Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Definitive Collection Review

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(More customer reviews)Well for the benefit of the woman who asked me to explain the difference in the Poirot collections back when the Acorn sets of the "original series" came out, now she and others who waited can complete their collection and save space at the same time. This indeed is all 12 feature length episodes released to date that were shown here on A&E. For those of you bought them like me in either the smaller sets of 4 and/or individuals, their is nothing new here, but at least this set like the 2 Acorn sets (1 of the hour length shows, the other of the 2 hour ones both of which aired "here" on PBS and A&E later on) will take up less space on your shelf. Since nothing new was added, I will be content with what I have, if by now 7 years after they started you have not gotten any of the A&E ONLY aired stories now is your chance to get them all together. 12 for less than $100 is most definitely a bargain.

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Tony Award-nominee David Suchet is Hercule Poirot - dressed to the nines, impeccably mannered and infuriatingly arch, he is a detective like no other. Adapted from Agatha Christie's celebrated mysteries, each film features beautiful settings and an impeccable cast.Now, for the first time, twelve of Suchet's feature-length Poirot mysteries are available together in this collector's set. Produced by Brian Eastman (Traffik, Jeeves & Wooster), these exquisitely crafted tales of death and deception were filmed on location around the world, and features enough murder and mystery to test the mettle of our inimitably beloved Belgian sleuth.AGATHA CHRISTIE S POIROT: THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION contains all twelve A&E feature-length Poirot films: THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD: Poirot's retirement in a quiet country village ends abruptly with the death of his disagreeable neighbor. LORD EDGWARE DIES: Intervening in a sticky marital situation, Poirot suddenly finds himself in the midst of murder.MURDER IN MESOPOTAMIA: Poirot visits an ancient site in Iraq just before the head archeologist's unpopular wife is killed.EVIL UNDER THE SUN: Death intrudes on Poirot's island holiday, and only he can determine who is responsible.DEATH ON THE NILE: A pleasure cruise down the Nile turns deadly when a murder is discovered on board. Thank goodness Poirot is along for the ride.SAD CYPRESS: The solution to a double-murder case appears to be cut and dry, but Poirot's impeccable instincts eventually lead him to the real truth.THE HOLLOW: A weekend retreat where all the guests appear to despise one another finds Poirot hard at work doing what he does best.FIVE LITTLE PIGS: Poirot agrees to help a young woman prove her mother's innocence, 14 years after being sent to the gallows.THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN: When the daughter of an oil magnate is found dead on the famous Blue Train to the French Riviera, Poirot must investigate the past to reveal the killer.TAKEN AT THE FLOOD: Mystery surrounds a young woman after her new husband is killed in the London Blitz, and the mystery deepens when a man who may be her first husband shows up dead.AFTER THE FUNERAL: Following the murder of a wealthy patriarch, Poirot is called upon to begin an investigation. The case takes a wild twist however, when his prime suspect turns up dead.CARDS ON THE TABLE: When a woman is found dead at a card game, four investigators--including Poirot himself set out to discover which guest is the killer.

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The Way We Live Now Review

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(More customer reviews)How We Live Now is the 1870s novel written by Anthony Trollope (1815-1882, While Trollope is best known for his Barchester series dealing with the clergy and the Palliser series focusing on Victorian political life this novel of business and family life is considered one of his best novels (and he wrote 47!)
Mr. Melmotte is a European schemer who fleeces several prominent men to invest in a bogus railroad company. David Suchet stars in this role (best known for his Hercule Poirot
portrayal), The stout and middle aged Suchet plays Melmotte with genius and his presence is strong and memorable.
Shirley Henderson playing his abused and lovelorn daugher Marie is very well acted. Her love affair with the cad Felix
Carbury is drawn with superb depth in fine acting.
The love affair between Hettie Carbury and the engineer Paul
Montague (who has an American girfriend Winifred Hurtle who shows up to fight for her man) is very interesting as the triangle love affair is worked out during the course of the 6 hour Masterpiece miniseries.
The BBC production is sumptuous! Beautiful period costumes
and music add to the sheer enjoyment of this series!
Americans are sometimes bored because British programming
moves at a sloweer pace than many of our tv programs. They forget that these novels fulfilled the function of a soap opera as their stories were issued in monthly parts. Trollope is not as well known as George Eliot or the inimitable Dickens but any
of his novels portrayed on the screen is well worth the time to
view it.
Congratulations to the BBC and the outstanding cast of this
fine film!

