A&E // 1985 // 2079 Minutes // Not Rated
Reviewed by Appellate Judge Jennifer Malkowski // October 5th, 2009
Murderer: "It's so dreadfully easy killing people...you begin to feel it doesn't matter."
You, too, may begin to feel that killing people doesn't matter if you make it through all the shootings, stranglings, stabbings, poisonings, and bludgeonings on display in the 21-movie set Agatha Christie: Poirot & Marple Crime Anthology Collection. While Christie's duo of sleuths are each in top form in these films, the box set itself is a rather shameful affair.
I'll go into these DVDs' flaws later on, but first a breakdown of the mysteries to be solved -- twelve by Poirot and nine by Marple. As you can see from my grading, the more recent Poirot series is generally more enjoyable than these older Marples, which feel dated and more slowly paced (though the newer Marples, too, are quite good; see my review of Agatha Christie's Marple: Series 4):
Disc One (Box One): Poirot
* "The Murder of Roger
Ackroyd" (2000)
This mystery begins with an interesting premise: the
murderer has plotted her or his crimes carefully and kept a detailed (and
cynical) journal of their execution and aftermath. As Poirot studies the journal
to immerse himself in the mind of a killer, we're given flashbacks of the crime
(the title one) and Poirot's investigation. A subplot features Poirot's
depression about his retirement in the country, where he attempts to garden and
ends up making death threats to his unruly vegetables. The journal gimmick is
enjoyable here, as is Poirot's retirement plot, but the chase scene at the end
is a bit silly.
Grade: B-
Disc Two (Box One): Poirot
* "Lord Edgware Dies"
(2000)
Investigating amongst a most dangerous bunch -- actors! -- Poirot
must discover how a woman who appears to have killed her husband (observed by
eye witnesses) could have an alibi of attending a dinner party during the murder
(also observed by eye witnesses). He's supported in this case by series regulars
Miss Lemon, Inspector Japp, and Captain Hastings, who has just returned from the
Americas with an investment lost and a marriage on the rocks. A highlight is
that the theatrical milieu gives Poirot a great opportunity to stage one of his
dramatic, diva-esque unveiling-the-killer scenes.
Grade: B
Disc Three (Box Two): Poirot
* "Murder in Mesopotamia"
(2001)
Called to Iraq by an old flame, Poirot visits an archeological dig
while he waits to meet with her. He won't get bored during the wait because a
murder occurs that he's asked to solve (never mind that a murder has already
occurred, of an Iraqi just before he arrived -- Poirot couldn't be bothered to
solve that one, I guess). Murder in Mesopotamia feel like a rather clunky
chore, though it does stage the most gruesome killing of the set when someone
drinks a glass of hydrochloric acid and then starts spitting blood.
Grade: C
Disc Four (Box Two): Poirot
* "Evil Under the Sun"
(2001)
After collapsing at Captain Hastings' new restaurant venture,
Poirot is ordered to recuperate and lose some weight at an island health resort.
Observing the interactions of the guests, he fears that a murder will occur --
but how can he be expected to prevent it when he's being fed only tiny portions
of horrible food? Failing to prevent it, he resolves to solve it instead.
Grade: B
Disc Five (Box Three): Poirot
* "Death on the Nile"
(2004)
Poirot breaks out his dainty little fly shoo-er from Murder in
Mesopotamia once again for another trip to the desert. This time, he finds
himself on a Nile River cruise with a newlywed couple being stalked by the
husband's jealous ex. When, of course, a slain body is discovered, Poirot is
conveniently isolated with his boat full of suspects. This time, though, he has
very pleasant scenery floating by as he ferrets out all their deep, dark
secrets. On-location shooting among Egypt's ruins and some beautiful locales
liven Death on the Nile up, but an abundance of trivial and irritating
romantic subplots near the end weigh it down. Honestly, who goes cheerfully
courting while trapped on a boat with a very active murderer?
