Agatha Christie: Poirot-Mrs McGinty's Dead (2008)

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General		Extras
Category	Mystery	Main Menu Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	2008
Running Time	93:22
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
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 (256Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    David Suchet is, in my opinion, the quintessential Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie's most famous sleuth. He has now played the role since 1989 (in an on again, off again manner) racking up over 50 episodes with more on the way. This is the first of the most recent crop of four new stories which have been shown recently on the ABC here in Australia. Suchet's grasp on the intricacies of the character was obviously strong from the very beginning of this series. His performance here as the fastidious, intelligent and politely sarcastic Poirot is wonderful. The production quality is high as is the quality of most of the large ensemble cast. 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 episode, Mrs McGinty's Dead involves the death of a charlady (or cleaner if you prefer). She lived in the small village of Broadhinny. A young man, James Bentley (who was her lodger) is accused and convicted of her murder, however the investigating officer is not convinced of his guilt. Accordingly he asks Poirot to investigate before the young man is due to be hanged just in case he got it wrong. The large collection of suspects include the local rich politician and his b****y new wife; the niece of Mrs McGinty and her rude husband; the local shopkeeper; the owner of the rundown manor house and his disorganised wife who take in lodgers; a local playwright who is writing a play with an old friend of Poirot, Madame Oliver (Zoe Wanamaker); the playwright's wheelchair bound mother who he dotes on; the local doctor and his strange and nervous wife and even an old co-worker of Bentley's who seems to want to prove his innocence.

    Another quality episode, although possibly with too many characters to introduce in 90 or so minutes. The cinematography is quite interesting in this one with quite a few interesting camera angles. The score by Stephen McKeon is also impressive for a TV show and includes a reworked version of the series' original theme tune (from 1989). As usual the cast is full of recognisable English TV faces.

    Recommended for Poirot fans and fans of English mystery generally.

Video

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is most likely the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was not overly clear and sharp with some scenes being quite decent in this regard and others looking like we are watching through vaseline smeared on the lens. There was some mild macro-blocking in backgrounds. There was no evidence of low level noise.The shadow detail was good.

    The colour was very good with no major issues to report. There was some light colour bleeding which added to the softness.

    There was some edge enhancement here and there along with some occasional light grain.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired which are clear and easy to read. I did notice one error with someone being accused of 'bot crimes' rather than 'both crimes'.

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Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 256 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.

    The surround speakers were used for music and atmosphere when played using Dolby ProLogic II.

    The subwoofer was used to add bass to the music but this was more a function of my amp's bass management than anything else.

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Audio Ratings Summary

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

    No extras.

Menu

    The menu design is simple, featuring a still.

    This does not currently seem to be available in Region 1.

    The video quality is good.

    The audio quality is very good.

    No Extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall