Blu-ray Review: Poirot (Series 6)

Blu-ray Reviews, Reviews

Rarely does an actor get a chance to truly explore a fictional character’s epic literary output. How many guys have played Sherlock Holmes? Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan keeps getting a fresh face over the course of a handful of movie adaptations. Even if an actor sticks to the role, the producers may use the title and skip the plot like on Sean Connery’s James Bond movies. David Suchet is in a rare position as the star of i>Agatha Christie’s Poirot. He’s on course to star in adaptations of all but one of the 33 novels, one play and 50 short stories featuring Hercule Poirot. He has been the face of Poirot on TV since 1989. Other actors might have played the role, but he shall experience nearly everything solved by the Belgian detective (the exception being “The Lemesurier Inheritance”). He’s been in the role so long, they’ve started re-issuing the episodes on Blu-ray for those wanting to spot the clues in high resolution. Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Series 6 contains four movies including a Christmas special.

“Hercule Poirot’s Christmas” begins with the noble quest of the detective wanting to merely enjoy the holidays. But crime doesn’t take a sacred day off. A man inside a locked room lets out a nasty scream. When the other guests bust down the door, they find him dead. It’s an obvious murder, but how could the murderer have gotten away cleanly? It’s up to Poirot to interrupt his Christmas fun to uncover a sackful of family badness. Is the homicide linked to diamond snatching and illegitimate children? There’s going to be a lot of coal and switches passed out by Santa’s helper. “Hickory Dickory Dock” investigates a rash of thievery involving a youth hostel. Poirot’s Miss Lemon is attached to the case which is why he takes such a simple mystery. One young girl admits to the cheaper items that went missing. But is she covering for the kingpin? Poirot must know if this is the work of a professional thief or a kleptomaniac. Homeland‘s Damian Lewis is amongst the suspects. He uses his real accent.

“Murder on the Links” whisks the detective down to the South of France. Why was a murdered man’s body buried on a golf course? Has anyone seen Tiger Woods’ ex-wife? Poirot learns that the man and his wife were attacked in a hotel room. The husband had been dragged off by the attackers wanting to learn a secret. What did he know that cost him his life? The big clue involves a battered watch that’s running at the wrong time. Can Poirot solve the case before Tiger Woods wins his next major tourney? “Dumb Witness” reminds people why you’re better off using express overnight for important news. A woman writes Poirot with her fear that someone wants to kill her. After the detective receives the letter and responds, she’s dead. Her doctor says it was from a bum liver, but Poirot smells something else happened to the writer. He must snoop to find out why people swore she burped haze. All this could have prevented if she’d just texted Poirot.

A pal swore they were going to avoid being overwhelmed by political ads this fall with marathon sessions of Agatha Christie’s Poirot. They’ll be very pleased when they get to Series 6 with tales of Christmas, hostels, golf and snail mail. David Suchet by this point in his career had pretty much become Poirot with his precise mustache and European charms. He can do know wrong when exposing guilty parties. There’s no need to watch commercial TV when such sophisticated mysteries await on Blu-ray.

The video is 1.33:1 full frame. The 1080p transfers bring out the tells in the murdering liars. The higher resolution brings out the details in the locations and production design. The audio is 2.0 Stereo PCM. The levels are fine enough to hear a suspect give a false breath. The movies are subtitled in case you have accent issues.

There are no bonus features.

Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Series 6 brings another 4 movies to the world of Blu-ray. The show brings Poirot’s mysteries off the page with David Suchet inhabiting the Belgian detective’s soul. Each episode is feature film length so there’s no extreme shortcut in solving the literary mysteries.

Acorn Media presents Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Series 6. Starring: David Suchet, Hugh Fraser, Philip Jackson and Pauline Moran. Boxset Contents: 4 episodes on 2 Blu-rays. Released: August 28, 2012. Available at Amazon.com.

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.