"Million Dollar Bond Robbery"

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The Million Dollar Bond Robbery is a short story by Agatha Christie. Christie tells us how is the theft of Liberty Bonds of the London and Scottish Bank on the Olympia, and that is where it seems the famous detective Hercule Poirot with his partner Captain Hastings, who solved the case without problems.

It begins when Miss Farquhar Esmée went to visit to Poirot to discuss the issue of theft of Liberty Bonds, because she is engaged to Mr. Philip Ridgeway, and he was the one who was in charge of the bonds in the trip to New York, because his uncle, Mr. Vavasour,  suffered a severe bronchitis so he could not go there.

Poirot takes the case and he begins his investigation. First he went to speak directly with the person most involved, Mr. Ridgeway. He explained the same version that his fiancee, also he added that the box (which was sent to transport especially the bonds) he had been forced to open it, but curiously the end it was open with the correct key.

Finally, Poirot and Hasting talked with Miss Esmée F. to tell the outcome of the investigation. Poirot believed that Mr. Ridgeway could not be guilty because the case would have been very clear and simple. Therefore he had two options, the first one is that the bonds had been hidden in the boat and the second option is unlikely that the bonds had been thrown overboard. Logically if the second option were true, the bonds would not have been sold in New York, then that option is removed. Poirot took the option that the bonds were never in the Olympia and they were sent in the Gigantic the same day, but this boat is faster, so in New York the bonds arrived before with instructions that they were sold just arrived Olympia there.

However, at the Olympia had to travel for someone to plan the possible robbery , so there was a man in the booth next to Mr. Ridgeway, and he had to pretend to pick the lock so it would look like a real steal. Of course, the man was hiding behind his clothes to avoid being caught or recognized by Mr. Ridgeway. The guilty of the theft, the man who never had a severe bronchitis was Mr. Shaw.

The case settled and blameless leaving Mr. Ridgeway is how the story of Agatha Christie ends.

From the summarize of the story above and based on the video seen in the class, I present a number of similarities and differences:

-       Although the characters are almost the same, their roles and relationships are totally different. A clear example is that Mr. Ridgeway in the video works at the bank and he is an outstanding employee, but the book says that he is the nephew of Mr. Vavasour.

-       In the book the ship was called Olympia, but in the video the ship was called Queen Mary.

-       Another contrast is that the keys were given to different people: (video) Mr. Shaw, Mr. Ridgeway and Mr. Vavasour had a copy of a key; (book) Mr. Shaw, Mr. McNeil, Mr. Ridgeway and Mr. Vavasour had a copy of a key.

-       There is an important contradiction about the problem that Mr. Shaw suffered, because in the book he has been severely ill with bronchitis at his home in the country and the video showed to us that he was poisoned by someone.

-       Also we can find that Hercule Poirot do not travel on the Olympia, but Hasting and Poirot was invited to travel with Mr. Ridgeway on the Queen Mary, and in this travel Hasting meet a beautiful woman who was in the cabin next to Mr. Ridgeway because she is the person who helped to Mr. Shaw with his evil plan.

-          However, I found some similarities. For example, Miss Esmée F. was engaged with Mr. Ridgeway; the main idea of the story is the same, I mean that the million dollar bonds was stolen; another important similarity is the guilty is the same person, in both cases is Mr. Shaw but using different ways, and Mr. Ridgeway was always blamed by the people of the bank.

In the other hand, I believe that it is a good detective story because when you read you can imagine every situation, every character and all the places where the story is happened. Also I like the guilty was Mr. Shaw because I never imagine he could be a thief. It is fantastic when Agatha C. give to readers some clue but at the end these are not relevant because it is for mislead.

Nevertheless, it is difficult imagine everything if you has been reading the book after that you watch the video because in my case I can not forget the movie when I read, so the situations are different.

I dislike when directors of movies change the real story that the authors write with a great imagination. Sometimes the movies are really different and it is uncomfortable for the readers. I think that a good example that you do not need to change the real story is a movie and a book called Pride and Prejudice.  In this case when you read a book and after you watch a movie, or vice versa, you can understand every situation with the correct character doing the same things that you read or watch.

However, there are some movies which change the original story but in a better way. Some variances help to understand the main idea. In most of the cases kids received the benefits when they watch a movie with full colors, beautiful images, and interesting characters with funny and colorful clothes.

Finally, I want to give you a recommendation because it is important for me that you know an important fact, when you read a book and you know that exist a movie about this book you should read a book and then watch a movie, because in my opinion is the better way in which you will be not disappointed.