Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Definitive Collection [DVD]

By: Revit Agatha Christie's Poirot in the The Definitive Collection contains 12 mysteries on 12 discs, each about 98 minutes long. David Suchet plays the role of Agatha Christie's favorite Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot. This is the second period in Poirot's career. His supporting sidekick and secretary are absent; however, he is occasionally joined by Ariadne Oliver, a writer of detective and other exceptional stories; and Poirot himself begins to acquire a slightly more intense personality. In at least some of the stories we see him in a new apartment with George, his gentleman's gentleman. Most of these mysteries are sensational; others are gorgeous gems in the rough. Three of the mysteries are also available with Peter Ustinov playing Poirot: Death on the Nile, Evil Under the Sun, and Lord Edgeware Dies. You can have fun with family and friends comparing the two actors playing the same role in the same mystery. After the Funeral: The Abernethie family was shocked at the family gathering when after the reading of Richard Abernethie's will Cora Abernethie bursts out with "But he was murdered, wasn't he?" A little later Cora was murdered with several strokes of an ax, and the family solicitor, Sir Entwhistle, called in Hercule Poirot. Cards on the Table: Eight guests arrived for dinner and a social evening. Then the most unimaginable thing takes place, a murder is committed. Only one of the four guests playing bridge in an adjoining room could have committed the crime. Poirot and two high ranking officers, one from Scotland Yard and the other from the Foreign Service, set out to solve the case; Ariadne Oliver's provides uninvited help. Death on the Nile: A beautiful young heiress, Linnet Ridgeway, married Simon Doyle the fiancé of her oldest friend Jacqueline de Bellefort. Linnet and Simon Doyle honeymooned in Egypt and were staying at the Cataract Hotel in Assuan when they saw Jackie who was obviously tracking them with the objective of spoiling their honeymoon. Hercule Poirot who was also traveling in Egypt and staying at the Cataract Hotel met an old friend Colonel Race (David Niven). Curiously Linnet's American Trustee Mr. Pennington was also staying at the Hotel. The next day they all boarded the water wheel boat, Karnak, for a sightseeing cruse up the Nile; trouble soon began. Evil Under the Sun: Poirot was hired by an insurer to investigate a murder on the Yorkshire moors and the substitution of a faux diamond for a stunning genuine gem that the millionaire industrialist Horace Blatt had given to a New York musical show star Arlina Stuart in contemplation of marriage. They were all staying at a swanky island resort in the Adriatic owned by Daphne Castle. There is a murder and of course Hercule Poirot solves the mystery. Five Little Pigs: A young lady retains Poirot to investigate a murder that happened many years ago for which her mother had been convicted and hung. Poirot reluctantly takes the case, interviews all of the witnesses and calls all of the players together. The outcome was not only a surprise it was shocking. The Hollow: A British week end party ends in the murder of one of the guests. The likely murderer was being shielded by the family including the murdered party's mistress. After a horse is found hiding the murder weapon, Poirot identifies the murderer and says "...go to the living; I will stay here with the dead". Lord Edgeware Dies: (also published as "Thirteen for Dinner") The most obvious suspect was having dinner with twelve high profile witnesses. More murders follow; finally all of the participants were called together to hear Poirot explain how it was done and who the guilty part was. Murder in Mesopotamia: Poirot visited an ancient archeological site in Iraq just before the chief archeologist's unpopular wife was found dead. Poirot immediately suspected that it was murder and investigated. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: was set in the peaceful village of King's Abbot, which was over populated with unmarried ladies. Poirot had recently retired there and was engaged in cultivating vegetable marrows. According to some of Christie's contemporaries the mystery was too difficult to solve and deemed it "Foul Play"; others cried "Bravo" for the exceptional dexterity the author displayed in hiding the true identity of the murderer until the very end. The Mystery of the Blue Train: A young girl of modest means unexpectedly inherits a fortune. A disguised jewel thief was hired as a secretary by a wealthy business man who had given a priceless gem mounted in a necklace to his daughter; she is married to a hopeless gambler. The daughter was murdered; the young heiress, the jewel thief and Poirot all went to the south of France to stay in and party at a house owned by a distant relative of the heiress. Sad Cypress: It gets all tangled up when love blooms between the wrong people, and greed to inherit Hunterbury warps fair judgment. Laura Welman dies during the night without a will leaving everything to Elinor Carlisle, as next of kin. Mary Gerard dies of poisoning and Elinor is arrested. Elinor, standing in the dock, pleads not guilty but the case against her is daunting. Dr Peter Lord, who has fallen for Elinor, calls Poirot in to look at the case and begs him to save Elinor. Taken at the Flood: Lynn Marchmont returning home after service in the Navy during WW II finds it difficult settling into the life of the village she had left. She was engaged to Rowley Cloade; his family lived nearby. Her and her family members had grown accustomed to drawing on their future inheritance from Gordon Cloade, but Gordon had recently married Rosaleen invalidating his will. Gordon passed away making Rosaleen exceedingly wealthy. David Hunter, Rosaleen's brother, jealously guarded his sister's wealth, making everything very difficult. This set, "Poirot: The Definitive Collection", is a real treasure. It is a must have for every devote of Agatha Christie, and for every collector of British mysteries. Where else can you find 12 wonderful movies made from the stories of one of the greatest writers of all time, Dame Agatha Christie?

