Tonight, it was Murder on the Orient Express. Very dark, with Poirot, (played by an aged David Suchet), already in a grim mood from a troubling case preceding the story. No comical Captain Hastings this time. A gorgeous production, as always with the Poirot series, but almost hallucinatory, much like the later Holmes/Jeremy Brett episodes.
I don't know if this matches the books, but I've never seen Poirot make much of his religion before. Here he prays before going to sleep, and fingers his rosary a number of times. It's an old prayer, called "a prayer for protection":
O My God, I adore Thee and I love Thee with all my heart. I thank Thee for having created me, for having made me a Catholic and for having watched over me this day. Pardon me for the evil I have done this day; and if I have done any good, deign to accept it. Watch over me while I take my rest and deliver me from danger. May Thy grace be always with me.
Amen
2 comments:
I think the increasingly weird tone of the later Sherlock Holms episodes was partly due to Jeremy Brett's health problems.
A friend of mine wrote a few of the later episodes and increasingly found himself having to rewrite most of the story at the last minute, with Mycroft suddenly taking the lead.
Very interesting, Steerforth. I will have to keep that in mind the next time I see those later episodes.
I can't bear to watch anyone else play Sherlock Holmes. Jeremy Brett played him so well.
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