Grade:
B
Disc Six (Box Three): Poirot
* "Sad Cypress" (2003)
Bored by assembling evidence for an upcoming trial, Poirot procrastinates
by investigating a sinister letter received by a young engaged couple with a
sickly and rich old aunt. Naturally, things turn more sinister when the aunt
dies, the matter of inheritance gets complicated, and a murder follows in the
wake of this first death. The investigation gets sticky because of a good friend
of Poirot's has a fondness for the most likely suspect. A pretty good mystery
throughout, Sad Cypress reaches a brief moment of greatness at its climax
when Poirot must taste British "salmon paste" to explain how he's
solved the case. This proves a most unpleasant experience, and prompts Poirot to
quip: "I, Hercule Poirot, I had followed my reasoning, yes. But I had
failed to take into account the madness of the English palette!"
Grade: B+
Disc Seven (Box Four): Poirot
* "The Hollow" (2004)
During a visit to his country house, Poirot finds two things not as they
should be: a tiny piece of his hedge needs trimming, and a weekend guest of his
wealthy neighbors has been brutally murdered. Actually, Poirot has been visiting
with these neighbors and even arrives at the scene of the crime seemingly just
moments after it has been committed. While it seems obvious at first that the
person he finds there holding the gun did the shooting, Poirot looks deeper for
a mastermind criminal plot concealing the real killer. We're treated to some fun
moments of Poirot's eccentricity in this one, and to a mystery whose
construction is a bit more interesting than usual.
Grade: B+
Disc Eight (Box Four): Poirot
* "Five Little Pigs"
(2003)
A young woman whose mother was hanged for the murder of her father
hires Poirot to investigate what really happened between her parents, hoping
that her mother was innocent. The trouble for our sleuth is that his trail of
clues has had 14 years to grow cold. Interviewing the five main parties in
attendance on the day of the crime, Poirot pieces their memories back together
to discover the truth. Five Little Pigs was the first film of a new era
for the Poirot series, following after Murder in Mesopotamia in terms of
air dates and, happily, looking nothing like it. The very best of these 21
films, it is aesthetically ambitious and emotionally compelling. Using handheld
camerawork (though the shakiness is overdone) and unreal warm tones, the
director immerses us in the distant past and -- most importantly -- takes pains
to make us feel the loss of this girl's parents. In the parade of casual
death running through the Poirot and Marple adaptations, Five Little Pigs
convinces us to pause and really mourn these two.
Grade: A
Disc Nine (Box Five): Poirot
* "The Mystery of the Blue
Train" (2005)
An uneasy mix of the rich and the opportunistic
leeches who love them board the Blue Train with Poirot on route to France. The
kindly Poirot takes a young woman who has unexpectedly come into a great deal of
money under his protection, but perhaps he should have kept his sharp eyes on
the train's other young heiress, Ruth Kettering. She has a number of young men
after her two hearts -- both the love-y one and the priceless Heart of Fire
jewel in her possession. And someone may be willing to kill for one or the
other. Strong performances from the two young heiresses prevents The Mystery
of the Blue Train from being just another tale of murder among the soulless
rich -- as so many Christie stories are -- and the stylish noir look sets it
apart visually from other installments.
Grade: A-
Disc Ten (Box Five): Poirot
* "Taken at the Flood"
(2006)
The sudden death of wealthy Gordon Cloade puts his greedy family
in quite a predicament when his new bride, Rosaleen, inherits all his money.
Poirot gets mixed up in the feud somehow, and, of course, soon has a murder to
investigate. It seems that Rosaleen's first husband may have still been alive,
invalidating her marriage to Cloade. But if he was alive when they wed, he's
certainly not now, and Poirot sets out to discover his killer. Taken at the
Flood feels agonizingly slow to start up and is a bit difficult to
understand, even once Poirot finishes his concluding exposition.
Grade:
B-
Disc Eleven (Box Six): Poirot
* "After the Funeral"
(2006)
At a routine reading of a will, the deceased's quirky sister,
Cora, shockingly suggests that he was probably murdered. This peaks Poirot's
attention, but not as much as Cora's own murder a few days later. With a host of
squabbling, money-grubbing suspects to choose from -- several of whom are
professional actors -- Poirot must sift guilt out from their performances and
find the real killer. A light tone and a brisk pace keep this one rolling along,
but the case was more fun back in the '60s when Margaret Rutherford's Marple
solved it.
