Agatha Christie: Poirot-After the Funeral (2005) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Mystery | Main Menu Audio | |
Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2005 | ||
Running Time | 93:16 (Case: 95) | ||
RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Ads Then Menu | ||
Region Coding | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Directed By |
Peter Barber-Fleming Edward Bennett John Bruce Ross Devenish |
Studio
Distributor |
Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring |
David Suchet Hugh Fraser Philip Jackson Pauline Moran |
Case | Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip | ||
RPI | $19.95 | Music |
Christopher Gunning Christopher Gunning Christopher Gunning |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.75:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.75:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles |
English English for the Hearing Impaired |
Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
Hercule Poirot, one of Agatha Christie's most famous creations, has been brought to the small and large screen many times, probably most famously by Peter Ustinov in the series of movies made in the 1970s and 80s. More recently, the role has been inhabited by David Suchet who has appeared in many made for television productions for Granada television as the Belgian sleuth. He has been making these shows since 1989 in an on again, off again manner, however, recently four more episodes were made in 2005. A previous set of four were made in 2003, which were reviewed on this site at the time of their release. This one is one of the four newest productions, After The Funeral - Where There's a Will There's a Motive. As usual with Poirot stories (and Agatha Christie generally) there are many suspects and a convoluted plot involving red herrings, half-truths and small hints.
This time the story revolves around the death of an elderly gentleman who dies without direct descendants in his country home. His name is Richard Abernathie and his solicitor, Gilbert Entwhistle steps in to take care of the reading of the will straight after the funeral. The will reading causes a major surprise with many more of the relatives being left money than was expected, and the expected heir being left with nothing. His eccentric sister, Cora, at the wake puts forward the idea that the old man had been murdered rather than dying peacefully. The next day, after returning to her home, Cora is brutally murdered with a hatchet. Entwhistle brings in Poirot to investigate. The main players are:
This is another quality entry in the series with an interesting case with lots of twists and turns. Recommended.
The video quality is good.
The feature is presented in a 1.75:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is probably the original aspect ratio.
The picture was reasonably sharp and clear throughout. Luckily there was no evidence of low level noise. Shadow detail was decent. There was some grain here and there, sometimes a little heavy such as at 29:57.
The colour was good with no major issues.
From an artefacts perspective there was some mild macro-blocking to be seen in backgrounds, a little mild aliasing and some edge enhancement.
There are subtitles in English & English for the hearing impaired. The English subtitles were clear, easy to read and in yellow.
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Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
The audio quality is good.
This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 224 Kb/s.
Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.
The music was very good.
The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
None.
The menu was still and silent allowing for the ability to select scenes and turn on subtitles.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This latest set of four stories seems only to be available as a box set in both Region 1 and Region 2. In Region 1 they are pan & scanned plus do not have subtitles. They do, however, include some minor text based extras but have the same sort of video difficulties. The Region 2 versions seem to be the same as ours. Region 4 seems to be the pick.
The video quality is good.
The audio quality is good.
No extras.
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Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV667A DVD-V DVD-A SACD, using Component output |
Display | Sony FD Trinitron Wega KV-AR34M36 80cm. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL)/480i (NTSC). |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Pioneer VSX-511 |
Speakers | Monitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Yamaha YST SW90 subwoofer |