User Reviews

"Mrs. McGinty's Dead" is a great entry into the Poirot series.

Poirot has been asked to save an innocent man, James Bentley, from the hangman's noose, as the inspector in charge of the case thinks his conviction for the murder of his landlady, Mrs. McGinty, is a mistake.

Poirot goes to the village where the murder took place and runs into Ariadne Oliver (Zoe Wanamaker), who is in the same village, Broadhinny, to work on an adaptation of one of her novels as a play. with a dramatist, Robin Upward.

Mrs. McGinty did housekeeping work in the village, so she had access to several homes. While searching through her belongings, Poirot finds an edition of a newspaper dated not long before the woman's death. Two photographs had been removed, but Poirot tracks down a full edition. The paper has a Where Are They Now featuring two women who, many years earlier, had been involved in murders: Lily Gamboll, who committed murder with a meat cleaver as a child, and Eva Kane, who had been the love interest who inspired a man to murder his wife and bury her in a cellar.

The question is, did Mrs. McGinty realize that a woman in the village was connected to one of these women? Was one of them Lily Gamboll, or perhaps the child of Eva Kane? There is another murder, and as Poirot draws closer to the solution, he realizes that blackmail and subterfuge are involved. The murderer is clever, but no one is cleverer as Poirot.

Really excellent episode with some lively and interesting characters throughout, all of whom seem to have something going on, be it a secret love affair or something else.

Mrs. McGinty's dead is darker than some of the earlier Poirots but no less entertaining.

I am a big fan of this episode, they really did save some of the best ones til later on in the series.

Gorgeous camera work, beautifully scenery, the episode is a feast for the eyes, it's visually very appealing. As viewers we are truly given a good dose of the gorgeous English countryside.

It's a little slow to start, but once it opens up it is very engaging, it's very different to many stories, because Poirot is treated very much as an outsider, apart from Ariadne he is pretty much on his own. The revelation of the murderer(s) is expertly done.

Absolutely loved Poirot's discomfort at being in the Summerhayes house, he was not impressed at being there, subtle bits of humour throughout, Ariadne Oliver too has some amusing moments.

It is wonderfully acted from start to finish, Suchet is wonderful as always, he's working with brilliant material. An endless list of talent on offer, Raquel Cassidy, Joe Absolom, Emma Amos, Ruth Gemmell and the excellent Paul Rhys. I have to admit I am always captivated by Mary Stockley, what a sensationally beautiful woman and a true talent. Of course the enchanting Siân Phillips is brilliant too, what a quality actress!

Excellent mystery, 8/10

I always look forward to a new Poirot. It's Sunday evening entertainment that you can genuinely get absorbed by.

I think it's always worked because it's so comfortable. Agatha Christie's plots may be distinct to a certain extent and yet they all have some very common motifs. Poirot reliably totters around the same country houses with incompetent but solid police inspectors, gruff majors, femme fatale actresses, little old ladies and untrustworthy artist types.

What made this latest episode so cool was that the director had worked very, very hard to unsettle you. The usual stereotypes were all there, but at the same time there was an air of menace that I haven't seen in a Poirot before. The village of Broadhinny became like a kind of 1950's version of Royston Vasey, shot in sinister angles and film noir lighting.

It might not work if every episode was filmed like this, but this was a very welcome addition to Sunday night. Even if it freaked me out.

The most recent POIROT films have a bad habit of behaving like MARPLE: rewriting novels until they are completely unrecognizable. Happily, MRS. McGINTY'S DEAD does NOT follow that trend. I Only noticed two changes from the original novel, and one of them is not really that major! The plot, like the original novel, started out as a simple murder, but what seemed like an open-and-shut case evolves into a complex mystery. I appreciated seeing the same Superintedant Spence from TAKEN AT THE FLOOD reprise his role here. And of course, Zoe Wanamaker is even better in McGINTY than she was in CARDS ON THE TABLE! She has so many humorous lines now, many of them coming during arguments with Robin Upward, a young playwright who is adapting a book of hers for the stage. And of course, as always, David Suchet simply shines as Poirot.

Poirot is approached by Superintendent Spence, who seeks his help in the matter of one James Bentley, who currently sits awaiting execution as he was found guilty of killing his landlady Mrs McGinty, during a petty robbery. The case had been Spence's but it sat uneasy with him. Poirot agrees to look into it and, after meeting with Bentley, travels to the small town of Broadhinny, where he also finds acquaintance Ariadne Oliver is also in residence to work on her latest book (or play). With an open board before him, Poirot decides to start with one simple question – if McGinty was not killed due to a robbery, then why was she killed?

With the last episode of the previous season (Taken at the Flood) I had felt that the episode had dropped far too much on the viewer at the end, and that key elements could not be walked backwards by the slower among us to link to things we had been told or hinted at previously; it is quite pleasing then to see that with this episode it delivered more in this regard. I will admit that at first the rather open nature of the mystery did throw my ability to follow it in all scenes; although opening with a murder is not unusual, it is often accompanied by the teller of the tale also then introducing all of the suspects to us in a neat package (as it was in After the Funeral) but not so in this case. Instead we get to meet the village gradually, and although the characters are limited to the usual sized group, the manner of gradual introduction did cause me some little struggles at first.

