Gilded Newport Mysteries: Murder at the Breakers

I hope if there are more of the movies developed from one of my favorite book series the characters will be stronger. I am not happy with the actors that are playing most of these parts. I know people say all the time that it doesn't know how we imagined these characters to be. If more are made, when nothing has changed, I won't be watching more of these movies. Hopefully they just need to get into the parts better. Emma's character in the books are much stronger. I'm sure it isn't the actors problem as much as it is the writers. I guess I just expected more. I expected more from Hallmark movies and mysteries.

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".

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.

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.

I was really looking forward to this but after 15 minutes realized it was a mess on every level. The main character is completely unbelievable as a "detective" and she slogs through her dialogue. Most of the characters are wooden and going through the motions. Reactions to events are shockingly unrealistic (a guy falls to his death and our MC doesn't even blink or act startled. She jaunts over to the body and asks "Mr Goddard?" as blood pours from his head)

In another instance a man is lying on the floor, clearly having been knocked out but it takes our genius MC hours to notice a bump on his head and she's very proud of herself for figuring out he was attacked along with the murder victim. Ummm... wouldn't the guy know if he was hit over the head?? Just ask him!

As others have mentioned, the class system of the era is completely ignored. It seems Hallmark has period costumes on hand so they think that makes for a good period movie.

This mess proves that it doesn't.