Grade: B
Disc Twelve (Box Six): Poirot
* "Cards on the Table"
(2005)
Mr. Shaitana, a swishy, exotic, eccentric foreigner who smells of
perfume (re: gay), hosts an unusual dinner party. The guests include Poirot
himself, crime writer Ariadne Oliver, Colonel Race, and Superintendent Battle --
four investigators, of sorts. The other four guests appear to have nothing in
common with each other or the various sleuths. But when Shaitana is murdered in
the room where they are playing bridge, Poirot and his crime-fighting colleagues
realize that each of the other four guests has a dark past and may be capable of
murder. Working from a really fun premise, Cards on the Table is a
pleasure in terms of story and character. The style is also commendable here,
with great decorating, lighting, and shooting within the kooky Shaitana's
residence. Watch for the scene in which Poirot stumbles into a gay photography
studio!
Grade: A-
Disc Thirteen (Box Seven): Marple
* "A Caribbean
Mystery" (1989)
One of Miss Marple's many "nephews" treats
her to a vacation in the Caribbean while she recovers from an illness. But just
as she is getting bored with lounging on the beach, a doddering old gentleman at
her hotel turns up dead. To catch the killer, Miss Marple enlists the help of
quirky millionaire Jason Rafiel who can present her ideas to the local police
(who may not trust the insights of a nosy old English lady on holiday). Donald
Pleasance has a charming guest role as Rafiel, and it's rather delightful to see
Miss Marple so out of her element and yet still so tenacious and brilliant when
it comes to her case. The mystery itself, though, is nothing special.
Grade: B
* "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side" (1992)
Movie star
Marina Gregg has just moved into a big manor house in Miss Marple's village, St.
Mary Mead. Willing to keep up the traditions of the former owners, Gregg hosts a
huge garden party for all the villagers on her property. Miss Marple's new
friend -- and Gregg's biggest fan -- Heather is delighted to attend, until she
sips a poisoned cocktail. Miss Marple must not only discover the killer, but
determine the victim, as the poison may not have reached its intended target.
Grade: B-
Disc Fourteen (Box Seven): Marple
* "Sleeping Murder"
(1987)
A young couple moves to England from Australia only to find their
new house strangely familiar. When they are introduced to Miss Marple by a
friend, she helps the wife, Gwenda, remember that she lived in the house as a
very young child. As they investigate Gwenda's visions of a woman's body in the
hallway, Miss Marple recognizes evidence of a "sleeping murder." And
after many years, the perpetrator may have to kill again to keep the truth
buried. Miss Marple's only foray into haunted house stories yields the best tale
of her series, as well as some of spinster sleuth's most memorable lines.
Grade: B+
* "4:50 from Paddington" (1987)
Miss Marple's visiting
friend Elspeth witnesses a killing on a passing train from her own train cabin.
With no body surfacing to prove the wrongdoing, Miss Marple must not only prove
who committed murder, but that it took place at all. When she reasons out the
probable location of the body, she convinces a former employee to take a job at
Rutherford Hall and search for it on the grounds there. Although the most
unusual part of this mystery -- how to prove the murder happened at all -- is
briskly dispatched, the sheer joy of the highly improbable unmasking scenario at
the end more than makes up for this failing. A fish bone, indeed...
Grade:
B
Disc Fifteen (Box Eight): Marple
* "The Moving Finger"
(1985)
A neighboring town is stricken with a series of "poison
pen" letters -- ransom-style anonymous notes accusing villagers of various
vices and moral transgressions. When a local woman is found dead with a suicide
note, Miss Marple smells foul play. And with a wealth of shady suspects to
choose from, she hastens to prevent another "suicide." The young love
in The Moving Finger is rather tiresome, particularly when it devolves
into a bizarre My Fair Lady allusion montage. Otherwise, it's an
enjoyable case.
Grade: C+
* "At Bertram's Hotel" (1987)
Vacationing at London's
classy Bertram's Hotel, Miss Marple begins to investigate the strange
relationships among her fellow guests long before any evidence of foul play. Her
restless nights and feelings of uneasiness are affirmed when the doorman is shot
dead and a young heiress seems to be the next target. In a break from the early
murder/second murder narrative structure, At Bertram's Hotel allows all
its characters to survive past the first hour of its running time.
