Hallmark Takes a Mysterious Trip Back in Time
I’ve started reading more historical mysteries recently, but I hadn’t really thought about Hallmark choosing to do any adaptations of these books until I found out about Murder at the Breakers, the first in the potential new Gilded Newport Mysteries franchise for the channel. I was looking forward to seeing how this first historical mystery would go.
The movie takes us back to 1895 and Newport, Rhode Island. Emma Vanderbilt-Cross (Ali Skovbye) is a poor relation of the Vanderbilts. While her parents are over in Europe trying to sell their paintings, she is supporting herself as a reporter for the local paper covering women’s issues and society events.
One such event is the coming out party for her cousin that the Vanderbilts are hosting at their summer “cottage,” The Breakers. The night ends in tragedy, however, when one of their employees dies after falling from a balcony. Worse yet, Emma’s half-brother is accused of the crime. Can she figure out how to free him?
I’d actually had the book this movie is based on for a couple of years, so I decided to read it before the movie aired. For better or worse. I was much more aware of the things they had changed for the movie as a result. That included some character details, plus completely leaving out a character and subplot. I had to keep reminding myself it was an alternative universe version of the story. When I did that, I enjoyed it.
Speaking of alternative universes, I’m not sure that some of the actors and actresses they cast could have really held the positions their characters did in 1895 America. Which is a sad statement about the country 130 years ago. If you are looking for historical accuracy, you will be highly disappointed. But let’s enjoy this dream of what should have been possible at the time.
I will say this for the historical aspect, the costumes and sets looked wonderful. Again, when I turned off my inner critic, I was able to get lost in the visuals and enjoy what I was looking at.
Likewise, I enjoyed the story. Since the book was fresh in my mind (I read it within the last couple of weeks), I spotted the clues easily. But I still enjoyed seeing it play out on the screen. As I said earlier, they did streamline things to fit in the 90-minute timeframe of the movie, but I enjoyed seeing how they did that. The story still made perfect sense from beginning to end, and considering a few of the things they cut out, that’s pretty impressive.
On the other hand, there is one thing they complicated. At least from the first book. Maybe there is something coming in other books in the series I’m not aware of that they are setting up here. Either way, I’m not complaining, and I’ll be curious to see where things go.
As is often the case with Hallmark movies, there are moments of weak writing and acting. On the whole, I enjoyed the performances, however, and they allowed me to get lost in the story.
Whether you are a fan of the books or not, Murder at the Breakers is a fun mystery movie that will draw you back in time. I hope we get another entry in the series soon. I guess I should start reading the books faster to see what happens in them next.
How did I not know this book series was becoming a Hallmark movie!! I'm adding this to my watch list.
ReplyDeleteWell said about the historical accuracy. I'm there for the entertainment and we can enjoy how far we've come in 130 years. I liked this movie overall too. :)
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