Hercule Poirot: the little
Belgian detective invented by British mystery queen Agatha Christie, Poirot is
more than the character who unravels various interesting and convoluted
mysteries. He's a "character" in the true sense of the word, with a
great deal of personality and an eccentric streak a mile wide. Brought to life
perfectly by David Suchet in the BBC series, Poirot is sure to win over the
hearts of viewers on DVD as completely as he has done on television.
Poirot: Collector's Set 3
contains three fifty-minute Poirot episodes. "The Kidnapped Prime
Minister" starts off the set, though it's the weakest of the three; it's
an entertaining episode as is the norm for Poirot, but I found it fairly easy
to figure out the central mystery early in the plot. "The Adventure of the
Western Star" and "How Does Your Garden Grow" are both extremely
entertaining mysteries that keep the viewer mentally engaged from start to
finish as Poirot handles a high-profile jewel theft in one and a convoluted murder
case on the other.
The choice of episodes for this
DVD is admittedly rather odd, though; since the Collector's Set 1
and Set 2 presented six out of the nine episodes
from the second season, one would expect the third set to finish up the lot.
Instead, we get "The Kidnapped Prime Minister" and "The
Adventure of the Western Star" from the second season and "How Does
Your Garden Grow" from the third, leaving one uncollected episode from the
second season. Hercule Poirot himself would have been troubled by the untidy
organization of the episodes, but for the less fastidious viewer, it really
doesn't matter: the episodes can be viewed in any order, and given Acorn
Media's excellent track record in this regard, we can hope for an eventual
release of all the episodes.
Though I'm a fan of the
feature-length Poirot episodes as well, the Collector's Set 3 does
present a compelling argument that the shorter, 50-minute format might be
actually a more effective length for the Poirot stories. Each of these episodes
is adapted from a short story rather than a full novel, and generally features
a tightly-woven plot that keeps on a brisk pace from start to finish.
One of the most enjoyable
aspects of collecting the full Poirot set is getting to know the recurring
characters. In addition to Poirot himself, the secondary characters of Captain
Hastings (Hugh Fraser), Chief Inspector Japp (Philip Jackson), and Miss Lemon
(Pauline Moran) are very well portrayed, managing to enliven the episodes with
a great deal of personality despite their smaller amount of screen time. The
episodes of the Collector's Set 3 are particularly enjoyable in that
respect, as "The Adventure of the Western Star" gives Hastings a bit
more time in the spotlight (which he doesn't necessarily use to his advantage,
poor chap), and "How Does Your Garden Grow" allows for Miss Lemon to
shine a bit as well.
Video
As with the other Collector's
Sets, Set 3 is presented in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. The image
quality for the three episodes included here is below average. The print is
fairly grainy, but more to the point, the colors are substantially washed-out.
All three episodes are rather muddy-looking, and "The Kidnapped Prime
Minister" is downright grayish. It's watchable, especially given that it's
a transfer of a television show, but it's a bit worse overall than the earlier
two collections.
Audio
As always, the focus of the
Dolby 2.0 soundtrack is on the dialogue, and it does its job satisfactorily.
The sound balance between the elements of music, dialogue, and background noise
is well-maintained. Most importantly, the actors' voices are clear and
distinct, and the overall sound is clean.
Extras
The special features in the Collector's
Set 3 are all text-based: biographies of Agatha Christie and David Suchet,
cast filmographies, and miscellaneous Agatha Christie material, including some
interesting background on the character of Chief Inspector Japp in the novels
and their film adaptations.
Final thoughts
Any Poirot fan will want to add
this DVD to their collection, despite the slightly disappointing image quality:
who can pass up three more great mysteries with Hercule Poirot? Those viewers
who have not yet had the pleasure of encountering Monsieur Poirot will find the
Collector's Set 3 to be an excellent place to start, with three
entertaining stories that can be viewed in any order.
Buy: