Gilded Newport Mysteries: Murder at the Breakers

The actress playing the main character is completely out of her element. She is supposed to be a young woman in 1895, but vocally she is coming at you from 2024. While the other characters are attempting a more proper accent and intonation, she is mumbling and using vocal fry to end her sentences.

And that's just the beginning of this mess.

African American characters are also being utilized like it's 2024. There would not have been a black, female assistant to the medical examiner in 1895. Add to that, the ball at the beginning of the movie consisted of a large group of African Americans. This is the same part of the country that didn't even allow Jewish people in their country clubs in the early '70s. It's absurd. At least stay true to history.

I looked forward to this group of Hallmark movies. I was so disappointed to see them ignoring historical truths of the time. I don't think different races mixed in higher social settings.

The clothes didn't fit right and were of the wrong fabric. Baggy full length gloves , baggy bodices, even the men's jackets and shirts were baggy.

The female hairstyles had curls dangling onto the face. In this time, hair was put up and didn't usually have curls hanging on the face. If curls were present, the were next to the ears, not in face.

Houses could have been wonderful but instead looked cheap and had the wrong floor coverings.

The plot wasn't bad but the directing and production aspects left it wanting.

I think these mysteries have big potential but can't be done on the "cheap".

Does Hallmark not hire professionals to write and direct their movies? I found the script to be typical and extremely lazy. The continuity of emotion was all over the place... it just didn't make sense at times and left me scratching my head and rolling my eyes... and it was obvious it was to create drama that just wasn't realistic at all. The main character's dialect was that of a high school teenager from Southern California in2024 while the accent of her main love interest was like he was a part of the British royal family itself.

Racism sucks and we all hate the way it was in the past, but for a historical piece it was just not realistic at all.

And finally why is the main character the ONLY ONE who does ANY investigating? It's like every one of the other investigators are completely incompetent.

I confess that, yes, I usually like Hallmark movies. And I like period pieces. So this movie is a terrible disappointment.

I just finished watching season 2 of The Gilded Age so I hope I didn't grade this movie further down in comparison but these are the thoughts that came to mind while viewing:

It has second rate acting.

It has third rate plot and dialogue.

It has fourth rate directing. Over directing.

(Third rate on average.)

The endless and all too frequent quick cuts during conversations were nauseating. And the puzzling way some of the actors uttered their lines had me blaming the director too.

Hallmark did a wonderful job with A Biltmore Christmas, filming on location at the Biltmore in NC. I was sad to find out watching this movie, they did not even bothered to film it at the Breakers. Such a magnificent site to see in person. That would have been a saving grace for this bland and slow paced movie. Instead they filmed at the well played out castle in Canada. Aka Lex Luther's house in Smallville and a bunch of other shows.

I saw this series of books at the gift shops at those famous Newport mansion and they are on my list to read. Definitely so now after reading the other reviews that mention how good the books are compared to this movie.