I love the episode of "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe", but I fear it contains one of the biggest goofs of any in the Poirot episodes, and it really is the fault of bad researching and sloppy editing which allowed it in.
The episode includes a 1925 visit of the Prince of Wales to the Indian sub-continent which is reported in a movie newsreel with perfect sound attached. One problem. Talkies weren't made to this quality at the time. The first talking movie, The Jazz Singer, wasn't produced until 1927, and sound in that was basically only for the songs, and very poor.
So why put in so obvious a phoney commentary, for a newsreel which is not even of the correct royal visit? The pictures are too perfect. It looks more like a royal visit somewhere sometime in the mid to late 30s than in the mid 20s. The commentary definitely states 1925, but there was no Prince of Wales tour of India in 1925. That occurred in 1921, during which time afaik there were no moving newsreels made at all. They didn't exist. Just still photography. I should also mention that the style of commentary given is more like those of the 1950s. Certainly not pre-WWII.
I've nothing against producers using such an historical idea as a prelude, but I wish the continuity, historical research, and editing departments, would do their jobs properly. If the viewers can figure out the faults, surely they can.
This goof is near the beginning of the episode and really doesn't deter from the rest of the episode which resumes its usual excellent Poirot quality, but the inclusion of such a goof is surely inexcusable.
And this is not a one-off. There's a similar newsreel reporting a murder trial at the start of "Murder on the Links". The action then moves forward 10 years and a hoarding promoting the forthcoming 1936 bicycle race is plainly shown, which would make the earlier newsreel as being in 1926, again before sound was added to film. This has to be the fault of shoddy research.
The episode includes a 1925 visit of the Prince of Wales to the Indian sub-continent which is reported in a movie newsreel with perfect sound attached. One problem. Talkies weren't made to this quality at the time. The first talking movie, The Jazz Singer, wasn't produced until 1927, and sound in that was basically only for the songs, and very poor.
So why put in so obvious a phoney commentary, for a newsreel which is not even of the correct royal visit? The pictures are too perfect. It looks more like a royal visit somewhere sometime in the mid to late 30s than in the mid 20s. The commentary definitely states 1925, but there was no Prince of Wales tour of India in 1925. That occurred in 1921, during which time afaik there were no moving newsreels made at all. They didn't exist. Just still photography. I should also mention that the style of commentary given is more like those of the 1950s. Certainly not pre-WWII.
I've nothing against producers using such an historical idea as a prelude, but I wish the continuity, historical research, and editing departments, would do their jobs properly. If the viewers can figure out the faults, surely they can.
This goof is near the beginning of the episode and really doesn't deter from the rest of the episode which resumes its usual excellent Poirot quality, but the inclusion of such a goof is surely inexcusable.
And this is not a one-off. There's a similar newsreel reporting a murder trial at the start of "Murder on the Links". The action then moves forward 10 years and a hoarding promoting the forthcoming 1936 bicycle race is plainly shown, which would make the earlier newsreel as being in 1926, again before sound was added to film. This has to be the fault of shoddy research.