Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Classic Collection, Vol. 2

Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Classic Collection, Vol. 2
Snooty, fastidious, self-important--and yet delightful. Agatha Christie's famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, continues to engage his "little grey cells" in this mammoth and consistently strong collection of nine feature-length murder mysteries, all full of Christie's skillful twists and cunning misdirection. In the best of these, such as The ABC Murders or One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, the murders are only the tip of the iceberg, hiding or indirectly revealing a more insidious plot. The Classic Collection 2 ranges from the very first Poirot story--The Mysterious Affair at Styles, which also introduces the recurring characters Captain Hastings (Hugh Fraser) and stalwart Chief Inspector Japp (Philip Jackson) as Poirot investigates the murder of a family's matriarch--to later stories like Hickory Dickory Dock, in which Poirot's secretary Miss Lemon (Pauline Moran) makes one of the only mistakes in her precise career (an event of more import to some fans than the actual mystery, which revolves around diamond smuggling in a student hostel). The set also includes Death in the Clouds (in which murder is committed on an airplane, right under Poirot's nose), Peril at End House (which culminates in a staged seance), Dumb Witness (in which a fox terrier helps Poirot suss out the truth), Murder on the Links (in which Hastings, so often smitten with a suspect, loses his heart completely), and Hercule Poirot's Christmas (a particularly colorful mystery, featuring a fiery Spanish girl and a very unsavory murder victim).

Ironically, television makes Christie's work even stronger. Though always prized for the intricate mechanics of her mysteries, her characters are more often dismissed as flat. In the hands of wily British thespians, these same characters become vivid and eccentric. Though casts include a few familiar faces, including Polly Walker (Rome, Enchanted April), Damian Lewis (Band of Brothers, Friends & Crocodiles), and Christopher Eccleston (Heroes, Dr. Who), most of the actors are capable unknowns. But they're all supporting players to David Suchet, who, after playing Poirot in more than 60 TV movies, completely owns the role. Suchet brings the perfect blend of warmth, prickliness, and obsession to the finicky sleuth, who refuses to overlook inconvenient details; every loose thread must be explained or he will not rest. The Classic Collection 2 features an engaging documentary that, though titled Agatha Christie's Garden, is a well-wrought biographical look at the author, filtered through her beloved estate and narrated by Pam Ferris (Rosemary & Thyme). --Bret Fetzer
Customer Review: As the brilliant Belgium detective, David Suchet shines!.
Anyone, who doesn't believe Suchet is the quintessential Hercule Poirot, must be part of a significantly small minority! This reviewer feels unable to accept, any other portrayal of the Belgium sleuth. It has been thus, since Suchet's first appearance on my TV screen. It is rare to find, one's much loved imagined fictional character, so accurately personified in an actor. Suchet is completely- and utterly - believeable, as Hercule Poirot. Additionally, and very importantly, Suchet's acting is simply superb - as is the work of the main supporting cast as Chief Inspector Japp, Captain Hastings and, even, Miss Lemon. It will be a long, long time, before any other actor attempts to portray Poirot - on stage or screen. It will be a long, long time, before anyone feels it a 'good business venture', to fund any other portrayal of Poirot. Suchet has made the character his own, and this is exstremely rare. It is, however, extremely complimentary to David Suchet. If Agatha Christie's works please - or even if they don't, Suchet's Poirot will delight and please virtually everyone. An excellent series, indeed!
Customer Review: Poirot in Perfection.
