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By
WADE GOSSETT
I think we can all agree
that by far the best cinematic adaptation of
Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novels and short
stories has been the 1989 British TV series with
David Suchet as the Belgian detective. The series
has seen at least three interruptions since then,
and it is confusingly available from two DVD
labels, A&E and Acorn.
Along with "Five Little Pigs," "Sad Cypress" and
"Death on the Nile," the 2004 television episode
of "The Hollow" marks the most recent incarnation
of Suchet as Poirot. This particular DVD seems to
be available only through A&E (at least I couldn't
find it listed on Amazon or any other retailer).
Suchet is older than his 1990's incarnation and
his mustache seems different -- smaller and not as
thick, but still impressively greasy and
ostentatious. Furthermore, the familiar music and
introductory art deco sequence from the earlier
episodes is gone, and this DVD is strictly
barebones -- not only there are no extras, not
even a proper menu, and the cover is a generic A&E
graphic.
No matter. The story's the thing, as well as the
acting, direction, etc. All the things that make
any entertainment compelling are here -- besides
the emphasis on extra features is becoming rather
obnoxious since piling on deleted scenes and
interminable pseudo-documentaries on every DVD
release is now an absolute necessity. I actually
applaud A&E for going the minimalist route.
So, to the story: Poirot is spending a weekend in
the country, when his neighbors, Lady Lucy
Angkatell (a very well preserved Sarah Miles) and
Sir Henry Angkatell (Edward Hardwicke, who was
Watson to Jeremy Brett's Holmes), invite him for
dinner, and then lunch. Spending the weekend with
the Angkatells are several of their relatives: A
brilliant but philandering doctor, his dumb and
much-put-upon wife, his sculptor mistress and a
cousin who's in love with her, another cousin
who's in love with the cousin who's in love with
the sculptor who's the doctor's mistress, and a
butler with an odd sense of duty. Also showing up
is a famous and sultry (and rather slutty) actress
who was once in love with the doctor. Murder is
inevitable, and the victim is obvious and so is
the murderer -- or perhaps not.
I thoroughly enjoyed this one, although Christie
aficionados will guess the solution about half way
through. No matter. The direction is crisp (by
Simon Langton, veteran director of "Jeeves and
Wooster" and "The Scarlet Pimpernel" British TV
series), Suchet is always reliable, and Sarah
Miles here is a hoot, as the apparently eccentric
hostess who may not be as ditzy as she seems. |
