Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Movie Collection, Set 5 (2010) Reviews

The world’s foremost mystery writer, Agatha Christie during her fifty-five year career penned thirty-three novels that featured her famous Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot (and he appeared additionally in ten volumes of short stories as well). For twenty years, character actor David Suchet has been bringing the stories and novels to the television screen playing the fastidious detective whose “little gray cells” work overtime to solve the most dastardly of mysteries. This latest set brings forth three cases: two from Christie’s most productive and golden period (the 1930s) and the other from late in her career when her tight plotting and reader misdirection skills were starting to crumble a bit.

Murder on the Orient Express – 4/5

On a train voyage from Istanbul to Calais, American businessman Samuel Ratchett (Toby Jones) is brutally murdered in his private compartment, viciously stabbed numerous times. Hercule Poirot (David Suchet), who had been booked on the train at the very last minute, is asked by one of the train’s directors to investigate the crime and solve it before the corrupt Yugoslavian police have to be brought in. Poirot finds that this murder is likely connected to the kidnapping and murder of the young child Daisy Armstrong some five years previously, and with a coach full of disparate characters, any one of them could have been capable of the crime.

With this made-for-TV movie having to reside in the shade of the fabulously successful, Oscar-winning 1974 adaptation of the novel, it’s no wonder that the director has opted to darken the tone considerably from its illustrious predecessor. A heavily religious slant has also been injected into the proceedings by screenwriter Stewart Harcourt (veering away from the novel’s point of view quite surprisingly) which makes the conclusions Poirot finally arrives at somewhat more audacious and bittersweet for him. Without the all-star line-up of suspects that glittered in the 1974 film, one must pay much closer attention to the characters since many of the actors aren’t very well known and some of the ladies especially resemble one another fairly closely. Clues seem to be more obviously planted this time out, and the connection of some suspects to the Daisy Armstrong case not as smoothly or wittily handled as before. But, while this version can’t compete with the Sidney Lumet-directed masterpiece, the story is recounted faithfully, and David Suchet is always a pleasure to watch. Also making striking impressions are Eileen Atkins as the Princess Dragomiroff and Denis Minochet as the earnest coach porter Pierre Michel.

Third Girl – 4/5

Mystery writer Ariadne Oliver (Zoë Wanamaker) refers her troubled upstairs neighbor Norma Restarick (Jemima Rooper) to her good friend Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) because Norma is convinced she has committed murder. It seems her former nanny (Caroline O’Neill) has been found dead (though the police are calling it suicide), but Norma thinks she’s somehow responsible. Further investigation turns out a very unsettling history of suicide in Norma’s family, and her father (James Wilby) and close friend David Baker (Tom Mison) fear that this latest upset might be enough to completely unhinge the already shaky Norma into a state of complete insanity.

Agatha Christie wrote Third Girl as a contemporary story set in the late 1960s, but Peter Flannery’s screenplay has moved the action back a few decades robbing the narrative of some of the swinging sixties jargon and away from a definite split between the generations. The main story is still the same, but it’s a pleasure to see Poirot in this opus acting more like his usual self and less the doleful sad sack we saw in Murder on the Orient Express. The mystery isn’t one of Mrs. Christie’s tightest. At least half of the puzzle is very easy to solve, and the other half is mostly impossible until Poirot spills out needed clues late in the film. The casting is felicitous, moreover, and Jemima Rooper makes a greatly sensitive and damaged Norma. Zoë Wanamaker’s Mrs. Oliver (a wicked self portrait of Christie by Christie) is rather dour and humorless, however, and keeps her scenes with David Suchet from really taking off. Good, too, are Tom Mison as boy friend David and David Yelland as Poirot’s faithful valet George.

Appointment with Death – 4/5

The monstrous, controlling Mrs. Boynton (Cheryl Campbell) treats her three adopted children and her stepson like dirt under her feet making their lives a living hell, so it isn’t surprising when she turns up dead, seemingly impaled on a chisel while watching her husband attempting to discover the head of John the Baptist on an archaeological dig. Apart from her husband Lord Boynton (Tim Curry) whom she apparently loved and respected, she had no friends and many enemies, so the list of suspects is quite large when the local law Colonel Carbury (Paul Freeman) asks Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) to find her murderer.

