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35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the Best, September 29, 2001
This review is from: Poirot - Hercule Poirot's Christmas (DVD)
David Suchet does a superlative job with the character of Hercule Poirot in all of the BBC productions of Dame Agatha Christie's short stories and novels, but HERCULE POIROT'S CHRISTMAS, one of the lesser known books, has become one of the best of the video adaptations. Loaded with appropriate Christmas atmosphere and sly Poirot humor (getting an unwanted Christmas gift, attempting to eat brown Windsor soup), CHRISTMAS finds Poirot investigating the vicious throat slashing of wealthy Simeon Lee in a locked room, a man who had just the day before hired Poirot to visit him as all of his children come home for the holidays. He suspects there is no love lost for him among several of his kin, and he's right. With a local superintendent and the ever-reliable Chief Inspector Japp present to assist, Poirot and his little gray cells have seldom operated so judiciously and adroitly. Production values are lavish this time around. Period details of the 1930s are accurate, and Lee's manse-like abode offers large, beautifully appointed rooms and lots of shadowy hallways and anterooms for plotting and observing. As has been the case with the other Acorn releases of these television productions, the video is presented in 4:3 ratio. There is marvelous Dolby surround sound in this one, though, and when those wonderful angelic voices begin singing nostalgic carols that wrap around you, you just want to sit back, close your eyes, and listen. Alas, such a plan will cause you to miss some vital clues to the solution of the mystery. The usual and wanting special features have been brought over from previous releases. One longs for a "making of" documentary on these marvelous transcriptions of Christie's masterworks. You can't go wrong with this one!
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent Poirot movie, September 5, 2002
When the boiler in his building breaks down, Monsieur Poirot (played by David Suchet) faces the prospect of a very cold Christmas. So, when he receives a call from the wealthy Simeon Lee (Vernon Dobtcheff) to come and investigate his suspicion that he is the target of a murder plot, Poirot boards the next train. However, Mr. Lee is a spiteful old man who has left behind him a trail of used and angry people, and when he turns up murdered, it is up to Poirot to find out who did it and how. [Color, released in 1994, with a running time of 1 hour, 43 minutes.] I must admit to having bought this video sight unseen. I am a big fan of David Suchet's Poirot, and had faith that I would like this film as much as the rest. Well, I was not disappointed. Perhaps even more than some, this episode kept me on the edge of my seat, guessing at who did it and what he or she would do next. Plus even though Hastings (Hugh Fraser) wasn't in it, the redoubtable Chief Inspector James Japp (Philip Jackson) was! So, let me just say that this is a very good Poirot movie, an excellent one in fact. If you are a David Suchet/Poirot fan, then I highly recommend this movie to you.
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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Practically a homage of John Dickson Carr, August 16, 2001
This review is from: Poirot - Hercule Poirot's Christmas (DVD)
<Hercule Poirot's Christmas> When Acorn Media began to issue the shorter and longer Hercule Poirot episodes with David Suchet as the Belgium sleuth, they issued a brochure that did not include some of the "movie length" (103 min.) mysteries. Since then, they have gotten the rights to several, among which is "Hercule Poirot's Christmas," now available on DVD. The murderer in this one is reminiscent of that in another more famous Christie tale, but I will not ruin your fun by saying which. You can e-mail me if you wish the other title. Nevertheless, this story involves one of the great Nasties in Christiedom, Simeon Lee (played to repulsive perfection by Vernon Dobtcheff), whose three pleasures are kissing his diamonds, making passes at women, and tormenting his children. When the inevitable happens, we have the closest Christie ever brings us to a John Dickson Carr "locked room" puzzle. As with Carr situations, the elaborate scheme of committing the crime is barely probable, even though we get to see it done in a flashback. But we watch these things for the fun of it. Suchet is as ever the incarnation of the annoying little penguin-like Poirot; and the art design is as ever as perfect as could be with its period details, especially inside the little shop where the detective stumbles upon a vital clue. Philip Jackson is still the stolid Chief Inspector Japp, still jumping to conclusions but still respectful of Poirot's opinions. The Watson-like Hastings is not in this episode, nor is the delightful Miss Lemon. As with the other DVDs in this series, we have some unanimated special features concerning Christie, Poirot novels and quotations, Suchet, and some filmographies of some actors in this film.
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