Review - "Agatha Christie's Poirot: Elephants Can Remember"

If there was ever a television show which its ups and downs, "Agatha Christie's Poirot" would be it. What started in 1989 as an enjoyable tribute to Agatha Christie and her work, soon became something entirely as standards for mystery television changed. In 2010, "Murder on the Orient Express" one of Christie's most beloved books was adapted for television and out of this came one of the most disappointing Poirot episode made (at least in this blogger's humble opinion).

I'm glad to say that the following three adaptations, "Three Act Tragedy," "The Clocks" and "Hallowe'en Party" were far better. However, as the 13th and final season of "Agatha Christie's Poirot" approached, I for one feared that the series might regress back to the downbeat and upsetting style used for "Orient Express." Season 13 of "Agatha Christie's Poirot" kicked off on 9 June with "Elephants Can Remember," based on one of Christie's latest novels. Did this adaptation succeed where others have failed? Let's take a closer look.

Mrs. Ariadne Oliver (Zoe Wanamaker), the famed mystery writer is asked a strange question by a complete stranger to her. The woman is the mother of a young man who plans to marry one of Mrs. Oliver's god-children, Celia Ravenscroft. The question is: did Celia's mother kill her father before taking her own life, or was it the other way around? Stunned, Mrs. Oliver goes to her friend, Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) for help, but the detective is busy on another case. As Mrs. Oliver begins her investigation, it appears as those the two detective's cases are connected.

I have never read "Elephants Can Remember," however from what I have heard, the book is not exactly Christie's final hour. Some of this translates onto the screen. The identity of the culprit is not well-hidden and I managed to figure out whodunit before Poirot. To cover this fact up, a subplot is added, which adds another murder for Poirot to solve. Due to the fact that I have not read Christie's novel, I do not know how well this sub plot was introduced. At a first glance, the plot fits in better than the nun subplot from "Appointment with Death," a rant for another time.

Acting is first rate all around, especially by David Suchet and Zoe Wanamaker. The two have excellent screen chemistry together and they manage to play off each other well. Poirot is not the same depressed, antagonistic characterization from "Murder on the Orient Express" and the screen writers have managed to slip in a not or two of comedy for the character. The look on Poirot's face when Mrs. Oliver introduces him as "her assistant" is wonderful. By now, it seems rather like second nature for Zoe Wanamaker to play Mrs. Oliver and she is superb as usual. In the absence of Captain Hastings, Miss Lemon and Inspector Japp, Mrs. Oliver makes a nice addition to the Poirot family.

"Elephants Can Remember" is brought down by the lengthy conversations which occur throughout the story. Yes - most of Agatha Christie's mysteries deal with lots of questioning, but there's nothing to break up the tedium. We don't get any flashbacks - just two people sitting in a room, talking about people who, though important to the plot, are never developed. Also, Poirot doesn't do a great deal of detective work here. Once he questions one suspect, he's solved the entire mystery due to their confession. It would have been nice to see Poirot actually get to assemble some clues instead of come up with the solution seemingly out of nowhere.

Luckily, the 13th and final season of "Agatha Christie's Poirot" has started off reasonably well. Scheduled for transmission next is "The Big Four" which will reunite Poirot with Miss Lemon and Captain Hastings, something I am looking forward to a great deal. However, "The Big Four" is without doubt the strangest Poirot novel ever written. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. I give, "Elephants Can Remember," 3 out of 5 stars.

Review - "The Great Gatsby"

I know what you must be thinking. First I say that this blog will be devoted to Sherlock Holmes. Then, I say I'll throw in some Doctor Who. Then, I go for the entire mystery genre - and now I'm reviewing something hardly related to the genre in any way. Don't worry, this is a one time thing.

Since "The Great Gatsby's" release in late May, the movie has received a number of mixed reviews. Some have loved it. Others hated it. I finally got around to seeing the movie and luckily my memories of the book still linger in my mind, since I read it for the first time only a few months ago. For anyone who doesn't know, "Gatsby" tells the story of millionaire Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) as he tries to rekindle his love with Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan).

The tragic story of love and loss was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, and since then has become a beloved classic. Officially, Fitzgerald's book has only been adapted twice for the screen, once in 1974 with Robert Redford as Gatsby and once in 2000 with Toby Stephens as the millionaire. At the time of this writing, I have yet to see the other two adaptations so I cannot say how this newest one stands up to the others. 2013's "The Great Gatsby" was directed by Baz Luhrman, the director behind 2001's "Moulin Rogue." If there was a director who could be picked to bring the 1920's to life in a new, innovative way, Luhrman was the man.

I'll be up front with you all - I thought that "The Great Gatsby" was fantastic. The performances, cinematography, costumes and set design were all splendid. What surprised me most however was DiCaprio. I have never been a big fan of Leonardo DiCaprio. He was always in my mind something of a mediocre actor - he's not bad (watch "Catch Me If You Can"), but not perfect. However, here he knocked my socks off as Gatsby. Though he was not the ideal representation for Gatsby in my mind, he stole the show in the film. His introduction in the movie was handled brilliantly with the music swelling and fireworks blasting in the background. It was a brilliantly executed scene, and in that moment I was positive that there was no one else suited for the role of Jay Gatsby.

Toby Maguire was also very good as Nick Carroway, the book's narrator. In my mind, Nick has always been a fish-out-of-water character and I feel as though he pulled off the part brilliantly, conveying a wide range of emotions in the span of the film's running time. Carey Mulligan was good as Daisy, though her performance was perhaps overshadowed by both DiCaprio and Maguire as well as Joel Edgerton, who plays her husband Tom. Joel delivered a fine performance as the antagonistic Tom and he was a true screen presence.

Performances aside, the movie looked great. The recreation of 1920's New York was stylishly represented and despite a modern twist on the era, there were still some great throwbacks such as posters for Douglas Fairbanks' "Robin Hood" and advertisements for men's pointed collars. Gatsby's parties were created in wonderfully over-the-top fashion, and although I pictured nothing so grandiose in my mind when reading the book, it seemed to work perfectly. The same can be said for the modern musical score, which consisted mainly of rap and hip-hop music. At first, the idea of rap music in a movie set in the '20's seemed so wrong, but again it managed to work well here. It's almost inexplicable as to why - it just did.

While I loved "The Great Gatsby" it was not perfect. Some of the book's well-masked symbolism is exploited too greatly in the book. During the film, it is made sure that the viewer comprehends the symbolism. This detracted me from the movie some, as did the dumbing  down of some symbolism. A green light is used throughout the story to symbolize hope and during the actual book, the green light is never explained. Here, the light is explained away at once, and it takes away from some of the mystery of this plot element. I would have preferred if these elements weren't changed so dramatically or dwelled upon too much.

I went into "The Great Gatsby" hearing a number of varied opinions - I left the theater in awe. I thought that the movie was wonderfully done. This is certainly the best adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel so far, and can be enjoyed equally by those who not read the book. I heartily recommend "The Great Gatsby" and I award it 4 out of 5 stars.

Review - "The Casino Murder Case" (1935)

1935's "The Casino Murder Case" was the first Philo Vance film to be produced at M-G-M instead of Warner Bros and this is evident. The production values of this film are excellent and really lend weight to the mysterious goings-on in high society. However, we're once more faced with a new Philo Vance and a mew mystery. How does this film hold up in those regards?

"The Casino Murder Case" begins with Philo Vance (Paul Lukas) learning that some violent episode might occur at a famed casino that evening. Arriving, Vance witnesses a young man collapse dead, having been poisoned. He was the heir to a vast fortune and there is ample motive for his murder. However at about the same time across town, his wife is also poisoned. Luckily Vance is on hand to solve this most unusual case.

