After receiving rapturous critical and public acclaim for the first two series of Hercule Poirot adventures, ITV embarked on the third series of stories in 1990 and decided after the success of series two which contained one novel adaptation as well as dramatic adaptations of several Agatha Christie short stories that it would continue filming the Poirot novels. The novel selected as the second to be filmed was a solid choice, and the short stories selected contain some of Dame Agatha’s finest short mysteries as well as containing some brief tales which Christie herself later expanded into full length adventures.
Agatha Christie’s Poirot – Series 3 (Blu-ray)
Directed by Renny Rye et al
Studio: Acorn
Year: 1990-1991
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 1080p AVC codec
Running Time: 628 minutes
Rating: NR
Audio: PCM 2.0 stereo English
Subtitles: SDH
Region: no designation
MSRP: $ 49.99
Release Date: March 5, 2012
Review Date: March 2, 2012
The Series
4.5/5
The novel adaptation is the first of the offerings in this new set – The Mysterious Affair at Styles which happened to be the very first mystery Agatha Christie ever had published (1920) and the novel which introduced her fastidious Belgian detective Hercule Poirot to the world. In her first mystery, Mrs. Christie plotted not only one of her conundrums revolving around a large family with multiple motives for seeking the death of the wealthy matriarch but also the first of her locked room puzzles. Taking place during World War I, Poirot (David Suchet) is commissioned by the eldest son of the dead Mrs. Inglethorpe to find out who poisoned his mother with strychnine. Of course, before long, the son is arrested for the crime even though there is both a doctor and a drug dispenser among the family members, either of whom could easily have done the deed along with other family members and staff who had motives. With the eternally bewildered Hastings (Hugh Fraser) also on hand as well as Inspector Japp (Philip Jackson), The Mysterious Affair at Styles works wonderfully as an introduction to the intricacies of Agatha Christie’s mystery plotting making the guilty seem impossibly and incontrovertibly innocent and the innocent always the most suspicious of suspects.
Mrs. Christie served as a hospital dispenser during both world wars, so it’s not surprising that many of her stories and novels involved using poison as a murder weapon. In fact, the first two short story adaptations in this set (like the novel adaptation here) use strychnine as the weapon of choice, in the first case ("How Does Your Garden Grow?") successfully and in the second case ("The Million Dollar Bond Robbery") causing at least a momentary deflection of attention. As for the other story versions, two of them fall back on one of Mrs. Christie’s most reliable deceptive tricks: disguises. She also uses initials as diverting clues in two tales, just par for the course for the mistress of crime.
Among the more unusual items in this set of stories is “The Double Clue,” Poirot’s first encounter with love in the person of Countess Vera Rossakoff (Kika Markham), a Russian jewel thief who is his own Irene Adler to his Sherlock Holmes. The smitten detective in the first of three meetings the duo would have during the Belgian’s career makes for a very bittersweet episode especially since Poirot’s infatuation leaves Hastings and Miss Lemon (Pauline Moran) to try to solve the mystery themselves while Chief Inspector Japp’s job is on the line. Another bittersweet tale is “Wasps’ Nest,” a middling mystery but a very melancholy human interest story. “The Plymouth Express,” one of Mrs. Christie’s earliest short stories, ended up being the basis for her later novel The Mystery of the Blue Train, with the murder victim, the murderer, and the motive copied almost exactly from short story to novel. (The TV adaptation changes the nationality of the protagonist from American to Australian for some reason, but it’s otherwise the same basic story.) Once again, with all of the stories here being set during the 1930s (apart from the novel adaptation), 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.
With two entire seasons of Poirot under his belt, David Suchet is now in complete command of the role and milks Poirot’s little wry jokes and also his pained expressions of muffled exasperation to delightful effect (he’s particularly amusing as he lies stricken on his “death bed” in “The Mystery of the Hunters’ Lodge”). 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, several of the episodes clearly illustrating his closeness to Poirot and supreme confidence in his abilities. Pauline Moran is the ever-efficient, no-nonsense secretary Miss Lemon, though she’s in fewer episodes in this set than in previous ones.
Christie scholars have never placed the quality of her short mysteries on the same plane with her novels, and they’re right that the short story form was not Mrs. Christie’s real forte. Without the extensive pages to write her puzzling mysteries in great depth with labyrinthine subplots and lots of suspects, her short stories most often turn on a single trick or a twist with only the most cursory characterizations for her cast of players. And once one knows the few tricks she has up her sleeve for her brief stories, solving some of the puzzles becomes quite easy. Perhaps this is why it’s never a good idea to watch more than one or two of these episodes at a time. Once the viewer catches on to Mrs. Christie’s methods in these short tales, second guessing her becomes relatively easy, much easier than in any of her novels.
Here are the eleven selections in this three-disc Blu-ray set:
1 – The Mysterious Affair at Styles
2 – How Does Your Garden Grow?
3 – The Million Dollar Bond Robbery
4 – The Plymouth Express
5 – Wasps’ Nest
6 – The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor
7 – The Double Clue
8 – The Mystery of the Spanish Chest
9 – The Theft of the Royal Ruby
10 – The Affair at the Victory Ball
11 – The Mystery of Hunters’ Lodge
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. Color overall is beautifully controlled throughout. There remains none of the aliasing and moiré from the previous DVD releases, so even with the mediocre black levels here, the images retain a fine, crisp look with only occasional soft shots. Each episode has been divided into 5 chapters with The Mysterious Affair at Styles divided into 10 chapters.
Audio Quality
4/5
The PCM 2.0 (1.5 Mbps) stereo sound mix is a vast improvement on the sound mixes from the DVD releases of these programs. And how wonderful that Acorn has upped the ante with uncompressed sound on these releases! The wonderful theme music, the well modulated sound effects, and the delightful background score by Christopher Gunning sound terrific in these new encodes, and there is no hiss or any other audio artifact that intrudes on understanding the dialogue, important when verbal clues become just as important as visual ones.
Special Features
0/5
There are no bonus features at all with this release, not even a porting over of the text screen of biographical information about Agatha Christie and David Suchet that were featured on the original DVD releases of these episodes.
In Conclusion
4/5 (not an average)
Agatha Christie’s Poirot – Series 3 is a welcome high definition release of the third 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 begin to show up on Blu-ray. Recommended!
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
