Translation


Now this is really puzzling: why on earth is the German title of Murder at the Gallop "Der Wachsblumenstrauß" which translates roughly as "The Bunch of Wax Flowers"? What on earth are waxflowers? Why would anyone name a film after them particularly when they are not even in the film.

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Could the wax flowers be in the painting? I don't recall what the painting actually shows, but it could be wax flowers.

Agreed, a bizarre title. Especially if it draws attention to the painting, which is a carefully hidden clue.

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The original Agatha Christie novel "After the Funeral", on which "Murder at the Gallop" is very loosely based, bears the German title "Der Wachsblumenstrauß". I suppose that in the book a bouquet of wax flowers plays some role (at the "funeral"?), but I haven't read it myself.

Unlike the original, the German titles of the movies in the series did not follow a common style, i. e. did not start with something like "Murder...". The first one, "Murder She Said", was called like the book it was based on, "16.50 ab Paddington" (4:50 from Paddington). This is probably why they also named the next film after the corresponding book. Likewise, the novel "Mrs McGinty Is Dead", which became "Murder Most Foul" in the movie series, is called "Vier Frauen und ein Mord" (Four Women and one Murder) in Germany, and so is the movie. (They obviously could not keep this up with "Murder Ahoy!", since this is not based on a Christie book. It became "Mörder ahoi!", meaning "Murderer Ahoy!", by the way.)

I remember (and always found it strange, kind of like a breaking of the "fourth wall") that at least in the German-dubbed version Miss Marple expressly refers to "Agatha Christie's book 'Der Wachsblumenstrauß'" and uses it in finding the murderer. But this is indeed the closest the movie ever gets to having something to do with a bouquet of wax flowers.

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A bouquet of wax flowers is a crucial clue in the novel (British title: After The Funeral, American title: Funerals Are Fatal) on which this movie is very loosely based. Presumably, the German title, The Bunch of Wax Flowers was left as is.

Wax flowers are just what their name implies: flower petal shapes cut out of wax, then painted and assembled to look like the real thing. Making these was apparently a pastime for Victorian ladies.

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It's in the novel, only. Miss Gilchrist (Milchrest in this movie) gives herself away when she mentions a bouquet of wax flowers in the room where the meeting between the heirs took place. However, when Miss Gilchrist came "as herself", there was no bouquet of wax flowers on the table. She had seen the bouquet when she was impersonating Cora.

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