Product Details

• Actors: David Suchet, Hugh Fraser, Philip Jackson, Pauline Moran, David Yelland
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Acorn Media
• DVD Release Date: February 8, 2000
• Run Time: 103 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 1569383618
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #142,444 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Agatha Christie's Poirot: The ABC Murders" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

While most murderers try to hide from detectives, the killer in The ABC Murders sends a series of letters to alert the famous Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot when and where the murders will be committed. Based on one of Agatha Christie's most ingenious plots, the film contains enough false clues to distract both detective and viewer from the murderer's true identity. As Poirot, David Suchet does not so much play the dapper detective as he inhabits him--his accent, his meticulous manners, and the scowl of concentration as his "little gray cells" solve the puzzle are all immediately familiar to readers of Christie's books. In this feature-length adventure, he is aided and abetted by his perennial sidekick, Captain Hastings (Hugh Fraser), and Chief Inspector Japp (Philip Jackson). Though Christie's novels spanned several decades, the PBS Mystery! series has set all of its episodes in the 1930s; the art deco architecture and elegant costumes lend an air of sophistication that makes watching these videos a respectable guilty pleasure.

DVD extras include biographies of David Suchet and Agatha Christie, challenging Poirot trivia questions, a filmography of all the Poirot Mystery! episodes, and a link to the official Agatha Christie Web site. --Larisa Lomacky Moore

Product Description

POIROT:ABC MURDERS - DVD Movie

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Possibly the best of Poirot cases, February 9, 2000

By 

F. Behrens "Frank Behrens" (Keene, NH USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Agatha Christie's Poirot: The ABC Murders (DVD)

<The ABC Murders> in my opinion is one of the better Poirot mystery novels and it transfers very well to the screen. First of all do not confuse it with the horrible film "The Alphabet Murders" with Tony Randall. This is a fairly faithful adaptation of the Christie novel that has Poirot and Chief Inspector Japp chasing after a serial killer who matches the initials of his victims with the name of the town in which they are killed. And although the murderer turns out to be not exactly the least likely suspect, there are enough red herrings--one gigantic, the rest minor--to keep you guessing until the inevitable scene in which all concerned are gathered in one place to hear how the Master has solved it all.

There is a bit of nonsense with Hastings' stuffed souvenir of the South American jungles and the last murder is shown but its purpose is not explained as it is in the original.

Suchet is as always absolutely "into" the role (so much so that his self-satisfaction does grate on us a little) and almost every character is utterly believable, down to the silent extras like the cutie pie in the sailor hat and slacks running down the boardwalk in one scene. Even the corpses look realistic. The 30's décor is fabulous, as it is in most of these episodes. Where DO they find those art deco settings? It seems that Acorn Media will be putting the two-hour Poirots onto DVD and the one hour ones onto VHS in boxed sets. Either way, these are utterly enjoyable productions and "The ABC Murders" should be rated among the very best of them.

Look also for the DVD edition of "Death in the Clouds" that was issued at the same time as this offering.

And how good to see it without the frequent piggyback commercials!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A chilling, fascinating story, August 6, 2000

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Agatha Christie's Poirot: The ABC Murders (DVD)

Possibly the most unique and intriguing Hercule Poirot mystery ever. I was skeptical about this after seeing the frankly abysmal "Alphabet Murders." Turns out they mutilated the plot for that horrible movie-this is ABC Murders as Christie meant it to be seen.

Poirot receives a strange letter that hints at a murder in a town starting with the letter A. Followed by B. Followed by C... is this only a random serial killer who is so full of himself that he is taunting the brilliant Belgian? Or is something more hideous and sinister going on? Four seemingly unconnected murders, and Poirot must discover the MOTIVE before he can hope to unmask a killer.

Adding to the swirly mix is a mysterious, meek man who hears voices and does what he is told. Is he the murderer? Or is it even MORE complex?

Suchet is in fine form here, as is the clueless but pleasant Captain Hastings. The actors and script are top-notch as usual, but the director really outdid himself with the photography!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Appalling Bloodshed and Cedric, the Caiman., November 11, 2004

By 

Themis-Athena (from somewhere between California and Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Agatha Christie's Poirot: The ABC Murders (DVD)

"The little grey cells, I fear, they grow the rust," Hercule Poirot regretfully tells his friend Captain Hastings upon welcoming him back from a South American vacation. No case has kept him busy, nothing interesting has happened at all. Now that Hastings is back, however, things will be different again: "But it must be no common affair, Hastings. It must be something recherche. Delicate. Fine."

