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Hercule Poirot turns 100: The strange case of the Belgian detective

economist.com

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Re: Hercule Poirot turns 100: The strange case of the Belgian detective

#31

Post by quickthrowman »

chrismeller wrote: post #16

Honestly, aside from some of the classics (And then there were none, murder on the links, orient express) the Poirot series is my absolute favorite of any mystery novel ever. Never seen the TV show, but if you can get past the language of the books you can’t beat them.

Both of the books you mentioned have good film adaptations as well! The 1945 film version of “And Then There Were None”, and especially the Sidney Lumet version of “Murder on the Orient Express”. The scene of Poirot laying out his theory for the assembled passengers is amazing.

Re: Hercule Poirot turns 100: The strange case of the Belgian detective

#32

Post by JustARandomGuy »

sandworm101 wrote: post #18
eatonphil wrote: post #3

If you're interested in other continental European detective novels I recommend Georges Simonen's Maigret, Friedrich Dürrenmatt's Bärlach, Maurice Leblanc's Lupin and Marcel Allain's Fantômas novels. All of them set in the 19th to 20th century continental Europe. If you have additional recommendations for famous northwestern continental mystery novelists from the last two centuries I'd love to hear (especially intere…

Rowand Atkinson recently did an amazing take on Maigret, three or four 2-hour episodes iirc. Some of his best dramatic work imho.

Seconding this recommendation. Excellent stories and high quality acting. PBS runs them occasionally late at night.

Re: Hercule Poirot turns 100: The strange case of the Belgian detective

#33

Post by teruakohatu »

quickthrowman wrote: post #31
chrismeller wrote: post #16

Honestly, aside from some of the classics (And then there were none, murder on the links, orient express) the Poirot series is my absolute favorite of any mystery novel ever. Never seen the TV show, but if you can get past the language of the books you can’t beat them.

Both of the books you mentioned have good film adaptations as well! The 1945 film version of “And Then There Were None”, and especially the Sidney Lumet version of “Murder on the Orient Express”. The scene of Poirot laying out his theory for the assembled passengers is amazing.

The "And Then There Were None" 2015 miniseries is very good version with beautiful cinematography of the island.

Re: Hercule Poirot turns 100: The strange case of the Belgian detective

#34

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

nrp wrote: post #2

Beyond being an interesting milestone, the Poirot novels being 100 years old means that each year more of them are entering the public domain. It’s fun to follow along Agatha Christie’s career as an author each year as novels drop: http://gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/451

Funny that she is ID 451 considering the censorship of her works.

Re: Hercule Poirot turns 100: The strange case of the Belgian detective

#35

Post by shadowprofile77 »

stan_rogers wrote: post #29
shadowprofile77 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean after season 10? or after episode 10 in general?

In the UK, "series" is used rather than "season", and it has more to do with a financial commitment to make a number of episodes than it does with, say, a year's run of programming. A series may extend over the course of more than one year, and there can be two series in a year.

Thanks. so I'm good to enjoy them up until season 10 then. Many more episodes. Haven't seen this show since childhood.

Re: Hercule Poirot turns 100: The strange case of the Belgian detective

#36

Post by 082349872349872 »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #34
nrp wrote: post #2

Beyond being an interesting milestone, the Poirot novels being 100 years old means that each year more of them are entering the public domain. It’s fun to follow along Agatha Christie’s career as an author each year as novels drop: http://gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/451

Funny that she is ID 451 considering the censorship of her works.

I was going to say I'm a fan of the 10 little Jägermeisters, but search engines tell me "censorship" of AC refers to on-screen suicide in a Death on the Nile adaptation?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR4vamT51Nw

Re: Hercule Poirot turns 100: The strange case of the Belgian detective

#37

Post by azepoi »

eatonphil wrote: post #3

If you're interested in other continental European detective novels I recommend Georges Simonen's Maigret, Friedrich Dürrenmatt's Bärlach, Maurice Leblanc's Lupin and Marcel Allain's Fantômas novels. All of them set in the 19th to 20th century continental Europe. If you have additional recommendations for famous northwestern continental mystery novelists from the last two centuries I'd love to hear (especially intere…

Recently I know of Kommissar Dupin by Jean-Luc Bannalec (pseudonym), Parot's Nicolas Le Floch, Frédéric Lenormand's Voltaire.

Re: Hercule Poirot turns 100: The strange case of the Belgian detective

#38

Post by duncanawoods »

Nux wrote: post #11
somberi wrote: post #5

I highly recommend the television series, made by UK's ITV, starring David Suchet as Hercule Poirot. It ran for 24 years! It is eminently watchable, especially in these pandemic times. And the opening music! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_Christie%27s_Poirot

Truly an excellent production! Great acting, music, recreation of the era, awesome attention to detail and of course delightful mysteries. It sets the bar very high, to the point it has alas kind of ruined "other Poirots" for me.

I do like Peter Ustinov's versions. Very different but delightful with a sense of humour. His "swimming" in Evil Under The Sun is a silly thing that has stuck with me forever.

Re: Hercule Poirot turns 100: The strange case of the Belgian detective

#39

Post by Learning2-2 »

anonymfus wrote: post #23
eatonphil wrote: post #3

If you're interested in other continental European detective novels I recommend Georges Simonen's Maigret, Friedrich Dürrenmatt's Bärlach, Maurice Leblanc's Lupin and Marcel Allain's Fantômas novels. All of them set in the 19th to 20th century continental Europe. If you have additional recommendations for famous northwestern continental mystery novelists from the last two centuries I'd love to hear (especially intere…

> Marcel Allain's Fantômas novels By the way Jean Marais's movies while being not very related to the books are excellent in being very hilarious genre parodies.

The Pink Panther films are also hilarious parodies of this genre. Peter Sellers as inspector Jacques Clouseau is a blast

Re: Hercule Poirot turns 100: The strange case of the Belgian detective

#40

Post by Nux »

duncanawoods wrote: post #38
Nux wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Truly an excellent production! Great acting, music, recreation of the era, awesome attention to detail and of course delightful mysteries. It sets the bar very high, to the point it has alas kind of ruined "other Poirots" for me.

I do like Peter Ustinov's versions. Very different but delightful with a sense of humour. His "swimming" in Evil Under The Sun is a silly thing that has stuck with me forever.

Yes, I loved those films, as well (that's a funny scene indeed, hehe). Good thing I watched them before the David Suchet series.
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