[.ca] Hercule Poirot: The Complete Collection

From Amazon.com:
Four beautifully made mysteries comprise this boxed-set collection of Agatha Christie classics, in which David Suchet perfectly captures the brilliant detective Hercule Poirot. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, in which yet another of Poirot's retirements is interrupted with murder, is an admirable adaptation of a nearly unfilmable plot. Lord Edgeware Dies offers the pleasing combination of murder, theater folk, and a glimpse of a besotted Poirot. Evil Under the Sun features cold-blooded murder at a sunny health resort, and Murder in Mesopotamia doubles the fun by dropping all the intrigue into an archaeological dig. Each mystery is lovingly crafted with clever direction, a clear fondness for Christie's work, and painstakingly accurate period settings. Suchet and Hugh Fraser (as Captain Hastings) make a marvelous pair, capturing both the easy companionship and the frequent bickering of true friendship. Special DVD features include an index of all the Hercule Poirot stories and biographies of Agatha Christie and David Suchet. --Ali Davis

Great stories - shame about the U.S. editing:
David Suchet as Poirot is always a delight to watch, and I would love to recommend this DVD collection... but there is one major problem, at least as far as I am concerned. These versions were issued in the US and, I suspect, because of the ruthless hacking to accommodate commercials, these stories are each about 10 minutes shorter than the original U.K. versions. This is particularly damaging to Evil Under The Sun: In the edited-down version, characters inexplicably crop up and disappear and threads are left hanging. There is also a tendency to edit out scenes which are intended to exploit Poirot's little eccentricities which make the character so appealing. In the full version it all makes sense, with events unfolding as the director intended, rather than according to the dictates of the hacks who subsequently cannibalized it! If this irritates you even half as much as it assuredly does me, you might want to consider getting a region-free DVD player or a multi-format VCR (because this doesn't only happen with Poirot, but ALL films which cross the Atlantic), and then ordering British-made movies from amazon.co.uk, or any other reputable British supplier - it will be well worth the trouble.

U.S. editing has botched this series:
I recommend that you stay away from this set. American green eye shades from A & E's advertizing department cut ten-twelve minutes from each episode so that they could squeeze more fast food ads in to the showings on television. The resulting botch makes several of these episodes unwatchable. Sorry; hopefully Acorn will put these out in pristine form.

Great stories - shame about the U.S. editing:
David Suchet as Poirot is always a delight to watch, and I would love to recommend this DVD collection... but there is one major problem, at least as far as I am concerned. These versions were issued in the US and, I suspect, because of the ruthless hacking to accommodate commercials, these stories are each about 10 minutes shorter than the original U.K. versions. This is particularly damaging to Evil Under The Sun: In the edited-down version, characters inexplicably crop up and disappear and threads are left hanging. There is also a tendency to edit out scenes which are intended to exploit Poirot's little eccentricities which make the character so appealing. In the full version it all makes sense, with events unfolding as the director intended, rather than according to the dictates of the hacks who subsequently cannibalized it! If this irritates you even half as much as it assuredly does me, you might want to consider getting a region-free DVD player or a multi-format VCR (because this doesn't only happen with Poirot, but ALL films which cross the Atlantic), and then ordering British-made movies from amazon.co.uk, or any other reputable British supplier - you'll find it's well worth the trouble.

A Disappointment:
I am a great fan of the novels of Agatha Christie and have collected every one of them. I also enjoyed very much the movies from the 70's and early 80's featuring Albert Finney and Peter Ustinov. Which may result in my disappointment with this collection of DVD's featuring David Suchet. There is great television being made today and I found these adaptations less than great. I felt the acting in most of them bland and uninteresting to down right bad. The thing I love about the novels is the clear build of tension towards the unmasking of the killer or killers. In these teleplays I thought the tension was lacking so there was no great pay off at the end which is the main satisfaction of reading the novels. In other words the directing too, was bland. I felt also that the scripts were confusing and not so neatly thought through as Dame Agatha's novels. If you have seen the movies 'Murder on the Orient Express' 'Death on the Nile' 'Evil under the Sun' then you will get an idea of great payoffs and all lose ends neatly tied up at the end which is the point of all Agatha Christie murder mysteries. I feel Peter Ustinov and Albert Finney came closer to capturing the essense of Hercule Poirot than David Suchet has. These movie length teleplays did nothing to satisfy this Agatha Christie fan because of their lack of tension, blandness and mediocre adaptations to the small screen.

This is a great Box-Set:
Well done !!! this is very interesting Poirot Box Set, all of them are very good, good mistery, good plot, everything !!! amazing !!!! Get this Set if you like good mistery !!! ;)