 |
The Tumbled House is a suspense novel written by Winston Graham, who is most famous for the Poldark series of historical novels.
The Tumbled House was first published in 1959 by Hodder and Stoughton and offers an insight into life in London during that period.
At the heart of the novel is a libel case: however, despite the potential dullness of such a subject, the author weaves a suspenseful plot with many strands that drives the reader on in excited anticipation.
Roger Shorn is a successful journalist. Elegant and clever, he has a way with the ladies. He introduces an old flame, Joanna, to his friend, Don Marlowe, and the two subsequently marry.
One evening two years later Roger drives Joanna to the cottage of her deceased father-in-law, Sir John Marlowe. They are en route to London after visiting mutual friends, and they re-kindle their affair. However, they are seen by a woman who is viewed fleetingly by Joanna through the window.
Don returns from a trip abroad, and before long his father's reputation is being attacked in a Sunday newspaper. The author goes by the name "Moonraker" and his identity is unknown. Don is unable to sue, as the attack is on a dead man.
Don has a younger sister, Bennie, an air hostess. She meets Michael, Roger's only son, and he falls in love with her. Over the course of a few rather hectic dates, (in which it is evident Michael is mixing with the "wrong" crowd), Bennie discovers by chance that Roger Shorn is "Moonraker."
This discovery allows Don to start libelling Roger, in the hope that he sues him. In that way, Don is able to at least attempt to clear his father's name. Roger will be forced to prove what he wrote was true.
Unfortunately, Joanna realises that this could be the end of her marriage, especially when the fleetingly glanced woman proves to be a key witness. She also now understands why Roger wanted to go to the cottage, to obtain important papers that would help him write his article.
Michael, meanwhile, is frustrated at his lack of money, and wants the best for Bennie. This leads him into crime, and a tragic outcome for both of them.
Subsequently, the case ends badly for both men, but they both lose far more than they could have imagined at the outset.
After writing the first four Poldark Novels, there followed a fairly long hiatus until "The Black Moon", the fifth in the series. Winston Graham states in the introduction to this book that he put aside the Poldarks as the technique of suspense interested him more. The Tumbled House was written during this time.
The Big Sleep (1939) is a hardboiled crime novel by American-British writer Raymond Chandler, the first to feature the detective Philip Marlowe. It has been adapted for film twice, in 1946 and again in 1978. The story is set in Los Angeles.
Poldark is a series of historical novels by Winston Graham, published from 1945 to 1953 and continued from 1973 to 2002. The first novel, Ross Poldark, was named for the protagonist of the series. The novel series was adapted for television by the BBC in 1975 and again in 2015.
Winston Mawdsley Graham OBE, born Winston Grime, was an English novelist best known for the Poldark series of historical novels set in Cornwall, though he also wrote numerous other works, including contemporary thrillers, period novels, short stories, non-fiction and plays. Winston Graham was the author's pseudonym until he changed his name by deed poll from Grime to Graham on 7 May 1947.
The Long Good-bye is a novel by Raymond Chandler, published in 1953, his sixth novel featuring the private investigator Philip Marlowe. Some critics consider it inferior to The Big Sleep or Farewell, My Lovely, but others rank it as the best of his work. Chandler, in a letter to a friend, called the novel "my best book".
Anthony Robin Ellis is a British actor and cookery book writer best known for his role as Captain Ross Poldark in the 29 episodes of the 1975 BBC classic series Poldark, adapted from a series of books by the British author Winston Graham. He also appeared in Fawlty Towers, Cluedo, The Good Soldier, Elizabeth R, The Moonstone, Bel Ami, Sense and Sensibility, The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, She Loves Me and Blue Remembered Hills. In 2015–17 and 2019 he appeared in the Poldark series remake as Reverend Halse.
Jo Eisinger was a film and television writer whose career spanned more than 40 years from the early 1940s well into the 1980s. He is widely recognized as the writer of two of the most psychologically complex film noirs, Gilda (1946) and Night and the City (1950).