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The Way We Live Now captures the turmoil as the old order is swept aside by the brash new forces of business and finance. Based on the novel by Anthony Trollope, this satire of Victorian society contains all the dynamic elements that made him one of the most celebrated and popular novelists of his day--the trials and tribulations of young love, the pettiness of the upper class life, the raw energy and excitement of the most powerful city the world had ever seen, and the greed and corruption that lay just below its glittering surface.
Episode 1: When infamous financier Augustus Melmotte (David Suchet) mysteriously appears in London, the city's impoverished aristocrats greedily court his favor. Felix Carbury, a charming but lazy young baronet, is one of the many gentlemen swarming around Melmotte's rich heiress daughter, Marie. Meanwhile, Felix's independently minded sister, Hetta, falls in love with a bright young engineer, Paul Montague, who is in town to approach Melmotte with an ambitious business propostion. Complications soon arise in business and love.
Episode 2: While Paul Montague throws himself into the booming railway business with Melmotte, the presence of his mysterious American friend in London threatens to jeopardize his chances with Hetta. Felix is forced to desperate measures to secure his future with Marie when he learns that her father is planning her marriage to a rival suitor.
Episode 3: Paul visits Mexico to have his worst fears about the railway construction confirmed. Returning to London he decides to confront Melmotte and resolve his romantic situation. Melmotte involves himself in increasingly ambitious business schemes while Felix gets himself into further trouble and Hetta recieves some devastating news.
Episode 4: Melmotte reaches the highest echelons of London society but the wolves are beginning to gather at his door. Paul takes his chance to act and Felix comes face to face with some tough opposition, while Hetta contemplates settling for second best. Climaxing in love lost, love gained, a death and some just desserts.

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Freud Review

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(More customer reviews)The more knowledge of Freud you have before watching this talkative docudrama, the more absorbing you may find it. Writer Carey Harrison (son of Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer) presents the pioneering psychoanalyst from age 28 to 83, struggling to launch his career, marrying, embracing cocaine, evolving daring theories and arguing with his opponents, having a chaste relationship with his sister in law, moving for his last 15 months of life to England beyond the Nazi threat. This project is tagged as revealing Freud "warts and all," including his "suspected homosexuality." One waits in vain for a strong narrative drive, warm humanizing emotions, the arc of drama, but the six segments have a sameness of tone. Freud mostly seems to be on the job.
Each of the six installments is framed by simple scenes of feeble Freud in his English residence during the last day or two of his existence. Indeed, David Suchet is at his most moving here, in heavy makeup: restless gray lips speaking with difficulty because of the large prosthesis in his mouth ravaged by 16 years of operations for cancer. The prolonged suffering, with Freud continuing to work and smoke, has no part in Harrison's script!, or at least in the final film. Though the film was shot in sequence in the studio, all of this scattered "last day" footage was conglomerated into the last three days of shooting.
The filming took eight months, including location work in the countryside and ancient ruins. Beyond Suchet's indefatigable excellence in fulfilling the script's (too narrow) demands, I was intrigued by three other performances: Michael Kitchen as deathstruck addicted Fleischl (not Fleiss) who exudes a wild poetry; Miriam Margolyes as the plump Baroness, hysterical in both senses of the word, an oasis of genuine comedy in this overall dark exercise; and Michael Pennington as the Swiss Jung, tall and loud, reminiscent of a brash American--he's a bright spot too, until he has to switch gears.
Everyone remains suffocatingly clothed, except for two startling moments: (1) Fleischl, high, morose, labile, suddenly rises naked from the tub and throws his arms around Freud's neck. (2) A line of very young girls and boys, covered only from waist to hip, are to be examined by Dr. Freud; as he places his hands here and there on a pretty little girl's innocent flesh, there seems something sensuous in his manner.
Program 6 incorporates a montage of extracts from earlier sequences, sometimes imparting changed meanings, as if Freud's memories are gushing haphazardly. One may surmise that such cannot be strictly scripted, but is the outcome of debate among director, writer, and editor. The close of the film may seem prolonged: Freud's request for his doctor, the blessed shot of morphine, Freud's joking about the flies to come. He does not want his wife present, he speaks a brief message for daughter Anna. Then several recollections affirm his achievement and enduring reputation. The drama was shot tv camera-to-tape in the studio and the location sequences were filmed in 16mm, the present offering now exhibiting subdued color and slightly overexposed effect. So just adjust the parameters for the tv image.
Suchet's 35 minute interview (January 2010) is revelatory and entertaining. The subtitles are not foreign, but for the hearing impaired. Harrison's novelized version (1958) of the script is still available, mostly second hand.

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David Suchet (Poirot) won a Royal Television Society award for this portrayal of the great psychoanalyst in this six-part BBC mini-series.Filmed in Austria, New York and London, this series examines Freud's complex life, his groundbreaking work and his relationship with his patients. The star-studded cast also includes Michael Kitchen, Suzanne Bertish, Michael Pennington, Miriam Margolyes, Anton Lesser, and David Swift.

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