Unfortunately, that makes the first hour a bit dull. And the series' only big
"chase scene" is quite a letdown.
Grade: C
Disc Sixteen (Box Eight): Marple
* "Murder at the
Vicarage" (1986)
After her gardening is interrupted by a gunshot,
Miss Marple learns that the unpopular Colonel Protheroe has been murdered in her
neighborhood. While all of St. Mary Mead seems to be lining up to confess, the
ever-watchful Miss Marple racks her memory and grills local villagers to find
the clues that will exonerate the false confessors and condemn the true
murderer. Adapted from Christie's first Miss Marple novel, Murder at the
Vicarage benefits from the greater attention paid to the cinematography and
screenplay in this installment. The town of St. Mary Mead never again has so
much personality, drama, and beauty as it does here.
Grade: B+
* "Nemesis" (1987)
Jason Rafiel, Miss Marple's
crime-solving counterpart in A Caribbean Mystery, dies and leaves his old
"nemesis" Miss Marple some money -- if she agrees to solve an
unexplained mystery. Her only clue is that she must take a specific bus tour of
historic homes and gardens. Naturally, the other guests on the tour turn out to
be more than they seem, and one of them turns up dead. This time, Miss Marple
must discover the original crime before she can unmask her fellow traveler's
killer. Jane Marple is mesmerizing as she reveals this murderer in the best
ending of the series.
Grade: B+
Disc Seventeen (Box Nine): Marple
* "They Do It with
Mirrors" (1991)
Visiting a rich old friend who has been ill, Miss
Marple is gathered with other guests to watch a film when two family members
start a fierce argument in a neighboring room. When the power cuts out, two
shots are fired and everyone fears the worst. Moments later, the two having the
argument are alive while another man is dead. To solve this case, Miss Marple
thinks back to a village bonfire during which all the onlooker's homes were
robbed. She knows the argument was a diversion, but who took advantage of it?
Grade: B-
I suspect the petty crimes of studios' shoddy DVD releases would sound a good deal more dramatic if investigated by Hercule Poirot. Let's imagine that climactic scene in which he assembles everyone and announces his conclusions:
"Messieurs and mesdames, what we have before us is a mystery most sinister. The studio, it has plucked 21 unsuspecting films from its vaults and thrown them together in the set we now hold in our hands. What connects them, you wonder? Oui, they are all based on the writings of one Agatha Christie. And it is true also that the two detectives continue to appear, and that in each case they are given life by the same two performers. And yet -- the facts: they do not add up, my friends. For Joan Hickson's Miss Marple, she has solved not nine but twelve cases for the BBC. Where, we must ask, have her remaining three cases gone? And that dashing David Suchet, he has been working his little grey cells as Hercule Poirot for many, many years, no? Why then, are we only given this smallest slice of his brilliance: only those cases from 2000 to 2006? But if we cannot have all the cases we so desire, then, why -- why! -- are those we do receive presented to us in such disarray, with no respect for the order and reason of chronology? And finally, we must question with deepest sadness why these films come before our eyes as only shadows of their former selves -- sometimes as pictures of such poor quality that we hardly want to look at them."
Poirot himself would likely continue that such dark crimes spring sometimes from passion and sometimes from greed. As a detective in the much more pedestrian realm of DVD sales, I can confidently pin this one on greed. The answers to most of our questions about Agatha Christie: Poirot & Marple Crime Anthology Collection come with the knowledge that the set is a reprinting and repackaging of the discs from two previous A&E sets, Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: Classic Mysteries Collection and Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Definitive Collection, and that they necessarily replicate the flaws of these previous releases.
DVD Verdict reviewers have already delved into the details of each of these sets (see the linked reviews at the top of the page), and I myself have previously reviewed 13 of these 21 films for DVD Verdict. So I'll refer you back to those reviews for discussion of content (and for the Miss Marple drinking game I concocted!) and to my brief comments above on each of the individual films. Here, I'll add a bit more about the quality of this "new" set and whether it's worth a purchase for anyone in particular.