Reviewing the Philo Vance movies is actually quite difficult. I have a great deal of material to try to cram into a review - I have to discuss actor's performances, the plot and any technical mumbo-jumbo which I deem noteworthy. However, I have enjoyed all of the movies on this DVD collection, so I do highly recommend all of them. Now then, onto the review proper. As a mystery, "The Casino Murder Case" succeeds brilliantly. It's got a large number of suspects as well as plenty of potential motive and another interesting scenario involving two connected deaths happening nearly simultaneously across town. It's a great premise and as Vance delves deeper into the mystery, we realize only too late that we've been fooled and that we fell for a big red herring. In those respects as a story, the movie is great. The execution is less than perfect however.

Clocking in 82 minutes, "The Casino Murder Case" is the longest of the Philo Vance movies. Remember, back in the day movies hardly ever exceeded an hour. However a great deal of time could have been trimmed away from this story. There is some obvious padding and the film can make on drift once and a while. If the story had been streamlined and less attention devoted to less important actions, this could have easily been the best of the Philo Vance series since it features great performances, a good scenario and great production values.

Headlining the film is Paul Lukas as Philo Vance. Lukas is easily the screen's most charismatic Vance. He does not betray the pompousness which Warren William and William Powell revealed in their performances. This interpretation is of a man about town who lives in a beautiful penthouse apartment who fences with his butler to stay in shape. While this may not be the Philo Vance of the novels, he makes for a very entertaining character in the movie and he's the society sleuth one might expect in a film of this kind. Perhaps I am somewhat biased here though - I am personally a fan of Paul Lukas, who I always thought had a great amount of charisma on screen.

Paul Lukas and Rosalind Russell

The cast also composes of some familiar faces to fans of the silver screen. Rosalind  Russell plays the film's heroine and she and Lukas have great chemistry. Arthur Byron also turns up in the film. Byron is perhaps most recognizable as Boris Karloff's victim in Universal's 1933, "The Mummy." Further down on the cast list is Ted Healy as Sergeant Heath and it's during his performance that I really begin to miss Eugene Pallette. Even further down on the cast of characters is Leo G. Carroll as a butler. Carroll is a famed actor of the '30's, '40's and '50's appearing in six Alfred Hitchcock films. Carroll also turned up in a Charlie Chan mystery, "Father of the Bride" with Spencer Tracy and the uproarious comedy "We're No Angels" opposite Humphrey Bogart and...Basil Rathbone.

Overall, "The Casino Murder Case" is not bad. Paul Lukas is great as a charismatic and suave Philo Vance. While the central mystery is good, the execution of the mystery does leave something to be desired as it feels as though the movie has a great deal of padding. While it's a good movie, "The Casino Murder Case" is far from the best of the Philo Vance series and therefore it receives a 3 out of 5 stars.

Notes: I don't have much to say here. Again, the picture and sound quality is good - not perfect but I have seen much, much worse. This movie also features the original theatrical trailer with some interesting scenes shot especially for the theatrical preview.

The Mystery of the Vanishing Detective

For a blog whose main focus for so long was Sherlock Holmes, and to this day, still is, it is perhaps unusual that I have covered the detective so little in the past few weeks. Part of the reason is I got bogged down with reviews concerning the second half of Doctor Who Season 7, but there's another reason entirely.

It has been my observation for a little while now that Sherlock Holmes is not as popular as he once was. For any fan of the great detective, 2009 was a ball. In that year "Sherlock Holmes" debuted with Robert Downey Jr. as the hero and the first season of "Sherlock" was airing at the same time. I remember fondly my local bookstores promoting Sherlock Holmes everywhere. It was very exciting and for a while this streak seemed to continue going. However now, I'm left in something of a dry spell. I'm sure there are still plenty of pastiches out there I haven't read, but the pastiches I have seen do not really look like they'll manage to hold my interest. There are a few I have to get around to reading, but others I believe that I can forego.

I can only hope that in the future, I will find some more Sherlock Holmes-related items to review on this blog. This summer, when hopefully I've got a bit more time on my hands, I can get back to watching some Sherlock Holmes movies. With any luck, I can review them here. That way, I can formally give my opinions of such classics as "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes," "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution" and "Murder by Decree." On the pastiche front, there are a few stories from MX Publishing, a London-based publisher who has continued to turn out a number of Sherlock Holmes pastiches. Just about all of their books are available in print form or on Kindle. Some titles have caught my eye in the past, but I have never read any of them.

