Agatha Christie's Poirot The Classic Collection
September 2005 Reviewed by: Charlotte Meyer Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

Whether it’s Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Whimsey, Joan Hickson as Miss Jane Marple, Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, John Thaw as Inspector Morse, Helen Mirren as Chief Inspector Tennison, or Patricia Routledge as the humble Hetty Wainthropp, you have to hand it to the Brits for the brilliant casting of their detectives. Because of the great actors who bring them to life, each of these BBC detectives has flanks of devoted followers. But even among these giants, David Suchet as Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie’s most famous sleuth, remains the most-watched, with enough star power to leap from BBC to PBS to A&E.

This 36-episode collection makes gluttons out of Poirot’s followers. With three episodes on each of 12 discs, a fan can over-indulge every night for two weeks running. What is the draw of this series? Is it Agatha Christie’s ingenious plots? Is it the swanky art-deco interiors? Is it Christopher Gunning’s hypnotic score? Is it the charming way Poirot’s assistant Hastings (Hugh Fraser) plays his fall guy? Is it the fabulous 1930s vintage automobiles, a veritable fleet of them in each episode, careening through the countryside?

All of the above, to be sure, but most of all it is David Suchet’s performance as Poirot. It is his flawless French accent, his charming malapropisms ("Monsieur, I do not pull legs!"), his fastidiousness that edges on prissiness, his genial formality, his impeccable dandy wardrobe, his outrageous vanity, and so much more! Agatha Christie’s implausible plots turning on their creaky hinges do not spoil the fun in the least. Clive Exton, who did most of the dramatizations, gives us one lively script after another. And David Suchet wrings every nuance out of them.

This collection spans five seasons, and some episodes look cleaner and sharper than others. "The Adventure of the Western Star," for example, is quite greyed and grainy, although none of the episodes is really vivid. Yet it is still possible to see how rich and subtle the color palette was originally, from one cinematographer to the next. Young heiresses in vivid red dresses, Poirot in his elegant grey suit clipping down elegant stony grey porticos, glazed black umbrellas shot from overhead in moody rainy London -- all of it now a little faded. Don’t expect much from the audio either, except for good, clear dialogue. But then, it’s all about talking anyway. And forget about extras. There are no more than print biographies of Suchet and Agatha Christie, cast filmographies, and some other Christie materials.

Put all those deficiencies aside. This series has a central cast of four characters who should be named individually: Miss Lemon (Pauline Moran), Poirot’s forbearing secretary; Captain Hastings, his assistant, so susceptible to both beautiful cars and beautiful women; Inspector Japp, the requisite competing police detective (Philip Jackson); and of course David Suchet in the role of Poirot as the central compelling focus. It’s this superb troupe with Suchet at the head that trumps all technicalities.

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