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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Agatha Christie: Poirot-After the Funeral (2005)

Agatha Christie: Poirot-After the Funeral (2005)

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Released 2-Mar-2006

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Mystery Main Menu Audio
Rating Rated PG
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
16x9 Enhanced
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

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

   

    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.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    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.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    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.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    None.

Menu

    The menu was still and silent allowing for the ability to select scenes and turn on subtitles.

R4 vs R1

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.

Summary

    A quality episode of David Suchet as Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.

    The video quality is good.

    The audio quality is good.

    No extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Daniel Bruce (Do you need a bio break?)
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV667A DVD-V DVD-A SACD, using Component output
DisplaySony 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 DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationPioneer VSX-511
SpeakersMonitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Yamaha YST SW90 subwoofer

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