In addition, Titan Books, who has continued their "Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" series. After going on a hiatus since the fall, the series will continue with two books previously un-published books. The first of which, "Sherlock Holmes and the Stuff of Nightmares" is being written by steampunk novelist, James Lovegrove. The story will feature a series of mysterious bombings, Spring-Heeled Jack and even Professor Moriarty. In addition, released in November will be "Sherlock Holmes and the Will of the Dead" written by George Mann. Mann was the author behind the Big Finish audio production, "The Reification of Hans Gerber" and judging from the summary on Amazon.com, the stories are the same.

I am looking forward to reading the story considering that "The Reification of Hans Gerber" was a very plot-driven story and relied heavily upon Richard Earl's narration as Dr. Watson. As much as I am interested in reading the novel, I do hope that Mann hasn't simply hit "cut and paste" on his keyboard when writing this story. It would be nice to see the story perhaps have some new plot elements woven into the book, and extrapolated upon other elements perhaps in order to make the plot feel a bit more like an old-fashioned mystery.

All in all, it looks like I may have some Sherlock-related fun coming sooner than I think. It will be nice to see the detective again. The Consulting Detective has been lacking its main feature for long enough.

Review - "The Dragon Murder Case" (1934)

The last Philo Vance movie which I looked into, "The Kennel Murder Case" featured the standard lock-room, impossible crime mystery. The next film to be released, "The Dragon Murder Case" took the concept of the impossible crime one step further. While going for a late night swim, a man jumps off of a swimming pool diving board and doesn't resurface. There were a number of witnesses who saw him up into the pool, but even after the pool is drained his body is nowhere to be found. What happened to him and where did he go? Detective Philo Vance (Warren William) steps in to investigate.

The premise of S.S. Van Dine's "The Dragon Murder Case" has got to be one of the best in the mystery genre. It takes the usual impossible crime scenario and builds upon it dramatically. It's a great concept and one of the best ideas for a mystery story that I have come across. However, the execution is let down somewhat by the introduction of a second plot device which really doesn't go anywhere. However, let's focus on the positive first. Aside from the premise, the film's greatest asset is Warren William as Philo Vance. William has great charisma and he looks as though he's a ball playing the part. His performance is thus far the  most pompous and most true to the original character of the detective. You also never forget that this Philo Vance is firmly integrated in high society. He waltzes around the first part of the film dressed in a tuxedo, smoking an endless number of cigarettes and playing a game of billiards with his friend, D.A. Markham.

In addition to the characterization of Philo Vance, the rest of the movie succeeds in portraying the high society in which the story is set. The opening moments find the characters driving about in luxurious cars and the set of the house in which the story is set is beautiful with a number of strategically placed fish tanks. It's a beautiful sight to behold. Perhaps some of the reasoning behind this great direction and characterization is because the movie was directed by H. Bruce Humberstone. Humberstone, a few years later, directed some of the very best Charlie Chan mystery films at 20th Century Fox and was also behind the wheel of Fox's brilliant film noir, "I Wake up Screaming."

The rest of the cast of the movie is rather ho-hum. While it's good, it is by no means excellent acting, although Eugene Pallette makes a welcome reappearance as Sergeant Heath and he continues to carry on the role brilliantly in the presence of the new cast. Character actor Lyle Talbot is also on hand as one of the murder suspects. Talbot was a distinguished character actor appearing in 320 titles. Aside from a great amount of television work he also appeared as Commissioner Gordon in the 1949 serial, "Batman and Robin" and had the distinction (perhaps misfortune) of being cast in two films for the notorious Ed Wood in the late 1950's opposite Bela Lugosi.

Warren William (center) alongside Eugene Pallette (left)
and Robert McWade (right) in "The Dragon Murder Case"

While the mystery angle of "The Dragon Murder Case" is excellent, the dragon part is not. The swimming pool in which the man disappears is supposedly haunted by a great water demon and when the pool is drained there are claw-mark footprints on the pool's sandy bottom. This aspect of the story really does not succeed at all and one wonders why it was included at all. In fact aside from some continued babbling from one suspect about the water monster, the theory is not exploited in the film. To a modern day viewer, the answer to the mystery may be rather explanatory, but there is no credence at all to the idea of a dragon living in the swimming pool. However, this one must be blamed on S.S. Van Dine. Oh well - it doesn't mar the film all that much.

With a great central mystery and some fine acting from Warren William and Eugene Pallette as well as wonderful direction from H. Bruce Humberstone, "The Dragon Murder Case" is one of the best Philo vance films in the series. We're treated to another impossible crime and despite that rubbish concerning a water monster in the pool, it work out well. "The Dragon Murder Case" easily gets a 4 out of 5 stars from this reviewer.

Notes: Again, this film is well preserved on The Philo Vance Murder Case Collection. No extras are provided for this film, however the picture and sound quality are good for the most part. Thus far, I have had no problems with the DVD at all, despite the fact that it is a DVD-R, which may be off-putting to some potential buyers.

Sixth Doctor Part X - "Time and the Rani"

I finally end the Sixth Doctor's tenure - and I end it with this?

Oh dear...what to say?

Following "Trial of a Time Lord" which was sort of a mixed bag in my opinion, Colin Baker left Doctor Who, foregoing the role of the Sixth Doctor. However, since that character appears for about a minute on screen here, I must review it (just like with "The Caves of Androzani").

Normally at this point in the review, I'd give a brief summation of the story as a whole. Well, that's kind of hard to do considering "Time and the Rani" did not have much of a plot at all. It was a jumbled mess and all I could fathom was that it had to do with the newly regenerated Doctor (played by Sylvester McCoy) having to fight the Rani (Kate O'Mara) who has kidnapped a number of renowned scientists - and there's a giant brain. And there's bat-like monsters with three eyes, some green people and lots of rocks.

Although most of the 1970's episodes of Doctor Who were filmed in a quarry which doubled as an alien planet, there was something about the presentation of it which made the quarry seem like an alien planet. However, here I knew that this was a quarry and all I could see were a lot of badly-costumed actors running around some rocks. But that's sort of beside the point. Classic Doctor Who didn't have the best production values, so what? I can overlook that. What I cannot overlook is that the whole thing didn't make any sense. As I said above, there was no plot. And if there was one, I sure didn't see it.

Well, I have to talk about something positive - Sylvester McCoy. The Seventh Doctor is great. He's not in top form here since this is his first story, but the Seventh Doctor is a great character. I really do like him, despite some of the conflicted opinions concerning his tenure. And as surprising as it may seem, I actually rather like the new titles. While I feel as though the '80's titles (used by the Forth, Fifth and Sixth Doctors) are some of the best, the overly 1980's feel of the new titles and theme is sort of overwhelming, but it's not bad. Here take a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-EsFnBgFyY

Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor

Aside from the Seventh Doctor and the overtly 1980's feeling from the episode, there's not much more praise I can give to it. While the Rani was a good villain in her first appearance, she is far worse here. It's not the fault of Kate O'Mara since she's a pretty competent actor, but she's let down by the script. She spends the first few episodes trying to trick the post-regenerative Doctor into thinking she is Mel, his companion (played by the ear-bleedinngly screechy-sounding Bonnie Langford). She's not much of a threat towards the Doctor here.

In my mind, "Time and the Rani" is the epitome of a bad script and it is probably the weakest story that I have seen of the Doctor Who Classic Series thus far. I have not heard anyone defend this story before, so I have to assume viewers are in agreement with me about this particular adventure. It's just a dull, uninteresting story and does not have the feeling of a momentous regeneration story. The story is saved from the brink of complete disaster by Sylvester McCoy's quarky sense of humour (getting to see him play the spoons was hysterical), but little else. It's a rather disappointing ending to the end of the Sixth Doctor's era.

