Rating: 
Summary: Practically a homage of John Dickson Carr
Review: <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.
Rating:
Summary: Spend the Christmas with the Super Sleuth!!
Review: +++++
I watched this movie without reading the 1939 Dame Agatha Christie novel that it was based on. I'm glad I did this! Why? Because it forced me to really watch the movie in order to try and deduce who the murderer was.
Here is the timeline of this movie:
1896 SOUTH AFRICA: two diamond smugglers turn on each other.
FORWARD 40 years later, London, England.
DEC. 21: Chief Inspector Japp (Phil Jackson) gives Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) a Christmas present. Later this day, Poirot is called by a stranger to his home to spend the Christmas.
DEC. 22: A murder takes place. Was it actually a suicide? Poirot investigates with the help of Police Superintendent Sugden (Mark Tandy) and later, Chief Inspector Japp.
DEC. 23: The investigation continues. Poirot buys Japp an expensive Christmas present.
DEC. 24: The investigation continues. An attempted murder occurs. Poirot opens Japp's present.
DEC. 25: Poirot solves the murder. Poirot gives Japp his present.
Who are the people Poirot spends the Christmas with? They are as follows:
1) Simeon Lee, the rich stranger who calls Poirot to his home (Vernon Dobtcheff)
2) Alfred Lee, one of Simeon's sons (Simon Roberts)
3) Ludia, Alfred's wife (Cathy Babett)
4) George Lee, a politician and another of Simeon's sons (Eric Carte)
5) Magdalene, George's wife (Andree Bernard)
6) Harry Lee, yet another of Simeon's sons (Brian Gwaspari)
7) Pilar Estonbodus, Simean's Spanish granddaughter (Sasha Behar)
8) Horbury, Simeon's valet (Ayub Kwan Din)
9) Tressilian, Simeon's butler (John Horsley)
As usual, Suchet's performance stands out. He gives a stellar performance portraying Poirot. Dobtcheff as the wealthy Simeon Lee also does a good job in his role.
This movie kept me guessing right to the very end as to whom the murderer was. There was good interaction between all the major characters and especially between Japp and Poirot.
The cinematography is visually stunning. All costumes and props are authentic looking.
The DVD has the usual text extras. Newcomers to the series might find these
interesting.
Finally, this movie is a solid murder mystery that can be viewed anytime, not just at Christmas time.
In conclusion, this is a fun movie even if you have read the novel it's based on!!
(1996; made for TV; 100 min; 10 scenes; full screen; British drama; color)
+++++
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: Poirot's Christmas: A Feast for his Fans
Review: Hercule Poirot's Christmas is an absolute delight. It's the perfect synergy between book and film, writer and director. As a long time reader of Agatha Christie and devotee of her inimitable Hercule Poirot and his little gray cells, I had expected to enjoy this video. But what impressed me was the superb dramatic pacing, the use of music to accent and develop the story, and the characters' living, breathing authenticity. David Suchet is as always the perfect, palpable incarnation of our Belgian detective and as for Philip Jackson, he is Chief Inspector Japp. All the actors, however, clearly seem to thrive under the excellent direction of Edward Bennett. There's just the right balance of humor and suspense, that splash of wit and verve in a serious story of greed and retribution. Poirot's Christmas isn't just for the holidays, although for me it will become a tradition like viewing the original "Christmas in Connecticut." Poirot's Christmas is the sort of feast that you'll never tire of enjoying and I am sure the little gray cells will agree.
Rating:
Summary: Poirot's Christmas: A Feast for his Fans
Review: Hercule Poirot's Christmas is an absolute delight. It's the perfect synergy between book and film, writer and director. As a long time reader of Agatha Christie and devotee of her inimitable Hercule Poirot and his little gray cells, I had expected to enjoy this video. But what impressed me was the superb dramatic pacing, the use of music to accent and develop the story, and the characters' living, breathing authenticity. David Suchet is as always the perfect, palpable incarnation of our Belgian detective and as for Philip Jackson, he is Chief Inspector Japp. All the actors, however, clearly seem to thrive under the excellent direction of Edward Bennett. There's just the right balance of humor and suspense, that splash of wit and verve in a serious story of greed and retribution. Poirot's Christmas isn't just for the holidays, although for me it will become a tradition like viewing the original "Christmas in Connecticut." Poirot's Christmas is the sort of feast that you'll never tire of enjoying and I am sure the little gray cells will agree.
Rating:
Summary: As usual, GREAT
Review: I am a Poirot fan so I may be somewhat bias but this movie was excellent. As usual you never can figure out the end and this movie was no exception. The quality of the movie was great and the sound was suberb. What else can I say.
Rating:
Summary: As usual, GREAT
Review: I am a Poirot fan so I may be somewhat bias but this movie was excellent. As usual you never can figure out the end and this movie was no exception. The quality of the movie was great and the sound was suberb. What else can I say.
Rating:
Summary: Christmas in Shropshire.
Review: It is supposed to be a quiet holiday, Hercule Poirot's Christmas, with a simple repast and a box of exquisite Belgian chocolates. And he's been looking forward to it - unlike Scotland Yard's Chief Inspector Japp (Philip Jackson), for whom a visit to his wife's Welsh relatives is forecast. "If they start singing again ..." he groans wistfully after the pre-Christmas lunch with Poirot which he expects to be his last decent meal until the beginning of the new year.
