EDIT [ Mrs Welman is rich and old and lives in a big house with her niece Elinor (Elisabeth Walsh), her fiancee Roddy Winter (Rupert Penry-Jones) and also Mary Gerrard (Kelly Reilly) a girl without a family brought up by Mrs Welman, who was very fond of her. Plus the servants and two nurses who look after Mrs Welman. Dr Lord doesn't live with them but visits often to check on the old lady. He knows Poirot and when Elinor tells him of a strange letter she received, he shows it to him. Poirot feels a danger that unsettles him, and when Mrs Welman dies he goes back to the village straight away. Dr Lord says it's a natural death but Poirot stays around anyway. Mrs Welman died without making a will so Elinor gets everything. She saw Roddy and Mary together, plus the way he always looks at her makes her understand that he loves Mary and breaks up with him. To honour her aunt's wishes and affections, Elinor gives Mary a sum of money. she's hurting a lot, tells Poirot she wishes Mary was dead, but later she will realise that she and Roddy were just not meant to be together. While having tea and sandwiches with Mary and a nurse, something happens: Mary dies, poisoned. All suspicions of course are on Elinor and the police arrest her. There's a trial and she's found guilty, so Poirot must find the truth quickly before she's hanged. Only Roddy and the doctor believe her innocence: Roddy knows her and has great affection for her, even if he was going to propose to Mary, and Dr Lord is clearly in love with her. Poirot speaks to everyone, as he always does. Now the solution:
I didn't remember it at first, had no idea what was going to happen, until I heard the nurse say, after serving tea for Mary and herself and washing up the cups, that she had hurt herself with the roses thorns, then I remembered. When Elinor tells that to Poirot he understands, because nobody but Elinor could have poisoned the sandwiches, but that was not the only thing Mary had. Mary drank the tea, like the nurse did. The roses outside have no thorns: she poisoned the tea and when she went to wash the cups she injected herself with a drug that made her vomit to get rid of the poison in her stomach. The police arrest her and Poirot frees Elinor, and old romantic that he is, he had the doctor meet her outside the prison to take her home :) ]
It starts with Elinor Carlisle on trial (the credits read Elinor, but all the while I understood Elena), and they hear the prosecutor say that they have lots of evidence against her and she showed no remorse and we hear her thinking that she wanted her death so much...
A flashback brings us to the previous summer, when Elinor and her fiancée Roddy Winter received an anonymous letter and decided to visit their old aunt Laura Welman. They find Mary Gerrard there, back from Germany. They had played together as children and meeting again now Roddy falls for her. When her aunt dies, Elinor breaks her engagement because she knows he’s in love with Mary.
Elinor had showed the letter to doctor Lord and he got Poirot involved. Now Poirot is back in the village after reading of the aunt’s death. Since Laura left no will everything goes to Elinor, and she gives Mary some money thinking that’s what her aunt wanted. She tells Poirot that she wishes “so much” that Mary was dead, in quite an impressive scene.
Mary and a nurse have tea in Elinor’s house and Mary dies of poisoning. The detective in charge is quite satisfied that Elinor ha motive and opportunity to put morphine in the sandwiches Mary liked, with salmon pastry. The doctor begs Poirot to help him find the truth because he’s in love with Elinor and therefore he’s sure that she didn’t do it. He also always had suspicions about Laura’s death but he thought that she might have taken the morphine herself and didn’t want to cause a scandal. Poirot has Laura’s body exhumed and examined.
Roddy is distraught, he wanted to propose to Mary but he’s absolutely sure that Elinor didn’t do it.
Laura died of morphine poisoning too and of that too Elinor is accused. We’re now back at the beginning of the episode, and we hear the verdict: guilty. She’ll be hanged in five days. Elinor hasn’t defended herself at all and has nothing to say to Poirot.
Poirot keeps investigating. The nurse reveals to Poirot that Mary was Laura’s illegitimate daughter: she could not recognize her, she wanted to avoid a scandal, but always provided for her. Poirot goes again to see Laura in prison, and she tells him about that day when Mary died, and how the nurse told her that she had pricked her arm with a rose thorn. Poirot now understands it all but must prove it very quickly to save Elinor, so he sets a trap. The nurse is actually Laura’s sister Mary Riley, and she’s the murderer. She put the poison in the tea, not in the sandwiches, and then injected herself with something that would make her vomit the poison. She planned to go back to New Zealand and quietly claim her money from there - now I’m not an expert but I wonder why, without a will, it all went to a niece and nothing to a sister... anyway, this way she would have had it all of course; still I think the movie is not clear on this point. Did Mary leave her money to her as she said at the beginning or to Roddy as Poirot told him?
The nurse now poisons again the tea waiting for Poirot to drink it, and he pretends to be dying so she lets down her guard and confess openly. Of course Poirot never drank that poisoned tea, and the police arrest her and they all rush to save Elinor. The doctor goes too and waits outside the prison for her to come out and take her home :-)
A flashback brings us to the previous summer, when Elinor and her fiancée Roddy Winter received an anonymous letter and decided to visit their old aunt Laura Welman. They find Mary Gerrard there, back from Germany. They had played together as children and meeting again now Roddy falls for her. When her aunt dies, Elinor breaks her engagement because she knows he’s in love with Mary.
Elinor had showed the letter to doctor Lord and he got Poirot involved. Now Poirot is back in the village after reading of the aunt’s death. Since Laura left no will everything goes to Elinor, and she gives Mary some money thinking that’s what her aunt wanted. She tells Poirot that she wishes “so much” that Mary was dead, in quite an impressive scene.
Mary and a nurse have tea in Elinor’s house and Mary dies of poisoning. The detective in charge is quite satisfied that Elinor ha motive and opportunity to put morphine in the sandwiches Mary liked, with salmon pastry. The doctor begs Poirot to help him find the truth because he’s in love with Elinor and therefore he’s sure that she didn’t do it. He also always had suspicions about Laura’s death but he thought that she might have taken the morphine herself and didn’t want to cause a scandal. Poirot has Laura’s body exhumed and examined.
Roddy is distraught, he wanted to propose to Mary but he’s absolutely sure that Elinor didn’t do it.
Laura died of morphine poisoning too and of that too Elinor is accused. We’re now back at the beginning of the episode, and we hear the verdict: guilty. She’ll be hanged in five days. Elinor hasn’t defended herself at all and has nothing to say to Poirot.
Poirot keeps investigating. The nurse reveals to Poirot that Mary was Laura’s illegitimate daughter: she could not recognize her, she wanted to avoid a scandal, but always provided for her. Poirot goes again to see Laura in prison, and she tells him about that day when Mary died, and how the nurse told her that she had pricked her arm with a rose thorn. Poirot now understands it all but must prove it very quickly to save Elinor, so he sets a trap. The nurse is actually Laura’s sister Mary Riley, and she’s the murderer. She put the poison in the tea, not in the sandwiches, and then injected herself with something that would make her vomit the poison. She planned to go back to New Zealand and quietly claim her money from there - now I’m not an expert but I wonder why, without a will, it all went to a niece and nothing to a sister... anyway, this way she would have had it all of course; still I think the movie is not clear on this point. Did Mary leave her money to her as she said at the beginning or to Roddy as Poirot told him?
The nurse now poisons again the tea waiting for Poirot to drink it, and he pretends to be dying so she lets down her guard and confess openly. Of course Poirot never drank that poisoned tea, and the police arrest her and they all rush to save Elinor. The doctor goes too and waits outside the prison for her to come out and take her home :-)
2003
ITA la parola alla difesa
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