Agatha Christie created 2 fabulous characters – Hercule Poirot, and Miss Marple; each of them were brilliant at connecting clues, tying them in with human emotions and solving crimes that would baffle other people; in that respect, they were similar to Sherlock Holmes (created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle). Hercule Poirot was made as a lovable, and yet highly vain character. He knows that he is smart, he can solve cases that no one else can, and he is very vain about his moustache. He is also a perfect gentleman in terms of manners, although with a high ego, he can get easily offended. All these characteristics pale in front of the indisputable fact that he can use clues to evolve a story, change his thinking if the clues don’t match, and explore all possible alternatives even if they seem extremely unlikely.

This particular novel, ‘An Appointment with death’ was released after many other Hercule Poirot stories had been published, so the standard for Hercule Poirot in terms of character and success was already set. Here was a guy who read the same clues as the reader, and others in the story, and yet was able to solve the crime (in many cases, the actual murdered was a surprise to most people – read ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ as another great book with the same subject).
The novel deals with a family under great stress, the matriarch of the family is a tyrant of the highest degree, controlling the family (interactions, emotions, experiences, she controlled everything). This stifling was causing immense harm to the family members (including possibly breaking up the marriage of her son), and then, while on a trip to the Middle East, she is murdered. There is not much time to solve the crime, and since Hercule Poirot was at the same location, his services were requested. He needs to figure out the various movements, marshal the clues, and see which of the oppressed family members committed the crime.
The initial part of the story where the family is getting discussed between 2 outsiders, Sarah King and Dr. Gerard, is fascinating as you get to understand the family dynamics in fair detail. This is setting the ground to claim that most people in the family also had a reason to kill her, and then Poirot had heard something earlier that seemed like her children were plotting to kill her. In the 24 hours in which he was involved in the case, he works out that the family members had indeed found her dead, but suspected the other and hence tried to save them.
The name of the murderer, when finally revealed, is a major surprise, one which most readers would not have predicted.

The Battleship Potemkin is a classic Russian movie, released in 1925. It is a silent movie, also known by another name ‘he Battleship Potyomkin’ as well as by the Russian name of ‘Bronyenosyets Potyomkin’. The movie was directed by Sergei Eisenstein, and was based on the real life story of the actual crew of the Russian naval ship of the same name during 1905, oppressed by the naval officers of the Tsarist regime that was ruling Russia around that time.
The movie has been so famous that the history of the ship is defined more by the movie rather than by history books. The movie was famous also for its graphic violence (not seen in movies of that time) as well as to be a propaganda movie to get sympathy for the crew of the ship. This attempt worked so well on viewers that the Nazi propaganda spinner, Joseph Goebbels, was very admiring of the movie for its attempt to sell a political story in a simple yet powerful way.

The zeal of the movie director to sway audiences imparted a revolutionary approach that caused the movie to run afoul of sensors in many countries, with the movie either banned or scenes cut; it was only over a period of time that the movie was restored with cut sections to audiences all over. The movie had some classic scenes, but the most striking was the scene of the Czar’s Cossack soldiers marching down steps (the Odessa steps) and firing into the crowd of civilians who had come to watch the ship arrive.
The movie takes the true story of the rebellion on board the Russian naval ship Battleship Potemkin in the year 2005. There was discontent against the oppressive officers of the Tzar, and there was a plan to have an uprising. However, the uprising was started earlier on the battle-ship when the sailors protested against having to eat maggot infested meat that the ship’s officers and doctor had certified as being fit for human consumption. This was the first element of the movie, with the movie being essentially divided into 5 parts:
1. Men and maggots
2. Drama at the harbour: The sailors rise up and their leader, Vakulynchuk, is killed
3. A dead man calls for Justice: The civilians at Odessa mourn the dead
4. The massacre of civilians at Odessa where the Czar’s soldiers kill the civilians on the steps
5. “The Rendez-Vous with a Squadron where the squadron joins the sailors instead of crushing them
After the mutiny, the sailors go different ways. The ones who returned or were induced to return were executed or jailed, and the others went to different countries such as Romania, Argentina and Ireland.

Horror is not only about things that creak in the night, or about other such stuff that is tried to scare you. The concept of a crazed human being, who otherwise looks perfectly normal, and who kills and terrorises others, can be very scary. Especially, when this is done by someone who takes their time over this, willing to wait for a certain period of time before carrying out their mission. No matter that it takes time, the mission is uppermost in the mind of this individual, and he or she does not care about the feelings of others, or that if necessary, other human beings can be killed.
The Night of the Hunter is a movie acknowledged to be a ‘film noir’ movie, although there are people who absolutely love the movie, and there are others who cannot understand why the movie is so liked; after all, the characters are not really daily life, the story may not be so plausible, and the acting is considered by some to be over-done.

When the movie was released, it was not met with rapture by critics, but over a period of 4 decades, the movie has been shown on Television multiple times, and has acquired a cult following (to the extent that the movie is now believed to be a top 100 movie; it is also regularly listed among the most scary movies of all time). The movie was directed by a one-time director, Charles Laughton, who was much more famous as a Academy Award winning actor, and screen-writer. The movie stars Robert Mitchum in the main role as the demented killer.
Night of the Hunter was based on a book of the same name by author David Grubb, and both were based on the real life story of Harry Powers (executed in 1932 for being the main accused in the murder of 2 women and 3 children). The story was powerful, but the style of the movie – it combines religious overdone, a Brothers Grimm type fairy tale in the middle, and a stalker who is most ruthless.
The movie is about the self-styled preacher, Harry Powell (Mitchum) who is sharing a prison cell with a man Ben Harper (Peter Graves) who is sentenced to hang for his part in a robbery in which killings happened. He alone knows where the money is hidden, and only tells his children (John (Billy Chapin) and Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce)) where the money is located. He does not tell anyone else, not even his wife. Powell tries to get Harper to tell him where the money is located, but no dice; however he does get an elusive clue from Harper in the manner of a quote uttered in sleep “And a child shall lead them”. This is enough to convince Powell that the children know where the money is located.
Once he is out, there is a single minded quest to get the money, and to be near the children, he manages to get Harper’s widow Willa to marry him. However, even on questioning, the children do not trust him and do not tell him anything. Willa eventually finds out, and Powell then kills her. After Willa, Powell uses threat and manages to get them to tell him the location, but then escape with the money on a boat ride (a most fantastic ride) and find sanctuary with Rachel Cooper (Lilian Gish). Powell searches for them, and finds Rachel, but she manages to hold him off, and then the police arrive.