[Screenplay] Murder in Mesopotamia. Film script.

CHRISTIE, Agatha (1890-1976) [BOND, Julian, adaptation].

Sydney: Burbank Films, 1987. [Film material] Vintage original script for the unmade film adaptation based on the best-selling novel by Agatha Christie. Octavo (28 x 22cm), pp.93, mimeograph, in textured orange card wrappers with die-cut title window, bound internally with two clasps. Studio details to title page redacted with Tippex, title inked to lower edge of text block. A fine, clean copy, with a folder of associated paperwork, location notes, contacts, etc. Plans for this film adaptation of Murder in Mesopotamia were very far advanced when the project collapsed. The screenplay was written by Julian Bond, fresh from his recent success with The Whistle Blower (1986), starring Michael Caine; Christopher Miles (whose project this was) was in place to direct; and Peter Ustinov, who by then had already played Hercule Poirot five times on screen, was to be the film's star. However, relations between Australian studio executives and the project's Japanese backers soured just as the project was about to be green lit, and the film was never made. This copy has had the Australian studio details (Burbank Films, Paddington, Sydney) Tippexed from the title page, presumably in anticipation of submitting the screenplay to other studios in the hope of reviving the vehicle. But no such salvation was found. Murder in Mesopotamia finally reached the screen in 2002, in a version by Clive Exton, and starring David Suchet as Poirot. A very scarce piece of Christie arcana, and a well preserved copy. Item #71488

Price: £1,250.00