Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot! Now Disc. "The Labours of Hercules"

[image=http://sitegenerator.bibliotheek.nl/publiekskrakers/img/archief/hercule%20poirot.gif] [image=http://www25.brinkster.com/agathachristie/IMAGES/Albert_Finney_in_Murder_on_the_Orient_Express_001.jpg] [image=http://www.cactuslanguage.com/en/cactus/newsletter/images/ustinov.jpg]

Loathed by the author, loved by readers and played by quite a few different actors, I hereby propose we have a discussion of not only Poirot as a character, but of each of the stories and novels in the series in chronlogical order.

First we can just have a discussion of his character and the actors who portrayed him. IMHO David Suchet is the best but perhaps this is because he played him for so long. Albert Finney is just odd and Peter Ustinov only remotely looks like him, the good actor he is and all.

One thing you can say about him is his fastidiousness, Hastings says once that he believe a speck of dirt would have caused him more injury than a bullet wound. And though Finney is odd as Poirot in the Orient Express movie, it was a nice touch for Poirot to have a hairnet for his famous moustaches!

I prefer Poirot's methods of detection much more than Marple's and even to Holmes. Unlike Marple, who rarely reveals anything to the reader as she often lacks "a Watson", and unlike Holmes whose methods are far more scientific and harder to follow, Poirot bases his deductions on the psychology. And he isn't always right! Remember the chocolate box!

This quote I think sums him up perfectly, it's from the short story The Kidnapped Prime Minister

Now all I need is a mod who's willing to sponsor this thread to change the title and we'll be underway!

 

You got it...good idea. Agatha Christie was one of the very best plotters going.

 

All right, let's get this show on the road then.

Once we've done a little on character, we should move onto a discussion of The Chocolate Box , the earliest story in chronology

 

Never heard of that story...?

 

I'm currently watching through the Suchet series. I finished season one not long ago and more eps are in my Netflix queue. He's the definitive, of course, and his supporting cast is equally brilliant. These are the best Christie adaptations around, if you ask me.

Chocolate Box takes place while he's still an officer in Belgium, if memory serves. Don't believe I've read it though and I haven't seen the episode yet.

 

I saw Murder on the Orient Express a while back and absolutely loved it. I thought Albert Finney was a hoot. It's the only Hercule Poirot film I've seen but I'd like to see more.

 

Suchet is perhaps the best Poirot to date, I watched Finney after I had seen Suchet and was like

Poirot would NEVER yell at a lady, even if she was a murderer

 

Ustinov--in "Death on the Nile"--is not bad, but the wrong physical type. Tony Randall--in "The ABC Murders"--is the right physical type but all wrong otherwise.

 

What does Tony Randall look like?

 

[image=http://www.deliciousdeath.com/image/vhs/25UVHS1.jpg]

Excuse me, it's called "The Alphabet Murders"...

 

I haven't seen any of the adapted movies, but I've read many novels by her. The Hercule Poirot series is my favorite.

 

Eh? He looks more like a dark-haired Hastings than Poirot.

Long live Suchet!

 

No, Suchet is the best. Have you seen a BBC production wherein Poirot meets Agatha Christie?

 

,,No, Suchet is the best. Have you seen a BBC production wherein Poirot meets Agatha Christie?,,
When i was long and spent a lot of time with my grandma isurely saw a lot of Suche.
I remeber an episode in wich a russian baroness,or something like that exiled from russia becuse of the regime change in 1917 stole a necklace,and Poirot let her run because he fel inlove with her.
Which episode it was,can someone give me an imdb link?

 

That would be "The Double Clue" and the woman in question is Countess Vera Rossakoff, a professional thief and the only woman to touch Poirot's heart. Nothing ever happens between them, though he does send the Countess a dozen red roses and Miss Lemon and Hastings strongly suspect the feeling he has for her.

 

Thanks.

 

I own Murder On The Orient Express and always stop to watch Death On The Nile should it come on television. I enjoy both Peter Ustinov and Albert Finney's performances.

 

The best thing about Agatha Christie is her plotting ability. Robert Barnard wrote a very interesting book about that...I have a copy. Her misdirection is extremely skilled.

 

I know, remember The Murder of Roger Ackroyd? Brilliant.

I'll get round to the discussion of individual stories next week, will have more time.

 

Yes, I remember Lord Edgeware Dies; reading that, I felt incredibly intelligent as I slowly unravelled the mystery. When the curtain fell, I realized I had been very nearly completely right in almost every detail about how the crime had been committed. Alas, I'd pinned the (correct) method to the wrong person. And that, I realized, was exactly what Christie had been leading me to do. Brilliant strategist; at her best, her novels are like chess games. . . you think you're playing along and then realize that she's been manipulating you into every move along the way.

 

Sometimes she tricks you, I read The Mystery of the Blue Train and when Ruth Ketting's face was disfigured I thought that it was not her that had been murdered but someone else.

 

A great example of her turning a cliche on its head; I've read so many mysteries where people faked their deaths that anymore I just assume if a body is mutilated it isn't really who it's supposed to be. And the moment Christie knows that's something you'll assume, she'll turn the tables on you.

 

Or in the Mysterious Affair at Styles, which was wonderful the way they worked together.

 

I remember "Styles" as pretty bad and very Sherlocky--she was just getting started.

 

It was slightly Sherlocky, but without Sherock's science. A lot of the science she reuses.