"Agatha Christie: Poirot" The Hollow (2004)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Simon Langton

Writers:

Agatha Christie (novel)
Nick Dear (screenplay)

TV Series:

"Agatha Christie: Poirot" (1989)

Original Air Date:

26 April 2004 (Season 9, Episode 4)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Crime | Thriller

Plot:

Poirot stumbles on the murder scene of philandering Dr. John Christow at a country estate as his mistress, his hostess, and his wife (with a revolver) stand over him.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Detective | Country Estate | Revolver | Former Lovers

Cast

David Suchet	...	Hercule Poirot
Jonathan Cake	...	John Christow
Megan Dodds	...	Henrietta Savernake
Sarah Miles	...	Lady Angkatell
Edward Fox	...	Gudgeon
Claire Price	...	Gerda Christow
Lysette Anthony	...	Veronica Cray
Tom Georgeson	...	Inspector Grange
Edward Hardwicke	...	Sir Henry Angkatell
Caroline Martin	...	Midge Hardcastle
Jamie de Courcey	...	Edward Angkatell (as Jamie De Courcey)
Ian Talbot	...	Victor Simms
Angela Curran	...	Frances Simms
Lucy Briers	...	Beryl Collins
Dale Rapley	...	Sergeant Coombes

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

Australia:M

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

Granada Television

Trivia:

When Henrietta doodles, she always sketches a stylized tree that she calls Yggdrasil. In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is a giant ash tree that represents Viking cosmology, with the branches standing for different parallel worlds. "Heaven" is at the top and Hel is at the bottom. The world we experience is on one of the middle branches.

Quotes:

John Christow: Would you give it all up, if I asked you to, and come and live with me?
Henrietta Savernake: No.
John Christow: No?
Henrietta Savernake: That's not really what you want.
John Christow: Couldn't you lie to me just once?
Henrietta Savernake: Why?
John Christow: Because I love you, Henrietta, but you're so... you're so detached. Your art, your cars, your friends... I want you to think only of me.
Henrietta Savernake: Isn't that what Gerda does?
John Christow: Don't tell me you care a damn about Gerda!
Henrietta Savernake: Why not? I like Gerda.

Movie Connections:

Version of Kiken na onnatachi (1985)

Engaging mystery...but don't choose this one to show the children!

I've been a fan of the Poirot series and David Suchet since my late-elementary school days in the early 1990s, when PBS ran the hour-long short stories (and then the two-hour novel adaptations) on "Mystery!" On top of its stylish production values that take us back to an eye-pleasing Britain from yesteryear -- from Art Deco-influenced London to the undeveloped pastoral countryside -- the series has presented the stories of Agatha Christie in a suspenseful, dramatic manner, with a bit of humor to boot. Christie at her best makes for a gripping mystery show, and I looked forward to watching the fussy Belgian's exploits with my parents on Sunday evenings. As the A&E network began hosting new productions in the 21st century and putting them on DVD, I have eagerly kept my eye on Poirot and his investigations. Not all of the A&E shows have been perfect (as my comment for "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" argues, one at least was bad), but I've been pleasantly surprised by most of them.

It was "Poirot" that led me to start reading Christie books on my own. Years of Christie-reading showed me how the Dame could be a peerless crafter of whodunits...and, for some stories, an uninspiring writer. But the Suchet series has generally made the most of weaker Christie offerings as well.

"The Hollow" falls into the latter category. When I finished the book some years ago, I was left with an unsatisfied feeling. There were a few good supporting characters and ideas of some potential, but the slim mystery was overshadowed by the adultery melodrama padding out the majority of the book's pages. Yet A&E's version of "The Hollow" is largely successful, turning a poorer Christie book into a decent, engaging movie. Sure, some of the melodrama has carried over -- Veronica Cray's outburst is very much at home in made-for-TV land -- but the filmmakers have streamlined the fat book in a way that gets the points across while leaving the viewer charmed by the carefully-photographed lush hills, expensively-decorated mansions, etc. You'll find a top-notch cast on board, too, featuring Sarah Miles, who captures scatter-brained eccentric Lady Angkatell perfectly...Megan Dodds, whose psychological jousting with Poirot is intriguing...the redoubtable Edward Fox as quintessential butler Gudgeon...and Dr. Watson himself, Edward Hardwicke!

Yet the filmmakers disappointed me with the inclusion of a graphic R-rated sex scene toward the end. This was a first for "Poirot", which has never been about tawdry sexual gratuitousness, and could be depended on to deliver TV shows that you could feel comfortable showing to the young Christie fans and mystery readers out there. A bad mistake by the filmmakers, who otherwise remain faithful to the TV series' universe.