This set has big problems in both technical quality and packaging. Image quality varies widely among films, ranging from pretty good to quite bad, with most installments exhibiting one or more of the following problems: significant compression artifacts, washed-out colors, faded black levels, and a too-soft look. Once in a while, the picture even seems to undulate as if the film stock were waving in a light breeze. The oldest films (the Marples) suffer most, but even some of the newest Poirots have lots of compression and lack sharpness. Sound is a bit better, though I'd dearly love to see some subtitles in future sets.
In terms of organization and packaging, the order of films here is all gunked up and beyond my capacity to comprehend. If you purchase the set and want to watch these mysteries in some vaguely logical order, I'd suggest following the chronological order I've provided with the release dates above -- especially with the jumbled Marple films. Because these DVDs are reprints of previous releases, they also don't have much consistency between the Poirot and Marple discs. Each of Poirot's films comes on its own individual disc, packed two to a slim case. Marple's films, by contrast, are mostly two per disc, and then two per case. But there's also one left over, so that Marple gets its own individual disc and its own individual case. At least the attractive covers and disc labels have all been coordinated. While I like the two-disc slim cases, they are housed in terrible outer packaging: it's just a thin cardboard box. Not a sleeve that you can slip things in and out of, but an actual clunky box that you have to open with a flimsy tab.
I've listed plenty of reasons to avoid Agatha Christie: Poirot & Marple Crime Anthology Collection, but very few of these reasons have anything to do with the enjoyable content of the films themselves. If you don't have any of these films in your collection yet from the many previous releases, they're significantly cheaper to buy in this humungo bundle than in the smaller box sets -- under $6 per film, with Amazon's current price. I doubt we'll see any remastering of these TV adaptations, so this shoddily produced set may still be the best way to watch our two favorite sleuths crack their cases.
How could I ever pronounce these endearing detectives guilty? Poirot and Marple are cleared of any wrong-doing, but A&E needs to do some time for these double dip (or is it triple or quadruple by now?) shenanigans.
Review content copyright © 2009 Jennifer Malkowski; Site layout and review format copyright © 1998 - 2013 HipClick Designs LLC
Scales of Justice
Video: 65
Audio: 80
Extras: 15
Acting: 80
Story: 85
Judgment: 75
Perp Profile
Studio: A&E
Video Formats:
* Full Frame
Audio Formats:
* Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (English)
Subtitles:
* None
Running Time: 2079 Minutes
Release Year: 1985
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Distinguishing Marks
* Bios
* Story Indexes
Accomplices
* DVD Verdict review - Marple, Classic Mysteries Collection
http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/missmarplecoll.php
* DVD Verdict review - Poirot, The Definitive Collection
http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/poirotdefinitive.php
* DVD Verdict review - Poirot, The New Mysteries Collection
http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/agathachristiespoirot.php
* DVD Verdict review - Poirot, Classic Crimes Collection
http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/poirotclassiccrimes.php
* IMDb: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0236523/combined
* IMDb: Lord Edgware Dies
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0235681/combined
* IMDb: Murder in Mesopotamia
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0278634/combined
* IMDb: Evil Under the Sun
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0276115/combined
* IMDb: Death on the Nile
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0406516/combined
* IMDb: Sad Cypress
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0402444/combined
* IMDb: The Hollow
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0393602/combined
* IMDb: Five Little Pigs
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0392952/combined
* IMDb: The Mystery of the Blue Train
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0465569/combined
* IMDb: Taken at the Flood
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0478227/combined
* IMDb: After the Funeral
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0479977/combined
* IMDb: Cards on the Table
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0478226/combined
* IMDb: A Caribbean Mystery
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0097015/combined
* IMDb: The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0104882/combined
* IMDb: Sleeping Murder
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0091970/combined
* IMDb: 4:50 from Paddington
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0092497/combined
* IMDb: The Moving Finger
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0087749/combined
* IMDb: At Bertram's Hotel
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0090669/combined
* IMDb: Murder at the Vicarage
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0170266/combined
* IMDb: Nemesis
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0091618/combined
* IMDb: They Do It with Mirrors
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0103078/combined