Hercule Poirot is one of the most famous detectives in literary history. Yet, strangely, except for his portrayal by Albert Finney in the star-studded movie version of "Murder on the Orient Express," for a long time there did not seem to be an actor who could convincingly bring to life the clever, dignified little Belgian with his unmistakable egg-shaped head, always perched a little on one side, his stiff, military, slightly upward-twisted moustache, and his excessively neat attire, which had reached the point that "a speck of dust would have caused him more pain than a bullet," as Agatha Christie introduced him through his friend Captain Hastings's voice in their and her own very first adventure, "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" (1920). But leave it to British television to finally find the perfect Poirot in David Suchet, who after having had the dubious honor of playing a rather dumbly arrogant version of Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Japp in some of the 1980s' movies starring Peter Ustinov as Poirot, was finally allowed to move center stage in the Granada/ITV series broadcast from 1989 onwards, which was later continued by A&E and includes 36 shorter episodes based on (almost all of) Christie's Poirot short stories, as well as to date 25 movie-length features released on DVD, based on a number of her most celebrated Poirot novels. (Hopefully due to be transferred to DVD in short order are the episodes broadcast in 2008 -- see listing below --, which leaves as yet to be re-adapted for the small screen, most notably, "Murder on the Orient Express" [1934] and Poirot's final case, "Curtain" [published 1975, but written in the 1940s].) And the match is spot-on, not only physically but also, and more importantly so, in terms of personality. Suchet shares Poirot's inclination towards pedantry: "I like things to be symmetrical ... If I put two things on the mantelpiece, they have to be exactly evenly spaced," he said in an interview, comparing his real-life persona to that of Poirot. But, he added, unlike his on-screen alter ego, "I don't need the same sized eggs for breakfast!" Although previously not interested in mysteries, his habitually meticulous research allowed him to quickly become familiar with Christie's Belgian sleuth and the workings of his little grey cells -- and to slip so much into Poirot's skin that I, for one, can no longer pick up a Poirot book without instantly hearing Suchet's voice as that of the great little detective. After bringing together the series's 36 shorter episodes in "The Classic Collection, Volume 1," this box set contains the nine movie-length features originally produced by Granada Films and first broadcast on ITV. Next to Mr. Suchet, Hugh Fraser stars as the detective's indefatigable sidekick Captain Hastings, whom the screenplays, alas, make come across as more of a well-educated but vacuous gentleman than do the written originals narrated from his point of view. (This is virtually my only quibble with the series -- and that although Granada and ITV did so well in debumblifying Sherlock Holmes's friend and chronicler Dr. Watson!) Philip Jackson, on the other hand, gives us an admirably sturdy, down-to-earth incarnation of Chief Inspector Japp, and Pauline Moran virtually inhabits Poirot's epitome of a secretary, Miss Lemon; whose role, like those of Hastings and Japp, is added into a number of episodes not originally featuring them, thankfully without greatly disturbing the stories' narrative flow and setting. The episodes contained in this set are: The Mysterious Affair at Styles (written 1920; Granada/ITV 1990) Peril at End House (written 1932; Granada/ITV 1990) The ABC Murders (written 1935; Granada/ITV 1992) Death in the Clouds (written 1935; Granada/ITV 1992) One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (written 1940; Granada/ ITV 1992) Hercule Poirot's Christmas (written 1938; Granada/ITV 1995) Hickory Dickory Dock (written 1955; Granada/ITV 1995) Murder on the Links (written 1923; Granada/ITV 1996) Dumb Witness (written 1937; Granada/ITV 1996) The movie-length features later produced by A&E -- and not contained in this collection but available in separate box sets -- are (to date): The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (written 1926; A&E 2000) Lord Edgeware Dies (written 1933; A&E 2000) Murder in Mesopotamia (written 1936; A&E 2001) Evil Under the Sun (written 1941; A&E 2002) Sad Cypress (written 1939; A&E 2003) Five Little Pigs (written 1941; A&E 2003) Death on the Nile (written 1937; A&E 2004) The Hollow (written 1946; A&E 2004) The Mystery of the Blue Train (written 1928; A&E 2005) Cards on the Table (written 1936; A&E 2005) After the Funeral (written 1953; A&E 2005) Taken at the Flood (written 1948; A&E 2006) And, last but not least, the 2008 season consists/will consist of: Appointment with Death (written 1938) Mrs. McGinty's Dead (written 1952) Cat Among the Pigeons (written 1959) Third Girl (written 1966) Hallowe'en Party (written 1969) Also recommended: The Mysterious Affair at Styles: Hercule Poirot's First Case The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Agatha Christie Collection) Agatha Christie: Five Complete Hercule Poirot Novels - Murder on the Orient Express / Thirteen at Dinner / The ABC Murders / Cards on the Table / Death on the Nile Poirot in the Orient (Hercule Poirot) Hercule Poirot's Casebook Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Classic Collection Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express Death on the Nile