Customer Reviews

Poirot - Peril at End House

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Hercule Poirot, the internationally-known, legendary sleuth has his hands full in "Peril at End House". Trying to foil a murder plot, Poirot finds no motive or perpetrator or crime, yet! Indeed, there are many suspects but none fit the puzzle perfectly.

Situated in the French Riviera, the beautiful setting and extravagent lavishness of the idle rich provide an interesting backdrop to murder. Hastings is charming in his stiff British sort of way and Poirot (David Suchet) is irresistably full of himself, as usual.

Magdela "Nick" Buckley is a charming, intriguing lead. She reports three mysterious "accidents" at End House, piquing Poirot's curiosity and his instincts to the imminent danger facing her. THemystery takes an unexpected turn as she confides to being secretly engaged to an adventurous, world-renowned Britsh aviator who himself is the sudden heir to a fortune.

This is one of the best of the Poirot series and is quite confounding with many clues, intrigues, and twists in the plot. Especially well-done.

I've been purchasing the AcornMedia Poirot mysteries--feature-length DVD as well as 3-pack 50 minute episodes--and was quite pleased to discover PERIL AT END HOUSE (an extended DVD of 103 minutes) is excellent. The resolution and clarity of this DVD is quite good and better than THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES, though I like these mysteries so much I did not find the quality of the latter offputting. This is not a Criterion restoration by any means, but then we are not paying Criterion prices.

The End House of this story is a magnificent old home sitting on a point of rocks that juts out into the sea in the West Country, said to be Cornwall in the film. The owner of End House, a young woman named Nick Buckley, is played by Polly Walker (ENCHANTED APRIL, RESTORATION), a beautiful and talented young actress. As usual with these masterful BBC productions, the film is brimming over with all sorts of period touches including the 20s-30s architecture, planes, trains, automobiles, boats, and fashionable clothing including the fabulous resort-wear Poirot sports. The BBC doesn't miss a beat. The dance band with lead tenor singer is pure Rudy Vallee, the golf clubs, victrola, and wristwatches are the sort one might find in Aunt Louise's attic. Even the poisoned chocolates are pure art deco. Oops...did I say poisoned chocolates..don't want to give away the plot.

Speaking of the plot, I thought it was pretty clever. At least it fooled me the first time I saw it. As always, it's fun to watch the second or third time and study the behavior of the killer..oh yes, there is a killing, a murder if you will, and of course, Japp, Hastings, and Poirot are together on the case. Even Miss Lemon, or should we call her Madame Lemoine, joins in the chase. My husband commented over and over about the old cars and planes--he could identify them all by name and year. He said he enjoyed looking at them, but I noticed it was Polly Walker's name he looked for in the credits. As usual, the BBC provides entertainment for everyone at our house.

This is another very good British mystery. However, some viewers may question, as I do, whether Poirot adequately explains why certain things happened. The general explanation is surprising and good, but there were several details left unclarified. I am unable to identify them without disclosing the end of the story. This failure does not detract from the tale; it only leaves it to viewers to offer their own views.

Poirot happens upon a young woman who tells him that there have been three instances where she almost died. She calls them accidents. But as they are talking, she says that a bee just buzzed by her and Poirot notices a hole in her hat and a bullet lodged in the nearby wall. He tries to protect her and advises her to invite her cousin to come a watch her. Her cousin is shot when she is wearing the woman's jacket. While the woman had a happy disposition, she suddenly becomes very sad. She tells Poirot that she has just heard that her fiancée died. Who is trying to kill her? Why?

Wow! What a great DVD. I just happened to finish reading this book when I found the DVD for sale at amazon. It's a fantastic story. You'll never guess, "who done it." And Suchet is the finest Poirot an avid Agatha Christie fan could ask for!

Not as good as ABC, Lord Edgware, and 1,2,Shoe, but still a 5-star show! It's nice to see Hastings and Lemon in a two-hour feature! The show has a nice twist at the end, and a great feeling of surealness all through-out. Some plot aspects reminded me a little too much of Miss Marple's "The Mirror Cracked From Side to Side"

Peril at End House is a clever who-dunnit with an interesting twist. The protagonist is clever indeed... The episode stars Poirot's usual friends, and the very beautiful Polly Walker (Emma, Enchanted April) as "Nick" Buckley in one of her earlier roles (she was 24 then). The episode is set on the south-west coast of England - a beautiful back-drop, although most people living there haven't heard of Poirot, much to his annoyance! The location (St. Looe) is actually close to that of another holiday murder, "Evil Under the Sun" (the book, not the film).

Poirot: "I can't eat these eggs - they're not the same size!"

first of all i would like to tell you that this one of the most intellegent Hercule Poirot movie, Agatha Christie have ever made. It is not David Suchet wich is Poirot, Poirot is Suchet... with his speach, intellegence and charm, David acts as poirot very very very well.

and remember, as in all of Agatha Christies films, it is not what it seems to be.

so, The only way to find out who the murder really is, is to not accept your eyes or ears...

do yor self a favour and see this movie...

"Peril at End House" is a feature-length film that was part of Series 2 of ITV's "Agatha Christie's Poirot", first aired in 1990. It is based on a novel, as opposed to a short story, and is about 1 hour and 40 minutes long. It takes place in the Cornish beach town of St. Loo, where Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) and Capt. Hastings (Hugh Fraser) are vacationing. The sea air doesn't seem to agree with Poirot, however, who is in a foul mood. -Until he runs into a young woman named Magdala "Nick" Buckley (Polly Walker), who jokes about having had three close calls with death in as many days. Poirot observes what he believes is a forth, and he and Hastings visit Miss Buckley at her nearby home, End House to warn her of the possible danger to her life.

In fact, Nick seems quite indifferent to the attempts on her life, and no one would appear to benefit from her death. She keeps the company of three idle friends: playgirl Freddie Rice (Alison Sterling), her rich companion Jim Lazarus (Paul Geoffrey), and Nick's suitor and supplier of party favors Cdr. George Challenger (John Harding). Poirot is genuinely perplexed as to culprit or motive. And then there is a genuine murder -not at all whom anyone expected.

The fact that Poirot is a bit stumped and distracted by red herrings is a nice change. On the other hand, I wasn't fooled, and you probably won't be either. I felt the guilty party was too obvious too early. And Capt. Hastings is, for some reason, more obtuse than usual in this one -to the point of being annoying. The supporting characters just aren't very interesting, which is surprising for a feature-length episode that should allow plenty of time for us to observe a collection of personalities. This isn't one of the best episodes of Series 2, but it's still enjoyable and superior to some of the later movies in Series 11 and 12.

The DVD (Acorn 2001): Bonus features are a text interview with David Suchet -the same one that is on all the Collector's Set discs, a short Agatha Christie bio, list of her Poirot books, and a short list of resources. Filmographies are available for 5 cast members. And there are 10 Poirot Trivia questions and 4 Poirot quotes. No subtitles.

The mystery is one of the most compelling and yet eminently solvable in the series. The clues are quite literally hiding in plain sight the entire time, and you'll be satisfied at how clever it is while simultaneously beating yourself over the head for not getting it. The characters are entertaining, believable, superbly drawn, and superbly acted, right down to the singers and waiters and other bit parts. And the story develops to the point where the conclusion is satisfying on many levels. (You can see that Hercule particularly relishes cutting this one down to size.)

Agatha Christie at her best and David Suchet at his best with that ever present cast of assistants. Don't be fooled by what you see at the beginning for the plot has a very different ending full of twists and turns. Attempts at murder and then a real murder or are it two murders? A great film to add to your Poirot collection!