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Poirot – The New Mysteries Collection (Death on the Nile / Sad Cypress / The Hollow / Five Little Pigs)
Poirot – The New Mysteries Collection (Death on the Nile / Sad Cypress / The Hollow / Five Little Pigs)
- Hercule Poirot in The New Mysteries Collection an exclusive collection of four brand-new A&E original films. Adapted from Agatha Christie s celebrated mysteries, each production features an impeccable cast, beautiful settings, and, of course, enough murder and mystery to test the mettle of our inimitably beloved Belgian sleuth. The New Mysteries Collection contains the following four Poirot mov
This set will contain the following four Poirot movies (A&E September 2004 premieres): Death on the Nile, Sad Cypress, The Hollow, Five Little PigsPortly, mincing, gracious, and unrelenting, Hercule Poirot rivals Sherlock Holmes as the greatest sleuth of the English murder mystery genre–a form as strict as a sonnet that’s part logic puzzle, part magician’s misdirection, of which Agatha Christie remains the undisputed queen. The New Mysteries Collection pulls together TV-movie adaptations of four Poirot novels, each a compendium of eccentric characters, intricate plotting, sleek storytelling, and sprinklings of wit (such as a dotty matriarch’s declaration, “Murder is a very awkward thing–it upsets the servants so”). Death on the Nile sets an entire boatful of suspicious character afloat in Egypt, where Poirot’s vacation is disrupted by a splash in the night, falling rock, missing pearls, three murders, and a boozing gargoyle named Salome Otterbourne. The plot is one of Christie’s m
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E. A Solinas "ea_solinas"
September 20, 2011 at 7:13 am
Magnifique!,
Hercule Poirot is a fussy, brainy little Belgian, and he seems like an unlikely detective in a series of veddy veddy British murder mysteries. But Agatha Christie’s most likable detective turns up again in a quartet of new TV movies: one of her most popular, and three of her most atmospheric and baffling.
“Death on the Nile” introduces us to a lethal love triangle: a beautiful heiress, her penniless new husband, and the vibrant ex-girlfriend, who is also an ex-pal of the heiress. Soon Linnett Doyle (Emily Blunt) is dead, and her ex-pal and widowed husband are the only people who COULDN’T have done it. But it seems that she had a wealth of enemies, including a disgruntled communist, pearl thief, and a drunken romance novelist. And it’s up to Hercule Poirot to figure out what really did happen…
Another lethal love triangle crops up in “Sad Cypress.” An old woman dies, seemingly of natural causes, leaving her vast estate to her young relative Elinor (Elisabeth Dermot-Walsh). But when Elinor’s fiancee leaves her for lovely Mary Gerard (Kelly Reilly), Mary turns up dead — and the only suspect is Elinor. Poirot knows she wanted to — but did she?
In “The Hollow,” doctor John Christow (Jonathan Cake) is shot at the poolside, and his timid wife is found holding the gun. Love is the probable answer: Was it his steel-nerved mistress (Megan Dodds), the young man in love with her (Jamie de Courcey) his quiet and seemingly stupid wife (Claire Price), or an angry ex-flame (Lysette Anthony) with whom he had had a quickie in the pavilion? Only Hercule Poirot is clever enough to unravel this bizarrely simple mystery…
“Five Little Pigs” takes Poirot to a “cold case” — fourteen years after Caroline Crale (Rachael Stirling) seemingly murdered her cheating husband Amyas (Aidan Gillen), her daughter Lucy (Aimee Mullins) asks Poirot to somehow clear her long-dead mother’s name. He agrees to look into it, and soon finds a pattern of clues centering on Amyas, Caroline, her younger sister, his mistress/model, and his boyhood friend…
Don’t expect these movies to have quite the same feel as the TV series. Those stories were lightened by the presence of clueless sidekick Hastings; without him, a darker tone enters the movies. Sure, the English counterpoints that Hastings and Miss Lemon brought are missing, but it doesn’t make these movies bad, merely different.
“Death on the Nile” is the only movie that can be compared to another production; Salome Otterbourne is dour rather than funny, and the film has a lack of Egyptian settings. It’s okay, but not great. The other movies are really the outstanding ones, especially since the filmmakers include Christie’s studies of “the psychology.”
They are also populated by a bevy of wonderful characters: ice-cold artists, flaky ladies-of-the-manor, seductive bombshells, imperious heiresses, and bewitching teenagers. And they are set in a variety of different places, like English manorhouses, cruise ships, and volatile artists’ households.