Someone here please tell me which POIROT MYSTERY SHOW or MOVIE, is the only one where he falls in love, and he saves the flower she gives him for his lapel, at end of story. It is driving me crazy, and I usually remember these things, I thought it was one of the best stories POIROT he ever did, and since I just ordered the DEFINITIVE COLLECTION, The newer one, I hope it is on this set.. I love all Agatha Christie mysteries though, so will probably love this set as well... Please help, someone must know the answer to this mysterious question..I know I saw it on tv a very long time ago...I saw this set before and loved it, that's why I am finally ordering it, and for the bonus too, that makes it even more special.. p.s.*** I just got this set and realized it doesn't have***- ANY CLOSED CAPTIONING, BUYER BEWARE! I am a senior and watch nearly everything on bluray or dvd in cc, I am writing A&E to get their answer, since I have a low vision problem..most dvds and bluray have the cc option, even foreign movies.. The visual is very good, but the captioning would help me and I believe others, a lot more...especially seniors, like me..It had better have the BONUS FEATURES..doesn't say which dvd they are on, on the box doesn't say either (just bonus features and what they are) but I am only on first dvd of the set..thanks UPS for delivering it early! I believe this is the only set with the bonus features, that is why I ordered this one, if you don't want cc, it is a great dvd set to get.. but most blurays or dvds give you a choice anyways. POIROT IS EXCELLENT AS USUAL! no, MY REMOTE DOESN'T HAVE A CC BUTTON EITHER,cc was programmed for my tv only, but nothing else.. I HAVE time warner cable HD box AND A Vizio WIDE SCREEN TV..and a Time Warner cable remote too, when playing my dvds, etc, the vizio tv remote only works certain functions so I can see the dvd,etc..the T.W. remote controls the cc and none for this video anyways..I hope this helps all the seniors out there who love POIROT and buy through A&E by using AMAZON...but if you need cc don't buy this set and check if A&E HAS CC ON ANYTHING YOU BUY THROUGH THEM..YOU CAN CONTACT THEM BY 800 NUMBER, GOOGLE IT,A&E OR YOU CAN EMAIL THEM TOO..I called but it was after hrs., so the nice girl said she would email for me..the cc question..Oh yes, Forgot to say I recommend this to any POIROT MYSTERY LOVER, GREAT COLLECTION!! Thanks, Antoinette Nason (mystery lover)

The quality of this collection of Poirot mysteries is better than anything I have ever seen in the realm of television production transfer to DVD. To say that the video quality is magnificent is an understatement. When I began watching these DVD's I was immediately struck by the depth and richness of the color and the brilliant clarity of the images, right down to the finest detail. A&E deserves the highest praise for treating this collection like the masterpieces of cinematography they are. For people who are familiar with David Suchet's brilliant portrayal of Hercule Poirot and the fine acting of Hugh Frasier as Poirot's good natured friend and associate Captain Hastings and Pauline Moran as his dedicated secretary and friend Miss Lemon, it goes without saying that the quality of the acting is a mark of excellence throughout the world. Philip Jackson as Chief Inspector Japp of Scotland Yard rounds out the experience as these four great actors are like welcomed family members to the viewers who know the wonder of this fantastic series. This collection is something you will treasure forever. The only thing that I did not like is the way the DVD's were packaged in the box. The box they come in is designed to hold all twelve DVD's but in order to make the box reasonable in size the DVD's are overlapped, two on each leaf of the box, one DVD on a full spindle and the one overlapping it on a half spindle. It makes it awkward to remove the DVD's carefully from the leafs. I purchased 12 separate jewel cases for these DVD's and I am storing them in the jewel cases rather than the box. It is a small price to pay for maintaining these equisitely high quality productions. I find that each of the twelve productions runs approximately 95 minutes including credits and opening. Whether you are a mystery fan or not, these video productions are wonderful to behold. Absolutely worth the investment. There is one thing, however, that I must caution you about. These productions are NOT for young viewers. Some of the scenes in these films are brutal enough to earn an "R" rating if they were shown in theaters today. For example, in the very first DVD, The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd, there is a scene in which his murder is depicted and it is a horrific scene. A knife is clearly rammed into the victim's throat, firmly held there as blood pours out, and every agonizing twitch of his screaming death throes are displayed. It is enough to give even the most jaded person nightmares. So please exercise caution regarding allowing younger viewers to watch these films. I recommend no one younger than a teenager. - Mike S.

Excellent! Suchet the Best Poirot!! So thankful to have the whole series in one package.

Great stories, which will make your family weekends passing enjoyable .

