For the fifth series of Hercule Poirot adventures, the ITV producers returned to Agatha Christie’s massive short story output and selected eight stories featuring the world’s most famous Belgian detective. These are the last Poirot short stories that have been filmed to date, and they constitute some of Mrs. Christie’s most ingenious short puzzles. Gone from most of these tales are many of her tried and true tricks from other stories (conundrums with names, overuse of disguises), and instead she’s plotted tight, perplexing mysteries that rank among the best short works she ever wrote.
Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Series 5 (Blu-ray)
Directed by John Bruce et al
Studio: Acorn Media
Year: 1993
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 1080p AVC codec
Running Time: 407 minutes
Rating: NR
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo English
Subtitles: SDH
Region: no designation
MSRP: $ 49.99
Release Date: June 26, 2012
Review Date: June 8, 2012
The Series
4.5/5
Among the wonderful yarns Mrs. Christie spins in this collection are Poirot’s first case as a private detective while still a member of the Belgian police force and his own first encounter with glimmers of love (“The Chocolate Box”), a dry run for the later novel Sparkling Cyanide (which didn’t feature Poirot) and which features a murder in retrospect plot (“Yellow Iris”), and one of Mrs. Christie’s famous locked room puzzles which are always expertly conceived and delivered (“Dead Man’s Mirror”). What’s more, Poirot’s secretary Miss Lemon gets a beau and his friend Arthur Hastings gets a new foreign car in “The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman,” and there’s a laudable nod to women’s equality which forms the background of “The Case of the Missing Will.”
Once again, with all of the stories here being set during the 1930s (apart from “The Chocolate Box” which takes Poirot back to the beginnings of his career in the 1920s), the production design for the series, from its art deco title design to the clothes and cars of the period, continues to impress; it’s one of the most exciting aspects of all of the elaborate Poirot productions produced over the past two decades. Because many of these stories were among the first short mysteries ever written by Agatha Christie, there’s a more deliberate intention by the author to have in each case a solid line of suspects who might possibly have committed the crimes, and she’s varied her methods of deception with each one so that one must really be astute to catch the perpetrator before Poirot unmasks him (or her).
David Suchet continues to be in complete command of the role and milks Poirot’s little wry jokes and also his pained expressions of muffled exasperation to delightful effect. The bittersweet albeit chaste love affair he embarks on in “The Chocolate Box” along with the amusing make-up to take years off of Poirot’s age makes this episode one of the strongest in the set. Hugh Fraser may be as slow-witted as ever as the jovial Captain Hastings, but he’s irreplaceable in the role. Philip Jackson continues to amuse as Chief Inspector Japp, and Pauline Moran is the ever-efficient, no-nonsense secretary Miss Lemon, though neither she nor Philip Jackson is in every episode in this set.
Here are the eight episodes which make up the contents of Series 5 and are contained on two Blu-ray discs:
1 – The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb
2 – The Underdog
3 – Yellow Iris
4 – The Case of the Missing Will
5 – The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman
6 – The Chocolate Box
7 – Dead Man’s Mirror
8 – Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan
Video Quality
4/5
The episodes have been framed at their broadcast aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and are presented in 1080p using the AVC codec. The original DVD issues of these episodes were taken from videotape masters and were sometimes quite poor with brownish tints and problems with sharpness and a narrow color spectrum. These remastered transfers constitute a great improvement in sharpness, color saturation and consistency, and contrast. Sharpness is mostly very good, and flesh tones are much more consistent and realistic though flesh tones sometimes do run a bit pink (especially in “The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman” which also suffers from inconsistent sharpness). Color overall is beautifully controlled throughout. There is a bit of aliasing to be seen, but it and moiré from the previous DVD releases have been very much controlled in these Blu-ray transfers. Even with the mediocre black levels, the images retain a fine, crisp look with only occasional soft shots. Each episode has been divided into 5 chapters.
Audio Quality
4/5
The liner notes state that this set contains PCM 2.0 stereo encodes, but what’s really here is a Dolby Digital 2.0 (256 kbps) stereo sound mix on each episode. The wonderful theme music, the well modulated sound effects, and the delightful background score by Christopher Gunning sound just fine in these new transfers, and there is no hiss or any other audio artifacts to intrude on understanding the dialogue, important when verbal clues become just as important as visual ones. One wonders, however, what happened to the PCM encodes from previous releases?
Special Features
0/5
There are no bonus features at all on the discs.
In Conclusion
4/5 (not an average)
Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Series 5 is a welcome high definition release of the fifth season of episodes featuring the definitive Hercule Poirot of actor David Suchet. With the great improvement in picture from the original DVD releases, most will be happy with the undeniable upgrade in quality as these Poirot television broadcasts continue to be delivered on Blu-ray. Recommended!
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