The Long Goodbye is a 1973 American neo-noir satirical mystery crime thriller film directed by Robert Altman and based on Raymond Chandler's 1953 novel. The screenplay is by Leigh Brackett, who co-wrote the screenplay for Chandler's The Big Sleep in 1946. The film stars Elliott Gould as Philip Marlowe and features Sterling Hayden, Nina Van Pallandt, Jim Bouton, Mark Rydell, and an early, uncredited appearance by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Date with an Angel is a 1987 American romantic fantasy comedy film starring Emmanuelle Béart, Phoebe Cates and Michael E. Knight. The film was written and directed by Tom McLoughlin. The original music score was composed by Randy Kerber. The visual effects were produced at Boss Film Studios under the supervision of Visual Effects Supervisor Richard Edlund. The film was marketed with the tagline "Jim is about to marry a princess... but he's in love with an angel."
Moonraker is a 1979 spy-fi film, the eleventh in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, and the fourth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The third and final film in the series to be directed by Lewis Gilbert, it co-stars Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Corinne Cléry, and Richard Kiel. Bond investigates the theft of a Space Shuttle, leading him to Hugo Drax, the owner of the shuttle's manufacturing firm. Along with space scientist Dr. Holly Goodhead, Bond follows the trail from California to Venice, Rio de Janeiro, the Amazon rainforest, and finally into outer space to prevent a plot to wipe out the world population and to recreate humanity with a master race.
Farewell, My Lovely is a 1975 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Dick Richards and featuring Robert Mitchum as private detective Philip Marlowe. The picture is based on Raymond Chandler's novel Farewell, My Lovely (1940), which had previously been adapted for film as Murder, My Sweet in 1944. The supporting cast features Charlotte Rampling, John Ireland, Jack O'Halloran, Sylvia Miles and Harry Dean Stanton, with an early screen appearance by Sylvester Stallone, and hardcore crime novelist Jim Thompson, in his only acting role, as Charlotte Rampling's character's elderly husband Judge Grayle. Mitchum returned to the role of Marlowe three years later in the 1978 film The Big Sleep, making him the only actor to portray the character more than once in a feature film.
Poldark is the original version of the BBC television series adaptation of the novels of the same title written by Winston Graham. The adaptation was first transmitted in the UK between 1975 and 1977. The production covered all seven novels that Graham had written up to this time.
Poldark is a British historical drama television series based on the novels of the same title by Winston Graham and starring Aidan Turner in the lead role. The book series is twelve novels long but the TV series only portrays the first seven. The series was written and adapted by Debbie Horsfield for the BBC, and directed by several directors throughout its run. Set between 1781 and 1801, the plot follows the title character on his return to Cornwall after the American War of Independence in 1783.
Roger Ernest Jenkins was a British theatre and television director who directed multiple British television productions from the mid-1950s until the 1980s as well as directing, producing, and filming numerous stage plays.
Ross Poldark is the first of twelve novels in Poldark, a series of historical novels by Winston Graham. It was published in 1945. The novel has twice been adapted for television, first in 1975 and then again in 2015. Sales of the novel increased by 205% after the premiere of the 2015 television adaptation.
Demelza is the second of twelve novels in Poldark, a series of historical novels by Winston Graham. It was published in 1946.
Jeremy Poldark is the third of twelve novels in Poldark, a series of historical novels by Winston Graham. It was published in 1950.
Warleggan is the fourth of twelve novels in Poldark, a series of historical novels by Winston Graham. It was published in 1953.
The Black Moon is the fifth of twelve novels in Poldark, a series of historical novels by Winston Graham. After an 18-year hiatus from the Cornwall novels, it was published in 1973. While Ward Lock published the first four novels in the series, publishing house Collins took over the reins with the fifth entry.
The Four Swans is the sixth of twelve novels in Poldark, a series of historical novels by Winston Graham. It was published in 1976, thirty-one years after the first novel in the series.