They Came to Baghdad is a 1952 TV film produced as episode 35 in season 4 of the American television series Westinghouse Studio One. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name written by Agatha Christie. This is the only Agatha Christie adaptation in the entire series.
The film was directed by Paul Nickell with a script written by Theodore Sturgeon (IMDB wrongfully claims that Fletcher Markle wrote the script) and was broadcast 12 May 1952.
Synopsis[]
This is an compressed adaptation of the original novel, with only the main premise retained: intelligence agents head towards Baghdad from various parts of the world, in this case, to hand over data about a secret weapon. Enemy agents make the same journey to frustrate the process. Victoria Jones, penniless and recently dismissed from her job, is caught in the web of intrigue and lured to Baghdad as well.
Comparison with original novel[]
(may contain spoilers - click on expand to read)
- The story has to be, of course, simplified and compressed to fit a one hour television episode. The main premise of the original is retained: Anna Scheele and Victoria Jones journey to Baghdad while from the east, an agent Carmichael is also heading there: hence the title. Except for a few scenes in London, most of the action takes place in the lobby of Tio's Hotel or Victoria's hotel room.
- Dakin is Inspector Dakin here. He is not in Baghdad but operates from a draper's shop in London. Here he actually meets Anna Scheele and briefs her about her mission to Baghdad and sends her on her way. Her mission is slightly different--she is an financial expert but a physicist and assistant to a famous physicist Doctor Duncan who has been murdered in Baghdad. The agent Carmichael is delivering some vital formula concerning a secret weapon which has been developed by "Daiwan", a scientist working in a Tibetan monastery. Anna must meet Carmichael to receive the formula which will be in a secret code. She and Duncan are the only two people who can understand Daiwan's secret code.
- Richard Baker is not an archaeologist but also an intelligence agent, at various times also called "inspector". Dakin sends him to Baghdad seperately from Anna. Like in the original, Baker is Carmichael's old friend (here Carmichael also used to call him "Owl"). Carmichael only knows Duncan and not Anna. So, with Duncan dead, Baker has to be there so that Carmichael has someone he knows and trusts to hand the secret over. Baker has a much larger role here.
- Victoria Jones is an American from Dayton, Ohio, but like in the original, works in an office in London and has just been fired, in this case for making a face at the boss.
- Edward Goring is revealed as an enemy agent almost from the start. While in the book he is heading a "New World Order" secret organisation, here he works as a freelance agent for whichever foreign power will pay him. While mounting surveillance on Anna Scheele, he encounters Victoria Jones. He notices she looks very much like Anna Scheele and thinks she will be useful and like in the book, uses Mrs Clipp to lure her to Baghdad. Here, Goring has a much more definite plan in mind as he hopes to use Victoria to trick Carmichael into thinking she is Anna Scheele and hand the plans to her.
- Victoria's resemblance to Anna Scheele is much more important in this adaptation, and the theme of mistaken identity is a much more significant plot element. Edward's plan almost succeeds because of it. After arriving in Tio's hotel, Baker meets Victoria and mistakenly thinks she is Anna Scheele. Carmichael makes contact with Baker and he sends him to Victoria's room. Here Carmichael's presence in Victoria's room is not an accident but Baker's doing.
- Edward is also in the lobby of Tio's Hotel. After spotting Carmichael, he shoots him. Carmichael escapes. Baker captures Edward and has the police take him away.
- The wounded Carmichael staggers into Victoria's room. As in the original, he utters "Lefarge" before dying. Like in the book, two fake policemen search her room but Victoria has hidden the body away and they don't find the body.
- Meanwhile Anna Scheele arrives at Tio's Hotel, with Fitzsimmons, another British intelligence agent. Unlike the book, Edward's men don't seem to try to stop her or interfere with her journey, or rather we don't see it. They seem more concerned with what is happening with Carmichael and Victoria. Baker meets Anna and realises he has made a bad mistake.
- Baker confronts Victoria, demanding what Carmichael gave or told her before he died. He is rather aggressive, which is rather unfair since it is his own mistake that led to everything.
- However it is Victoria who comes up with a solution. She reasons that Edward must already know how Carmichael is carrying his secret. Otherwise he would not have shot him in the lobby. She suggests a ploy which Baker agrees to. He arranges to have Edward released, knowning that he is likely to try to get into Victoria's room to retrieve Carmichael's secret. She doesn't think Edward is an enemy agent, and wants him to have a chance to clear himself.
- There's a scene where Anna Scheele appears in the lobby in the persona of "Mrs Pauncefoot Jones" (just like in the novel) and has a brief conversation with Victoria in the lobby. Victoria quickly excuses herself (because her story of being Mrs Pauncefoot Jones's niece is fake) and goes to her room. The purpose of this scene is not clear. It could have been staged for the benefit of Edward's spies, to tell them Victoria's room number and that she will be in her room.
- Edward appears in Victoria's room and gets threatening very quickly. He wants to know where "it" is. He finally reveals that it is Carmichael's scarf that he is after. Baker appears from hiding and overpowers Carmichael.
- Baker, Anna and Fitzsimmons now have the scarf but can't understand what it is about. Like in the original, it is Victoria who has the epiphany. She recalls that Madame Defarge is a character in a Tale of Two Cities. Baker now realizes that Madame Defarge used to drop stitches to encode information and Carmichael's scarf, knitted by Daiwan, has a lot of dropped stitches. With Victoria's help, Anna studies the scarf and the required code is revealed in a pattern of knits, purls and drops. There is no plot element of a chit of paper here as what's needed is simply a numerical code.
- With the mission successfully concluded, the intelligence agents arrange to fly back to London, and Baker, grateful for Victoria's help, remembers to get a seat on the plane for her too.
- Marcus Tio, the hotel owner also has a big plot role, perhaps even more so than in the book. Here his assistant is not Jesus the bartender but Absalom.
Cast (in credit order)[]
- Richard Kiley as Richard Baker
- June Dayton as Victoria Jones
- Bramwell Fletcher as Inspector Dakin
- Elaine Ellis as Anna Scheele
- James Noble as Edward Goring
- Robert Dale Martin as Carmichael
- Leon Askin as Marcus
- Stuart Burge as Bootblack
- Jacqueline deWit as Mrs Clipp
- Lulu Belle Clarke as Madge
- Basil Howes as Fitzsimmons
- Forrest Wood as Policeman
- Uncredited actors as Absalom
- Uncredited actors as enemy agents who masquerade as policemen (they have small speaking parts)
- Bea Arthur - according to IMDb, Bea Arthur also starred in this film but her presence is debatable. She is certainly not listed in the credits and she has not been spotted among the uncredited extras.[1]