Christie on Screen
The Movies
The first film ever based on an Agatha Christie story was Die Abenteur released in 1928. Made by a German production company, it was an adaptation of The Secret Adversary – and was released in the UK under the name Adventurers Inc. The following year The Passing of Mr Quinn was released; directed by Julius Hagen it was based on the short story The Coming of Mr Quin. Stewart Rome played the part of Quinn in this silent movie. He was a British actor, who during the silent movie era played the lead in hundreds of films but was demoted to supporting roles with the advent of the talking picture.
This was only the beginning – there have been over thirty feature films made out of Christie’s work, with the most recent Le Grand Alibi, based on The Hollow, released in 2007.
Christie has also often been adapted for television. Her two most famous detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, immortalised on screen by David Suchet and Joan Hickson. More recently the Miss Marple stories have been updated for the twenty-first century with Geraldine McEwan as the shrewd sleuth. In 2009 Miss Marple will be undergoing another transformation. Julia McKenzie, famous for her roles in Bright Young Things and the BBC’s Cranford, will step into the shoes of St. Mary Mead’s most famous inhabitant. It looks as though Christie will continue to be a success on screen for many years to come!
