Saturday I did not do anything remotely Mohawk Valley-ish, as I like to call my various adventures. Still, I was in the Mohawk Valley at the time, so I will tell you how I spent a good part of the day on my couch, crocheting and watching Agatha Christie movies.
I started with And Then There Were None. I was recently in a stage production of this with Ilion Little Theatre. It was during my pre-blog days. The script is based on a book which is also called 10 Little Indians. I think And Then There Were None is clearly a better title.
The reason it was called 10 Little Indians (or something even less politically correct) is that the murders are based on a supposedly charming nursery rhyme. Seriously, in the play the characters find these Indian figurines and a wall hanging of a poem about how each little Indian bit the big one and they say, “Oh, how charming!” This one chokes himself, that one chops himself in half and the last one hangs himself. They sure don’t make nursery rhymes like they used to. Still, it was a fun movie to watch, especially after being in the play. Naturally, I liked our version better, but Hollywood tries.
I followed the movie up with Murder on the Orient Express. The book was called Murder on the Calais Coach. Again, I like the movie title better. Calais Coach has the alliterative thing going on, but Orient is mysterious and Express is urgent, a more evocative combination (evocative is one of my favorite words).
We’ve had the second movie for years, first as a video Steven purchased for seventy-five cents from a rental place going out of business, then eventually as a DVD. I love the star studded cast, especially Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot. I don’t think this one was ever written as a stage play, which is too bad. I’d suggest it to Ilion Little Theatre.
I enjoyed my movie watching afternoon and managed to complete an afghan. I’ll make plans to do something a little more blogworthy soon.
Mohawk Valley Girl 
Ohhhh I love Albert Finney, neat! I haven’t seen that one, although I’ve heard about it over the years. We watched the “And Then There Were None” film (the 1945 version) and I thought the same thing – there was a lot more to discover about the characters by watching it (and *ahem* being IN it) onstage. 😉 But it’s not like we’re biased or anything.
OK, I’m replying to this comment from four years ago, so I don’t know if anybody will see it, BUT… watch “Murder on the Orient Express” if you haven’t by now. You might also like to see the 1966 “10 Little Indians,” which I wrote about yesterday (Feb. 23, 2016). I noticed in Steven’s Leonard Maltin there are two or three more versions I’ve never seen. But there will never be a better Vera Claythorne than on the Ilion Little Theatre stage.