And just such a case is about to begin; in fact, it will turn out be one of Poirot's most difficult ever. Because at this point, he has already received the first of what will be an entire series of letters from an apparent serial killer, brazenly announcing his crimes and taunting Poirot to catch him. In fact, this is the very day the first murder is supposed to take place, in the town of Andover, about 50 miles west of London - and in short order, a woman whose initials are A.A. is indeed found murdered there. Then, also as advised by the killer, a murder occurs in the East Sussex seaside resort of Bexhill ... and the victim's initials are B.B. The third murder's location is Churston in far-away Devon in the south-west of England - and that victim's initials are C.C. And to catch him before the fourth murder, the killer tells Poirot, he will have to travel to the Yorkshire town of Doncaster, on the day of the famous St. Leger race, no less.

By this time, the victims' surviving relatives and friends have formed a "legion of interested parties" that works with Poirot to find the killer. Their task is not an easy one, for the only link between the murders seems to be an A.B.C. Railway guide left with the body of each victim, and the strictly alphabetic order of the victims' names and the crime scenes. But eventually the detectives find themselves on the trace of a traveling salesman whose initials happen to be A.B.C.: a timid, extremely high-strung, desperately driven man who ever since his return from World War I has been suffering from epileptic seizures, repeated blackouts and (probably) what is today known as post-traumatic stress disorder, and whose presence at the locations of each of the crimes on the days when the respective crimes took place is quickly established. So is he the killer - or if he is not, what, if anything, *does* he have to do with the murders?

Written in 1935, "The A.B.C. Murders" is one of Agatha Christie's most intriguing mysteries; and this adaptation, in turn, one of the highlights of the long-running series featuring David Suchet as Hercule Poirot. Like the screen versions of other Poirot stories, the present movie takes a number of liberties with Christie's novel; but as in the case of the equally brilliant and darn near unfilmable "Murder of Roger Ackroyd," the changes work well to the advantage of the adaptation. - Given Hercule Poirot's stature in the annals of mystery writing, it seems strange that except for his portrayal by Albert Finney in the star-studded movie version of "Murder on the Orient Express," for a long time there didn't seem to be any 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 Captain Hastings's voice in their and her own very first adventure, "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" (1920). But the perfect Poirot was finally found in 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, now finally moved center stage. And the match is spot-on, not only physically but also in terms of personality, for 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 once said in an interview, adding however that unlike his on-screen alter ego, "I don't need the same sized eggs for breakfast!"

My one quibble with this series is that Captain Hastings (Hugh Fraser) tends to come across as somewhat more vacuous and naive than in the novels narrated from his point of view, and this movie is no exception in that regard. However, I frankly admit that I, too, have to chuckle at the subplot involving Hastings's travel souvenir for Poirot (a stuffed, ill-smelling caiman named Cedric (!), shot by Hastings himself in the waters of the Orinoco and causing the pedantically neat Poirot repeated spells of queasiness); and Hastings's eagerness to tell anyone who will listen how exactly he came into the caiman's possession. And of course, Philip Jackson never disappoints in his role as a wonderfully down-to-earth, sturdy Inspector Japp; the supporting cast (including, inter alia, Donald Sumpter, Donald Douglas, Nicholas Farrell, Pippa Guard and Vivienne Burgess) is uniformly excellent, and so are the movie's production values, from cinematography to art direction and costume design. Poirot even gets to have a Holmsean moment in the vein of "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time" ("The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" - "Silver Blaze," 1894), when he points out to Hastings after the first murder that the A.B.C. Railway Guide found next to the victim cannot have been left there randomly: "The fingerprints tell us that." "But ... there weren't any fingerprints," Hastings responds. "Exactement," Poirot explains. "Our murderer, he is in the dark, and seeks to remain in the dark. But in the very nature of things, he cannot help to throw the light upon himself." And as always, Poirot turns out to be right in the end ...

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 Poirot - The Classic Collection, Vol. 2
Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express
Death on the Nile