Francis A. Miniter
2010-07-29 14:56:35 UTC
It has been sometime (decades) since I read *Appointment
with Death* (1938), so I was not in a position to judge the
accuracy of the plot in the 2008 adaptation with David
Suchet that aired this week on PBS Masterpiece Mystery.
However, I did quickly scan the book afterwards and it
appears that there were significant - very significant -
plot changes, including the identity of the murder. Oh well.
But what really bothered me was the blatant plagiarism of
Somerset Maugham. The little narrative from his play
*Sheppey* (1933) that has come to be known as the
Appointment in Samarra story was lifted and incorporated
into this screenplay without attribution. To be fair, the
story retold by Maugham first appears in the Babylonian
Talmud. And, to be fair, a year after Maugham's play came
out, John O'Hara wrote a novel entitled *Appointment in
Samarra* , lifting the title from Maugham on the suggestion
of Dorothy Parker. And, since the Christie story takes
place in the area of the British Mandate for Palestine
(modern day Lebanon, Israel, Syria, Jordan and part of Iraq)
there is a geographical link to the story as well as a title
link. But my scan of Christie's novel does not reveal any
further reference to the story. Nor does the novel seem to
have the fatalistic signification of this place for the
murder to occur that the television version has. At one
point in the television show, Poirot says of the murder, "It
always had to be here." So, in fact, by borrowing
explicitly from Maugham, I think the show lost something of
the Christie charm and flavor.
--
Francis A. Miniter
In dem Lande der Pygmäen
gibt es keine Uniformen,
weder Abzeichen, noch irgend welche Normen,
Und Soldaten sind dort nicht zu sehen.
Siegfried von Vegesack, "Es gibt keine Uniformen"
from In dem Lande der Pygmäen
with Death* (1938), so I was not in a position to judge the
accuracy of the plot in the 2008 adaptation with David
Suchet that aired this week on PBS Masterpiece Mystery.
However, I did quickly scan the book afterwards and it
appears that there were significant - very significant -
plot changes, including the identity of the murder. Oh well.
But what really bothered me was the blatant plagiarism of
Somerset Maugham. The little narrative from his play
*Sheppey* (1933) that has come to be known as the
Appointment in Samarra story was lifted and incorporated
into this screenplay without attribution. To be fair, the
story retold by Maugham first appears in the Babylonian
Talmud. And, to be fair, a year after Maugham's play came
out, John O'Hara wrote a novel entitled *Appointment in
Samarra* , lifting the title from Maugham on the suggestion
of Dorothy Parker. And, since the Christie story takes
place in the area of the British Mandate for Palestine
(modern day Lebanon, Israel, Syria, Jordan and part of Iraq)
there is a geographical link to the story as well as a title
link. But my scan of Christie's novel does not reveal any
further reference to the story. Nor does the novel seem to
have the fatalistic signification of this place for the
murder to occur that the television version has. At one
point in the television show, Poirot says of the murder, "It
always had to be here." So, in fact, by borrowing
explicitly from Maugham, I think the show lost something of
the Christie charm and flavor.
--
Francis A. Miniter
In dem Lande der Pygmäen
gibt es keine Uniformen,
weder Abzeichen, noch irgend welche Normen,
Und Soldaten sind dort nicht zu sehen.
Siegfried von Vegesack, "Es gibt keine Uniformen"
from In dem Lande der Pygmäen