Who would be your perfect Dr. Gideon Fell?
 

I am by no means any expert yet, but I was just wondering who everyone thought would be the perfect choice to portray Dr. Gideon Fell in a movie or television series?

Re: Who would be your perfect Dr. Gideon Fell?
 

Robbie Coltrane!

http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/ic...BFB6FA02AA.jpg

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-imag...23/Hagrid3.jpg

Re: Who would be your perfect Dr. Gideon Fell?
 

Ha-ha! Perfect. His whole life has been spent building-up to the part: quite literally. I think he'd make a cracking Fell.

Not sure whether some mysteries would work on TV, though. My theory is that Carr is too clever for TV; most of his plots are too intricate and mind-bending even for a two-hour screenplay. Don't get me wrong - I'd love to see it done, but I fear the likes of "The Arabian Nights Murder" or even "The Three Coffins" may be too challenging for a modern 'light entertainment' audience. I hope I'm wrong.

I suppose the next question is which six (for instance) would you choose for a series? I'd probably opt for:

- Hag's Nook
- The Arabian Nights Murder
- The Three Coffins / The Hollow Man
- The Crooked Hinge
- The Case of the Constant Suicides
- He Who Whispers

Here's to hoping!

Mark

Re: Who would be your perfect Dr. Gideon Fell?
 

Robbie Coltrane as Dr. Fell sounds like a great idea, as long as Disney doesn’t do it and give him a singing hippogriff as a sidekick.

I agree that some of the best Carr books might not make the best movies (actually I think the small screen, in a BBC or PBS Mystery series, would work beter than a big screen version). The Problem of the Green Capsule and The Three Coffins would probably be too complicated for modern audiences—though I shouldn’t sound so condescending, since in some cases I’ve had to backtrack while reading Carr and reread earlier chapters to figure things out. Also the time element in The Three Coffins would be a problem on film. She Died a Lady is one of my favorite Carrs, but it probably wouldn’t work without the narrator device. He Who Whispers would be terrific except that you’d have to show the first murder in a flashback, and that would give away everything.

So, here are the six Carrs I think would make the best films (NOT the six best books):

The Judas Window
The Crooked Hinge
Till Death Do Us Part
He Wouldn’t Kill Patience
The Case of the Constant Suicides
The Burning Court

Speaking of the time element in The Three Coffins: the problem doing this as a film would be similar to a chapter in Agatha Christie’s Sleeping Murder, which included a device I considered unfair (though since the murderer’s identity was already obvious, it didn’t bother as much as it would have if I’d been fooled by it).

Re: Who would be your perfect Dr. Gideon Fell?
 

G.K. Chesterton. But I misdoubt he's available.

When I first read a description of Fell, I made a picture of him in my head. It looked just like Chesterton, though I hadn't seen a photo of Chesterton at that time.

Since I understand that's who Carr had in mind, I guess his descriptive skills worked out.

How about Sydney Greenstreet in a jovial mood? Kind of doubt he's available either.

James Earl Jones? (Well, Gideon Oliver was played by Lou Gossett...)

Think I'm dithering. Pardon me. :)

Re: Who would be your perfect Dr. Gideon Fell?
 

I don't think I've ever read SM (one of the few Christies I've missed) but this does indeed sound more egregious than the similar time tricks in The Three Coffins and Christie's Sittaford Mystery/Murder at Hazelmoor, in both of which at least the scenes aren't actually narrated out of order.

Re: Who would be your perfect Dr. Gideon Fell?
 

I'm convinced about Robbie Coltrane too, though someone here did once suggest Brian Blessed, another fine suggestion. I agree about the complexity problem, and think that any Fell series would do well to throw in a few of the short stories, like "The Incautious Burglar," "Invisible Hands," "The Locked Room," as well as some of the radio plays.

I should add that my wife routinely anticipates the solution to the Suchet Poirots, so maybe a little more complexity would be a good thing? (It's hard for me to judge the latter since I've read most of them in advance.)

Re: Who would be your perfect Dr. Gideon Fell?
 

The trouble with casting someone who looked like Dr Fell would be that the actor would be in grave danger of a heart attack, particularly if he were old. (Although a great actor, Blessed is nearly 70.) Although Coltrane would be a good choice and Stephen Fry could probably pull it off, my first choice would have to be Martin Clunes - have a look at GOODBYE, MR CHIPS.

Re: Who would be your perfect Dr. Gideon Fell?
 

Who would be your perfect Dr. Gideon Fell?

I'm not sure about Gideon Fell, but John Savident would IMO make a superb HM. For those who haven't seen him on TV, he has played butcher Fred Elliott in the UK's Coronation Street for the last 11 years.

http://homepages.tesco.net/~p.wilkinson/Fred.html

Re: Who would be your perfect Dr. Gideon Fell?
 

Colin Baker, of course. (The sixth Doctor Who.) I recently saw him on stage in Australia, and thought what a perfect Fell or HM he would make. He's physically right for the role; he's a very good actor (I've been listening to the Big Finish Dr Who radio plays, and he's become my favourite Doctor), capable of both emotional subtlety and of dominating a scene; and he has the right mixture of dry wit and physical humour.

Re: Who would be your perfect Dr. Gideon Fell?
 

Agreed, SM, Colin Baker would make a good Dr Fell. I hadn't considered him until your post because he has remained in my mind as the (relatively) young-looking sixth doctor from the mid 1980's. Twenty years on he is looking much more the part. He still has too much hair for HM, but I expect he could manage "a great mop of grey-streaked hair" to do justice to Dr Fell.

Re: Who would be your perfect Dr. Gideon Fell?
 

I haven't seen Colin Baker in anything since Who. Based upon that remote acquaintance, he'd certainly have the presence, if not the bonhomme quality.

But the avoirdupois? Gad, Colin, what HAVE you been doing to yourself if you'd qualify for Fell?

Personally, I'd have liked to see Zero Mostel.

What about Nathan Hunt?

Re: Who would be your perfect Dr. Gideon Fell?
 

I mentioned in another online group (GAD) that Brian Blessed (Augustus in "I, Claudius") would be a perfect Dr. Fell.