Poirot: Set 5 - DVD

"I have the order, the method, the psychology... I am the best. I am Hercule Poirot," declares Agatha Christie's most famous detective in "The Mystery of the Spanish Chest." And David Suchet continues to prove himself as the best actor to portray Poirot in this boxed set of three hour-long episodes. Suchet has said it is his goal to reveal Poirot's many dimensions, going beyond the caricature previous actors had made him out to be. This is most evident in "The Double Clue," in which Poirot meets his match from the criminal world--and falls in love. Captain Hastings (Hugh Fraser) and Miss Lemon (Pauline Moran) provide comic relief with their own attempts to solve the case, but in the end this remains a poignant tale of the one that got away. Suchet reveals a more lighthearted side of Poirot in "The Mystery of the Spanish Chest," treating viewers to the unforgettable spectacle of the fussy detective dancing the Charleston. And in "The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor," he stages a cunning, ghostly charade to smoke out the murderer. As always, the production of these episodes is stunning in its attention to detail, re-creating the look, sound, and feel of 1930s high-society England. From the shot of a train shrouded in a mask of fog to the eerie sight of a room full of people in gas masks during an air raid test, the episodes also evoke the ominous atmosphere that makes mysteries so deliciously goose-pimply when viewed from the safety of a warm couch. --Larisa Lomacky Moore