But when Poirot is about to sit down for dinner that night, he registers a faint chill in his apartment - first his wine is a tad too cold, then he is even compelled to put on a blazer - and to his horror, he discovers that his radiator has gone cold. What is worse, his landlord informs him that it won't be fixed until after Christmas. And so, when he receives a phone call from cantankerous, wheelchair-bound old Simeon Lee (Vernon Bobtcheff), asking him to spend the holidays at his Shropshire estate Gorston Hall because his life may be in danger, Poirot has only one material question: "Tell to me, if you please, Monsieur Lee: Does your house have the central heating?"
Yet, even after his arrival in Shropshire, Poirot isn't quite sure what is expected of him; and unfortunately Mr. Lee, who made his fortune prospecting diamonds in South Africa, doesn't greatly elaborate - only that he (Lee) intends to make an announcement which will give his family, who already hate and fear him, even greater cause for hatred; and that Poirot is to keep his eyes and ears open. "Bien, what am I looking for? What am I listening for?" the detective inquires. "You'll know when it happens," is Lee's terse response. But later that night, after old Simeon has informed his family that he is about to make a new will to accommodate his just-returned third son Harry (Brian Gwaspari) and his Spanish granddaughter Pilar (Sasha Behar) - which inter alia means scrapping the allowance of Harry's brother George (Eric Carte), a Member of Parliament - and after he has then sent them off again, not without putting them down as "a set of mamby pamby weaklings," a loud crash and a scream reminiscent of the squeal of a slaughtered pig emanates from Simeon's room, and when the door (locked from inside) is finally broken open, they find him lying there with his throat slashed, the room in total disorder and looking like a battlefield - and the diamonds that Simeon had recently ordered to be sent from his company's museum in Pretoria are gone from his safe.
Now, of course, Poirot's task begins in earnest; and since Wales is just across the border, he quickly resolves to save Japp from his over-exuberant, carol-loving in-laws and invite him to join the investigation. Together with Shropshire Police Superintendent Sugden (Mark Tandy) they set out to find a murderer who may equally likely have tried to prevent the alteration of old Mr. Lee's will, steal his diamonds, or have had a different motive altogether - for as Simeon himself had boasted to both Pilar and Poirot, he had been "a very wicked man" and didn't regret it; in fact, he had "enjoyed every moment:" killing, stealing, lying, and producing a legion of sons born "on the wrong side of the blanket" in the process. As Poirot quickly discovers, almost every member of the household has not only a motive for murder but also a flimsy alibi at best: not only George who, like his young wife Magdalena (Andree Bernard) is deeply in debt, but even George and Harry's brother Alfred, who stands to inherit the lion's share of the fortune after having stayed at home and taken care of his father together with his wife Lydia (Catherine Rabett), enduring humiliation upon humiliation over the years. Then there is Pilar who, it turns out, has a few secrets of her own; Harry's reconciliation with his father is only a recent one (and who says it was honestly felt anyway?); valet Horbury (Ayub Khan Din) has yet other reasons to fear the police - and there is also an elderly lady (Olga Lowe) staying at a nearby inn, who likewise shows a peculiar interest in the goings-on at Gorston Hall.
While plot-wise relatively standard Christie fare - complete with locked room, country estate, belligerent patriarch, shockingly young wives, a prodigal son returning home after a promise of "fatted calf" (to the displeasure of his demure "stay at home, stick in the mud" brother(s)), sudden testamentary changes and other motives galore - and although Christie's imagination may have gone a bit overboard, as I am not sure the solution would have worked in reality quite the way it is described here, this adaptation of "Hercule Poirot's Christmas" is a delightful entry in the canon featuring David Suchet, as always the perfect embodiment of the little Belgian with the many "little grey cells" and perfectly waxed moustache, whom a speck of dust would cause greater pain than even a bullet, and who cannot eat his breakfast eggs unless they're exactly the same size. Faithful to Dame Agatha's novel in setting and atmosphere, like a number of other installments this episode cleverly varies the series's distinctive title melody in tune and instrumentation so as to underline its specific seasonal backdrop and Shropshire locale; which to my mind even makes it reminiscent of the title melody of the "Cadfael" adaptations, likewise set in Shropshire and originally broadcast by ITV. Fans of Poirot's sidekick Captain Hastings (Hugh Fraser) may be a bit disappointed to find him missing - but this is still a fine Christmas gift from Dame Agatha, David Suchet and company, and as always there is plenty of banter between Poirot and Japp as well ... and an amusing little subplot involving their mutual Christmas presents.
"Ah, Chief Inspector, you have been thinking again - I have warned you of this before ..." (Poirot to Japp, after listening to his theory on the murder.)
Rating:
Summary: INTELLIGENCE, HORROR, SUSPENSE
Review: It's christmas time and Poirot gets a phonecall from an old man who says that his life is in great danger and he wants Poirot to join him and his relatives in his house, Poirot will get very dissapointed because the old man will not survive the first 20 minutes of his company. There is suspense and horror in the air. Poirot will need his little grey cells to clear this case.
as well as you... once again i must tell you that the only way to figure out who the murder in Agatha Christies stories is to not accept your eyes or your ears... because almost everything is a lie or an act. This is an movie i am very proud of to have in my bookcase i tell you see this movie...
Rating:
Summary: Poirot is the best !!
Review: One's again Poirot Rocks!!!!!!! The movie is great!!!!! one of the best Poirot ever!!! God Bless Agatha Cristie and Poirot!!!!! If you like suspens, mistery get this dvd !! ;-)
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