"Agatha Christie: Poirot" Sad Cypress (2003)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Dave Moore

Writers:

Agatha Christie (novel)
David Pirie (screenplay)

TV Series:

"Agatha Christie: Poirot" (1989)

Original Air Date:

26 December 2003 (Season 9, Episode 2)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Crime | Thriller

Plot:

Elinor Carlisle seems to be the obvious murderer of her ailing aunt and the beautiful romantic rival who broke up her engagement, but Poirot uncovers darker motives.

Plot Keywords:

Aunt | Sandwich | Salmon | Doctor | Hercule Poirot

Cast

David Suchet	...	Hercule Poirot
Elisabeth Dermot Walsh	...	Elinor Carlisle
Rupert Penry-Jones	...	Roddy Winter
Kelly Reilly	...	Mary Gerrard
Paul McGann	...	Dr. Peter Lord
Phyllis Logan	...	Nurse Hopkins
Marion O'Dwyer	...	Nurse O'Brien
Diana Quick	...	Mrs. Welman
Stuart Laing	...	Ted Horlick
Jack Galloway	...	Marsden
Geoffrey Beevers	...	Seddon
Alistair Findlay	...	Prosecuting Counsel
Linda Spurrier	...	Mrs. Bishop
Ian Taylor	...	Shopkeeper
Timothy Carlton	...	Judge

Runtime:

Finland:94 min | USA:100 min (DVD)

Country:

UK

Language:

Italian | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Dorney Court, Dorney, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

A&E Television Networks

Trivia:

The title refers to lines from William Shakespeare's play "Twelfth Night": "Come away, come away, death, And in sad cypress let me be laid."

Goofs:

Factual errors: The paper boy at the newsstand announces "Gershwin dies!" Poirot opens the newspaper, which features the obituary of famed American composer George Gershwin. On the opposite page is the obituary of Laura Welman, and the date on the newspaper states that it is September 1937. George Gershwin died on July 11, 1937.

Quotes:

Nurse Hopkins: As I said before, Mr. Poirot, let the dead rest in peace.
Hercule Poirot: Not when one has to consider the living.

Moderately well done and entertaining

Another one of those "as suggested by the novel" types of productions. After watching it, I went back and read the book. This version is kind of like what you'd get if you dropped the book in a blender, then started picking out bits and stringing them together. Although it strays considerably from the original, it begins and ends in pretty much the same place, and the arc of the original story stays generally intact. Plus since the book isn't one of Christie's better novels, it doesn't much matter. The production is done in a relentlessly dark and moody style that works OK, although why they made such a big deal out of the elevator in the house I don't know; its one of the things not in the original at all, and its an expensive prop that didn't add anything for me.