A Retrospection: Colin Baker was one of the best of the eleven Doctors and surely the most underrated. I loved the Sixth Doctor immensely, but he was indeed let down by bad writing which marred episodes like "The Two Doctors," "Trial of a Time Lord" and "Time and the Rani" even though he didn't actually appear in this episode. He may have started from humble beginnings, but the Sixth Doctor is indeed a great part of the show's history. As I write this, I toy with the idea of beginning where the show started - taking a look at the First Doctor adventures. But that's a deliberation for another time.

Review - "The Kennel Murder Case" (1933)

Before he was Nick Charles, William Powell played another society sleuth, this time the conceited, upper-crust detective Philo Vance. In the late 1920's, Powell portrayed the character twice before the role was taken over by Basil Rathbone in 1930's "The Bishop Murder Case." Three years elapsed before Powell returned to the part of Vance for one of the best mystery films to emerge from the early 1930's - S.S. Van Dine's "The Kennel Murder Case."

Archer Coe is found dead in a locked room with a gun in his hand. The police attribute his death as suicide, however when Vance (William Powell) arrives at the scene of the crime, he begins to suspect otherwise. Vance believes that Coe was murdered by his brother, Brisbane, who has disappeared to Chicago. However things became a bit more complex when Brisbane Coe is found dead - his body found in the downstairs closet of Archer's house.

"The Kennel Murder Case" is a great film mainly due to the fact that it has such a strong plot. The story is one of the best-plotted of the Philo Vance movies. There are plenty of suspects to sift through and motives. Plus we're given a lock-room mystery and some brilliant detective work from Vance. The fact that "The Kennel Murder Case" is such a well-plotted story might have lead to the decision to remake this story in 1940 as "Calling Philo Vance." The best performance in the movie is from William Powell who is really a pleasure to watch as Vance. He is able to convey the pompous attitude of the detective, while still remaining charming. This film predates Powell's tour-de-force performance in "The Thin Man" by one year, but already one can see the beginnings of "The Thin Man" detective, Nick Charles here.

Other performances in the movie are rather mixed. Aside from William Powell, the other stand-out performance comes from Eugene Pallette as Sergeant Heath. Pallette is a joy to watch and he suited perfectly for the part. The director of "The Kennel Murder Case," Michael Curtiz, would go on to work with Pallette again in 1938 when Pallette played Friar Tuck in "The Adventures of Robin Hood" opposite Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone. Other actors well-known to silver screen enthusiasts appear among the cast of the film. Ralph Morgan (Frank "The Wizard of Oz" Morgan's brother), Arthur Hohl, Paul Cavanaugh and Mary Aster also turn up as suspects.

William Powell as Philo Vance

As I mentioned above, "The Kennel Murder Case" was directed by Michael Curtiz. Curtiz was a well-known director throughout the 1930's working in a number of different genres. He is perhaps best-known for his swashbuckling epics such as "The Adventures of Robin Hood" or "Captain Blood," but in his early days in Hollywood, Curtiz also dabbled in films such as the "The Kennel Murder Case." One year earlirer, the German director mounted back-to-back productions of "Doctor X" and "The Mystery of the Wax Museum" - two well-known and highly regarded pre-code horror films starring Lionel Atwill. With Curtiz at the helm of this production, the movie is quite innovative for its time. There is a lengthy flashback sequence towards the end of the movie and a well-placed crane shot. There are also some point-of-view shots, which are quite striking for early 1930's film. This film should be watched with some aspects in mind when one views this movie since it is a striking and good-looking film.

To sum up, "The Kennel Murder Case" is a real pleasure to watch. While there are some scenes which are obviously padded and some over-the-top performances, the movie doesn't suffer too greatly. It's a great movie to watch both for its well-done mystery, but also for its technical aspects which were truly ahead of its time. I award this movie a 4 out of 5 stars.

Notes: "The Kennel Murder Case" is also to be found on the Warner Bros. Archive Collection. The sound and picture quality are decent. The DVD collection doesn't feature much in anything I'd consider "bonus features" but there are some trailers for the individual films, however despite the fact that "The kennel Murder Case" was released with a theatrical trailer, there isn't one provided on this DVD.