HALLOWE'EN PARTY

The Perfect Poirot: David Suchet

HALLOWE'EN PARTY (2011). Director: Charlie Palmer. (This is episode 2 of season 12 of Agatha Christie's Poirot.)

Mystery writer Ariadne Oliver (Zoe Wanamaker of Mrs. McGinty's Dead) contacts her friend, Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (David Suchet), when a murder occurs in a village where she is visiting. The victim is a young girl who was drowned in a tub meant for the bobbing of apples at a Halloween party. Shortly before she was killed, the child, Joyce (Macy Nyman), was telling people that she had once witnessed a murder. Poirot investigates any past occurrences and accidents that may have been homicides, and uncovers a number of village secrets. Along with Ariadne, Poirot is a guest of widowed Judith Butler (Amelia Bullmore), who has a daughter named Miranda (Mary Higgins). Joyce's brother, Leopold (Richard Breislin) confides that he never much liked his sister. Other characters include Rowena Drake (Deborah Findlay), whose home was the sight of the Halloween party; Michael Garfield (Julian Rhind-Tutt), who designs fabulous gardens for wealthy clients; the town gossip Miss Whittaker (Fenella Woolgar); and others. David Suchet is simply superb as Poirot, the only actor to ever completely capture the character as Christie describes him. All of the performances are good (although Wanamaker seems bored through much of the telefilm and doesn't remind one at all of Christie's character), but Findlay and Rhind-Tutt are especially notable. This adaptation makes it explicit that a certain character is a sympathetically-drawn lesbian. This is one of the rare occasions when a Christie adaptation (written by Mark Gatiss) may be even better than the original novel. Christian Henson's score is suitably eerie and effective.

Verdict: Clever, suspenseful, and very well-acted. ***.

THE BIG FOUR

David Suchet as Hercule Poirot

THE BIG FOUR (2014 telefilm/PBS: Masterpiece Mystery -- Poirot.) Director: Peter Lydon.

Agatha Christie's "The Big Four," published in 1927, was an unusual Hercule Poirot novel in that -- while there were elements of classic detective fiction in it -- it was seemingly inspired by pulp fiction. Poirot was up against four powerful and well-known individuals -- one of whom was a former actor and supreme master of disguise -- who had banded together to achieve world domination. While Christie's prose lacked the rich atmosphere and descriptive power of, say, Sax Rohmer (who wrote the Fu Manchu novels), the novel moved at breakneck speed, was suspenseful and exciting, and had Poirot solving intricate cases (which always had to do with the Big Four)  in his usual adept and clever manner. After many skirmishes with the enemy, Poirot triumphs in the literally explosive conclusion.

In this adaptation of the novel, script writer Mark Gatiss has taken the basic premise of the book and turned it on its end. [The teleplay takes place much closer to WW2 than the novel does.] Along the way it at times becomes just as absurd as one could accuse the book of being, although the producers of the series probably think they are being more reasonable. There is a reporter (Tom Brooke) who believes rumors of a Big Four; an American millionaire, Ryland (James Carroll Jordan); and a French lady scientist of distinction, Madame Olivier (Patricia Hodge). One man is murdered while playing chess, while another meets his end with his head in a fireplace. Two other individuals embroiled in the events are actress Flossie Munro (Sarah Parish) and Dr. Quentin (Simon Lowe); the latter in particular is a cast stand-out. Assistant Commissioner Japp (Philip Jackson), secretary Miss Lemon (Pauline Moran), and dear old friend Hastings (Hugh Fraser) are along for the ride, albeit briefly. David Suchet [Dracula] is, as ever, superb as Poirot. This is vastly inferior to the novel, but not bad for what it is.

Verdict: Entertaining and well-acted. **1/2.