How Miss Marple Fits (Or Doesn't) into Endless Night

A comparison of the Agatha Christie novel Endless Night to its 2013 TV adaptation featuring Miss Marple.

[alidabaxter]

In the book the fact that Santonix was dying mattered, and he virtually begged the man not to murder his wife was vital, that the man's mother knew what he was and hated the evil in him. It is one of Christine's darkest novels.

[adamthompson]

Wadsworth!! Congratulations!! I bet that will be so much fun!

[fullercorp]

I loved the Ellie ghost scene. It was just too windy. You can see Hayley trying to keep hold of that tree- which was a live human thing to do. Congratulations on the role!

[ryanmoore]

I liked Marple's friendship with Mike, which makes it harder when she learns his true nature

[SloanePaoPow]

The 1970s version with the moving floor over the swimming pool was so rad!

[martinstace]

I love the "otherworldly" description of Ellie. Hayley Mills captures it perfectly in the '70's movie. She's genuinely sweet (not mawkish) fragile, childlike and completely trusting. It makes her murder even more heartbreaking and horrific.

[Unownshipper]

12:37 Ah, the paradox of any media good commenter: when you can recognize the strengths of a work and praise its elements... and still not personally enjoy it overall. No shame in that, it just means you're honest. I've been there, and personal preference can be fickle.
CONGRATULATIONS MILES!! How fun! And you'll make an excellent Wadsworth, I'm sure. We'll be waiting when you return.

[eevasa]

Love your reviews! Endless Night is one of the very few Christie books that left me a bit disturbed and shocked. I agree with the interpretation that Mike really did love Ellie and it makes the story even more shocking to me. I like Miss Marple in the adaptation. But there are some moments where she just pops out of the nowhere and feels hilariously out of place 😀

[nothingspecial]

I love this adaptation. It's soooo much better than the other ones with Miss Marple added

[notdeadjustyet]

Spoilers :I've not seen the films, I definitely will, but I feel this story likely works better in the written form. the unreliable narration adds some nice gothic, Poe-esque atmosphere to it. Although it's pretty easy to guess what's happening, even before it happens, especially if you've read a lot of Agatha before, the whole "I'm my own villain/detective /judge" idea is really well executed & interesting. I feel that adding marple would take us away from the main character's psychology.

[MsJayteeListens]

Great video. I had seen a fair few Agatha Christie TV adaptations over the years, mostly just by virtue of being in my Gran’s house, she loved Christie’s books and the adaptations. But until recently I had never read any Christie books, but I started to recently and this channel is one of the reasons I started. While I enjoy the novels I’ve read, I really love her short stories, particularly Harley Quin. So, thank you. My Gran would be delighted.

[tiararoxeanne]

Congratulation for getting the role! I hope it would be a success. And thank you for sharing your thought about 'Endless Night'. I love that novel. It is beautiful, dreamy, but sad and eerie at the same time. The plot twist worked very well. But since I have known such twist in 'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd', the impact for me was not as big. The thing that impacted me the most from 'Endless Night' was Mike's realization that he loved his wife, Ellie. That he could be happy with her. That he lost his chance to be truly happy by exchanging her with a cheap woman like Greta, instead. I think that was why he killed Greta. Not only to eliminate a witness, but also because Mike blamed Greta for persuading him killing Ellie. I agree with you: it is a very important element of the story. Too bad the ITV adaptation lost it.

[DavidMacDowellBlue]

How very interesting! I have not read or seen either version, but I see what you're describing as something genuinely tricky to pull off. Here is a cunning murderous monster who genuinely falls in love, but doesn't realize it, doesn't know when he is happy. That is a really compelling idea! But...a tricky series of needle to thread. Many thanks for this!

[ryanmoore]

One thing I liked is that Mike probably DOES genuinely like would still kill her if she got in his way. Marple truly liked him and thought him a nice young man, which made it a real gutpunch for her to learn what he truly she also likes Ellie, which makes her angry at what he did.

[Mutu]

Amazing, Congratulations! All the best for the role! And thanks for amazing review. Endless night was one of the first books I read from dame Christie. The suspence and the charachters in the book is brilliant and so I didn't care too much when miss Marple appeared in the movie. But you make me see miss Marple isn't the problem for me, it is the more modern athmosphere in the movie. The older adaptation looks much more of my alley.

[lukacunningham]

Ooh, hopefully we get to see a recording of the play, I want to see how good your acting is! 😊

[ncooty]

Congratulations on the casting. :) I hope you enjoy it in the moment.

[serinadalmer]

Fantastic review! I have never seen the film but Mill and Sanders, that's yes in my book.
Congratulations! Clue is such a clever story.

[Natilra]

Congrats on getting cast!
Hope you have a great time with the show

[tacitus]

Saw this video awhile back - and as a result finally saw the Halley Mill's version; wow, what an excellent movie. Thanks!