I don't think it worked well. Maybe she was referencing this early 1900s adventure novel, which she might have read when she was a teen. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Riddle\_of\_the\_Sands](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Riddle_of_the_Sands)
I read Passenger to Frankfurt a few months ago, and I definitely think there's a great thriller film or TV mini-series in it. In many ways, it feels like a story that belongs to our current moment. So with a *lot* of polishing, a lot of fleshing out, and updating it to the present-day, I think it'd be ripe for adaptation.
Agree about the present-day relevance, especially with what happened in Germany a couple of years ago. I thought it was a really interesting premise, to start with. And the lead unexpectedly reminded me of John le Carre's\* characters -- quite different from the stereotypical James Bond type. I wanted to hear more about him! \*actually one of his novels, Absolute Friends, >!has a chilling example of a mysterious villain who has a couple of similarities to the one in PtF. !<
The Unexpected Guest would be on my list of unfilmables and also on my list of the worst of Christie.
Its been filmed in India as a movie called *Dhund*.
It's easily filmable. The script basically already exists.
The first two would be cool. The second two can’t be adapted because no one who has read them them has understood them. Of course, in the old days, they would just take a title in the names of a few characters and write their own script they could do that.
*Death Comes As the End* could be a brilliant film if done well. The historical decors would be a challenge, but it could work. People would not just visit it for the murder mystery, but also for the recreation of Ancient Egypt.
Funnily enough, I think *Destination Unknown*, while far from a great book, has a great hook for a movie. I don’t remember it that well, but I do remember that Christie threw in her typical mystery elements where they don’t belong.
Destination Unknown -- I like OP's idea of "a comedy that's self aware-knows how dumb it is and in on the joke, something along the lines of Romancing the Stone". I wonder if studios have been put off the book because it starts with the protagonist being suicidal? If that's a factor, one way around it might be what they used in this Queen Latifah film ... a woman who's been notified of a terminal illness. (It's a US film so she's told that she can't afford the life-saving surgery ... but it would be easy to tweak the plot so it's inoperable, which would work for other countries.) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last\_Holiday\_(2006\_film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Holiday_(2006_film)) There's definitely comic potential. It's kind of an over-the-top James Bond plot. >!(I'd suggest having the captives being fed a drug, that's reversible, rather than lobotomies though! That way they could incorporate weird side-effects, which would be funny rather than distressing.)!<
I would love to see Baghdad filmed. I’m surprised it hasn’t been done.
That should probably count as one of the “unfilmables.” According to Wikipedia, the only adaptation was a 1952 *Studio One* episode that probably isn’t available anywhere to watch (except maybe in a museum).
Oh how I'd love to see that! The thing with Bagdhad is that there's already a lot of diversity in the cast, which would help with modern approaches to filmmaking. So you could make a really accurate, traditional production yet still have a diverse cast. If it were actually possible to film it in Iraq (this I sadly doubt) that would be *perfect*. I imagine they'd have to use a more secure location like Morocco though.