British actor Suchet has been playing the dapper Belgian for years, and has surpassed Peter Ustinov as the best Poirot. He’s in good form here, with little details that show us Poirot’s “little grey cells” and his passion for order. One of his best scenes has Poirot faking poison symptoms, then looking up with a catlike smirk at the would-be murderer.
Another Poirot TV movie is currently in production, but in the meantime, check out the “New Mysteries Collection.” The Egyptian film is rather lackluster, but the remaining three are solid, suspenseful, and intelligent.
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|a reviewer in Bethesda, MD.
September 20, 2011 at 6:31 am
a mystery lover from Bethesda, Maryland,
The first entry in this collection (“Death on the Nile”) starts off a little slowly, but the pace picks up about midway through, and there is real suspense as the story unfolds. As for the other three films (“The Hollow,” “Five Little Pigs,” and “Sad Cypress”), they are vintage Poirot: as richly atmospheric and enjoyable as any of the earlier Poirot films, with David Suchet in top form as the eccentric Belgian sleuth.
Also, these latest Poirot mysteries have terrific production values, as you’d expect: the elegant sets and costumes provide lots of period detail that delight the eye. If you’re a fan of stylish whodunits, this is definitely a worthwhile addition to your film library!
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|Dianne Foster "Di"
September 20, 2011 at 6:03 am
Excellent investment……,
The new POIROT series produced by A&E is excellent and I encourage all Poirot and David Suchet fans to purchase the DVD 4-pack. Suchet has literally grown into the part so he seems more natural than ever as Poirot. Pals from the earlier episodes, Japp and Hastings, are missing. I thought their absence and the fact that England has changed so much since the BBC first began airing these `cozy mysteries’ might put a damper on my viewing experience but it did not. The filmography is beautiful. Most of the shots were taken in areas where knowledgeable Anglophiles know the past is fairly well preserved, including some lovely old estates. The BBC does it’s best as ususal with lavish sets, costumes, and wonderful old automobiles for each production.
DEATH ON THE NILE – When it comes to this particular story, I still prefer the Peter Ustinov version with Mia Farrow, Betty Davis and Maggie Smith. The original film with Ustinov showed a good deal of actual footage shot in Egypt. This issue of `Death on the Nile’ appears to have some shots in Egypt, but to tell you the truth, they could have shot most of the film elsewhere…for example Central or South America. Population growth and war have altered the terrain in Egypt considerably since Agatha Christie wrote her novel, which takes place around the 1930s following her travels to the Middle East with her husband, the great archeologist Mallowan.
Poirot – THE HOLLOW – The plot of this episode involves a two-timing husband who may or may not have been done in by his “stupid” wife. The wife, a doe-eyed creature who appears unable to harm a fly is soon incarcerated by the police who feel they have `got their man’ but Poirot sets about trying to find the truth and unravel the obviously flawed case the police have constructed. Is the murderer the lady of the manor who stupidly placed a revolver in a basket of eggs, or is it the butler who was seen carrying a gun fitting the death weapon’s description through the hallway (the lord has a gun collection, so there are plenty of guns about the place). Perhaps the mistress fired the fateful shot? She was two-timed by the dead husband who could not keep his hands off an old flame who suddenly appeared at dinner. Or was it the old flame herself who pulled the trigger? She was overheard arguing with him and wishing him dead only hours before the crime was committed.
SAD CYPRESS. Viewers of BRIDESHEAD REVISITED will recognize Diana Quick whose character from that earlier production could be the aged version of her younger self, now lying on her deathbed. Visited by her nearest kin and heirs, she soon succumbs to whatever ails her. Or does she. Has she had help? A cast of suspects soon emerges, but is all this `bother’ a tempest in a teapot? Poirot is called in a soon deduces that not only has murder been committed, but the police may have locked up an innocent person. Soon the pressure is on, and Poirot must act quickly or someone else will die..perhaps at the end of a noose.
THE FIVE LITTLE PIGS is the most sad of all the new series developed by A&E, because a person has been wrongfully executed when the story begins. Perhaps this and other tales based on real life events brought the death penalty to an end in Britain. Gemma Jones stars in this episode involving a young woman named Lucy who seeks to clear her dead mother’s name. Lucy’s mother was executed some years before for a crime the girl believes she did not commit, and Lucy writes a letter urging Poirot to help her clear her mother’s name. Poirot agrees to take her case but advises Lucy that she may not like what he uncovers. As ususal, the cast of characters is composed of excellent actors, many with familiar faces and the plot is excellent.
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