While the basic storyline from Christie’s masterful 1938 novel has been utilized, new characters have been introduced into the Guy Andrews screenplay, and the identity of the murderer and the motive for the crime has been significantly altered (and not for the better) from the novel. (And for those who have seen Mrs. Christie's stage version of this story, the murderer's identity and motives are different there, too, from both the book and this film.) Still, even with the changes, the story is absorbing, and the main characters are beautifully acted. Tim Curry has a rich dramatic role as the eager archaeologist desperate to make a significant find, and John Hannah as one of the two doctors (and the family psychiatrist) on the dig makes a significant impression. Also quite impressive are Cheryl Campbell as the dragon-like mother and Mark Gatiss as the long suffering stepson.

Video Quality

Murder on the Orient Express – 3.5/5

The program is presented in its 1.78:1 widescreen television aspect ratio, enhanced for widescreen televisions. It’s a smooth, clean image though with the amount of diffusion used in the photography, everything and everyone often take on a softer than usual look. Color has been slightly desaturated, too, to give the image a vintage look, but black levels aren’t at their optimum, and sometimes scenes played in low light take on an overly grainy and foggy texture. The film has been divided into 12 chapters.

Third Girl – 3/5

The program is presented in its 1.78:1 widescreen television aspect ratio, enhanced for widescreen televisions. Even with anamorphic enhancement, there are so many distracting aliasing artifacts that the overall picture quality is compromised. The final denouement sequence looks superb with a crisp picture and good color, but many other sequences seem softer and much less distinct.

Appointment with Death – 4/5

The program is presented in its 1.78:1 widescreen television aspect ratio, enhanced for widescreen televisions. By far the best looking of the three productions in this set, the image is mostly free from the artifacts which plagued the previous film transfer. Sharpness is good but not great, and color saturation is well above average. A nice amount of detail in facial features and fabrics of the wardrobe can be discerned in the close-ups. The film has been divided into 12 chapters.

Audio Quality

Murder on the Orient Express – 3.5/5

The Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo audio tracks present the dialogue firmly planted into the center speaker and the discordant Christian Henson music and other ambient effects in the other front channels. It’s a clear, clean recording but lacking in any truly immersive elements that might add more atmosphere and substance to the sound design.

Third Girl – 4/5

The Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo audio track features a wider soundstage than that of the previous film. The music and ambient effects are surprisingly immersive and have strong high and (especially) low ends. With so much dialogue in the film, it’s good that the recording is so cleanly presented and placed in the center channel.

Appointment with Death – 4/5

The Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound mix is also the strongest of the three mixes in this set. There’s a very nice spread of music through the soundstage with some neat pans across the front speakers. Dialogue is once again well recorded and placed properly into the center channel.

Special Features

Murder on the Orient Express – 2/5

“David Suchet on the Orient Express” is an engaging and entertaining 46 ¾-minute travelogue with the star of the Poirot series taking a ride on the present day Orient Express which has been slowly restored to its former glory over the last few decades. Elegant and classy, Suchet chats with passengers, eats succulent meals, gives us a guided tour of the carriages and the locomotive, and takes a look at the passing scenery as the train travels through Italy, Austria, and finally allows him to depart in Prague. It’s in anamorphic widescreen.

“120 Years with Agatha Christie” is a text-based summary of various celebrations connected to the author’s 120th birthday and the 90th birthday of Hercule Poirot in print.

There are text-based filmographies of David Suchet, Eileen Atkins, Hugh Bonneville, Barbara Hershey, and Toby Jones.

There is a three page text guide to the Hercule Poirot novels and three volumes of short stories connected to the character.

Third Girl – 1/5

The only bonus feature is a list of selected filmographies for David Suchet, Zoë Wanamaker, Peter Bowles, Jemima Rooper, and James Wilby.

Appointment with Death – 1.5/5

David Suchet has written some production notes about his experiences making this film and also offers some opinions about the drastic changes in the story made from novel to script.

Tim Curry has written some production notes about his casting in the production and how much he had looked forward to working with the cast, some of whom he had appeared with before.

There are text filmographies for David Suchet, Tim Curry, John Hannah, Cheryl Campbell, and Elizabeth McGovern.

In Conclusion

Poirot: The Movie Collection – Set 5 is another winning selection of made-for-TV mystery films starring the incomparable David Suchet as Hercule Poirot. Recommended!

Matt Hough

Charlotte, NC