I can watch this over and over and I do, can’t get enough of this

This series by A & E does not have subtitles, does not have Miss Lemon, Hastings, (well I take that back, I think the one I fell asleep in, did!) and the usual cast as in the Classic Collection. However, it still is wonderful! Go, push the one click button! Buy it now as you will NOT regret it! "Death on the Nile" and "Evil under the Sun" are disappointing. I guess that is because I have the other movies of that title with Peter Ustinov, Bette Davis, David Niven, etc. I got this entire set, brand new on amazon for like 35 bucks! Some of the shows are slow moving and boring: "Murder in Mesopotamia" I fell asleep watching, could have left this one out completely! But on the other hand, standing ovation, Elliot Cowan, ELLIOT COWAN as Mr. David Hunter is ABSOLUTELY superb in "Taken at the Flood!" Buy the entire set just for this one episode! Why this actor is not a super star is beyond me? Equally engaging and worthwhile are: "After the Funeral", "Cards on the Table", and "The Mystery of The Blue Train". Of course, these are my favorites. Others may disagree. But buy this set regardless. I prefer it to the classic collection. Entirely different in the way it is presented, filmed, etc. Find it much more interesting, the scenes are fast moving, jumping from one to another! And, as usual, the sets, the backgrounds, the scenic beauty, Poirot's obsessive tidiness and attention to every little detail, all these things are there;making for great entertainment! The only reason I buy the Poirot and Miss Marple series, is that I want to watch them over and over and over! No other series, movies or shows, do this, for me! I hope this review was helpful in making others to make up their minds if this set is for them or not? Thank you for reading it!

I remember when this Poirot series first aired. I watched a couple of episodes and lost interest. I think this was because I am not a fan of art deco and pretentious television. Over the years I've managed to catch all 12 of these shows on A&E as endless repeats. The series still did not catch my fancy. David Suchet is very good as the fastidious Poirot, a character straight-jacketed by an almost psychopathic regard for himself in the third person and, here, imbedded within homogenous productions of impeccably sterile atmospheres. This Poirot, as adapted for this television series, has few facets, unlike the prismatic Jane Marple as portrayed by Joan Hickson. The producers of this A&E powered Poirot have gone for style over everything else. After seeing these shows again after all these years I am still not impressed. The scripts are as stiff and fussy as the eponymous hero, lacking humor and irony. What smug humor there is barely raises a chuckle. Suchet carries the show single-handedly. His cast of regular sidekicks is not very interesting, unlike Miss Marple's chums in the great Hickson series. Poirot's devoted secretary,Miss Lemon, wears out interest after her first complete episode. Everything she does after that is predictable and routine. I found myself getting a little bored with the same old red herrings and stabbings in the neck of rich bastards who are murdered by envious and vain people of little intrinsic interest themselves. Marple's killers are always fascinating and unexpected. If you like schtick murder mysteries that never enter the realm of the believable then this Poirot adaptation will appeal to you. If you are addicted to Joan Hickson's Miss Marple then you might find yourself yawning your way through this art deco purgatory. I still give this Poirot 4 stars for Suchet's definitive performance, and the set and costume designs. The famous tune that runs fairly incessantly throughout is the only thing you will remember about the musical background, and the squeaky clean streets of London (what a laugh!) almost make me want to take a star away. This show isn't bad, it just isn't as good as people have come to believe it is. It would be comforting viewing on one of those semi-brain-dead weekends when you are in the depths of a terrible head cold. A&E's dvd presentation is good but nothing special as is usual with their products. Certainly A& E, along with Acorn releases, isn't in the same league as the excellent dvd releases from AMC (Mad Men) and HBO (Rome).

I love David Suchet as Poirot. He is adorable, loveable, pleasantly irritating and amusingly self-centered, not to mention brilliant! Suchet leaves nothing to be desired to an avid fan that has read every single Agatha Christie book and play published and finds in Poirot her favourite fictional detective of all times. This set includes 12 of the movie-length adaptations. They are increasingly higher in image quality, probably due to increase in budget. On the other hand, in certain episodes you can also notice some liberties taken in the script that clearly strays from Agatha's books. This, however, doesn't diminish the entertaining quality of the episodes. The episodes included in this set are (in order of TV air dates): Season 7 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd; Lord Edgware Dies. Season 8 Evil Under the Sun; Murder in Mesopotamia. Season 9 Five Little Pigs; Sad Cypress; Death on the Nile; The Hollow. Season 10 The Mystery of the Blue Train; Cards on the Table; After the Funeral and Taken at the Flood. There's not much in the way of extras: just an index of Agatha Christie Poirot stories, plus Christie's and Suchet's biographies. All of the Poirot series episodes that have been released on DVD are included in this set along with "Poirot Classic Collection", "Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Classic Collection 2", "Poirot Set 4 Classic Collection" and "Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Movie Collection - Set 5". I found this the best way to have them all, pay the best price and not get one single repeat. The Season 12 episodes "The clocks", "Three-act tragedy" and "Hallowe'en party" have not yet been released.

Very good

Definitive

I purchased this DVD set recently. I have read almost all Agatha Christie novels. This particular DVD set is very good. The print quality is good. I particularly liked the old English styled mansions and vintage cars shown the movies.

We were disappointed the DVD's are not wide screen format, it looks like all the programs were originally produced in wide screen and I have see some of these episodes on PBS in wide screen but this DVD set has been converted to 4:3. Poirot is still one of my favorites.