Gradually I got into the swing of it though, and from there it is a very engaging mystery where the key elements are reasonably clear, but yet also laced with deception, red herrings, and small detail one could not be expected to always see. The key thing is that there is plenty to suspect and think about, and pretty much all of it is brought into sharp focus by Poirot in the conclusion, which I enjoyed. There were some detail of the mystery I didn't think worked as well, but these were minor details on the side, and didn't affect it as a whole. The small comedic moments remain from the previous films – adding value without making the films a comedy; in this case the addition of Ariadne Oliver is comedic but also adds to the plot – she is played here like a Hastings side-kick, but with a different angle on her.

The cast play well; Suchet is on point as ever with as much control on the comic timing as he has on the portrayal of a sharp mind enjoying the closure of a case. Hope returns from the previous episode, albeit not as well used beyond being the plot device. Wanamaker is fun, while the supporting cast include good work from Rhys, Smart, Cassidy, Stockley and others (with Cassidy and Rhys sticking in the mind the most). The film continues with the usual high standard of production in terms of costumes, props and sets; however in this case the direction seems odd. We have too many shots that are dimly lit and a bit fuzzy, and too many scenes where out- of-focus items are very present and obvious in the background or foreground – a particular run of pointing out the side of the front of a frame being a blurry object prompted my partner to ask me to stop pointing it out as she gets it. It is not too distracting, but it is overused and doesn't work as well as some of the cleaner and more creative directors in past films.

All told though, Mrs McGinty's Dead is successful in its neat framing of the mystery around the poor Mrs McGinty of the title, and building into something bigger in order to then come to the main solution. The conclusion works well because it is connected to what we have been watching, and even when miles behind Poirot, it is fun to watch him pull all the bits of the film together in front of our eyes.

Once again, David SUCHET excels as Hercule Poirot, willing to investigate the truth behind an innocent man being found guilty of Mrs. McGinty's murder. And JOE ABSOLOM is excellent as the accused James Bentley, but has little to do within the storyline once Poirot decides to take his case. ZOE WANAMAKER is effective as Ariadne Oliver, the mystery writer who resembles Agatha Christie in that she's not happy with the detective she invented.

Unfortunately, the rest of the cast seems uninspired. But the time period, the settings, the photography--all the technical values are excellent. Poirot's distress at finding himself living in a disorganized guest house is played for humor, but it also vital when he comes across some important clues.

More faithful than some of the recent Miss Marple episodes with Geraldine McEwan, it's definitely worth watching if you're a Poirot fan.

Mrs. McGinty's Dead: she has been hit over the head with a heavy instrument inside her own house. A poor young man that she had taken in as a lodger is arrested for the crime, convicted and awaiting execution. Having second thoughts about his guilt, Superintendent Spence asks Hercule Poirot to investigate the circumstances of the crime once again, in the hope that he might discover something that everybody else missed.

The initial set-up is somewhat similar to "Sad Cypress", but the difference is, the convicted character here is a relatively minor figure in the general scheme of things, whereas in "Sad Cypress" Elinor is the heart and soul of the story. In any case, this is not one of the Agatha Christie tales that will dazzle you with its brilliance, though parts of it have an interesting moral complexity. The strongest element of this episode is Ashley Pearce's direction, which is both traditionally elegant and modernly cinematic. Much like in "Appointment With Death", some of her images, particularly those of sunsets, look like paintings. The second strongest element is the return of Zoë Wanamaker as Ariadne Oliver: this film really plays up the "Agatha Christie's-alter-ego" angle, with Mrs. Oliver arguing against the "commercial" changes to her books and expressing frustration at the fact that she's stuck with the same (fictional) character for life because her public likes him so much (according to most reports, Christie liked Miss Marple more than Poirot, but her readers did not agree). Zoë continues to excel in the role, as does Richard Hope in his second Spence appearance. Rest of the cast is OK (I liked Sarah Smart as Maude), but some of the men appear a little indistinguishable, and Amanda Root is perhaps miscast (age-wise) as the doctor's wife.

Minor complaints aside, this is another great-looking addition to the high-quality "Poirot" series. (***)

First of all: all editors who dare put a 'dream glow' filter over an entire film (dear heaven!) should be hanged. Sorry.

That having said 'Mrs McGinty's Dead' is a very good story of Agatha Christie. So the episode will be very enjoyable, and the unraveling of the plot by Poirot in the same room with all the suspects is definitely a highlight.

But then: the adaptation itself. The script is not bad, the direction isn't either, but somehow it doesn't quite work together to tell this complex story. Instead of taking time to tell the story well, things are rushed and it shows. Especially in the narrative.

More then once a scene starts halfway through and we learn in retrospect what must have given rise to it. For example Poirot visits a few ladies in the village and we learn in those scenes why: they we're all employers of Mrs McGinty. Or he visits the post office and we suddenly find a character crying.

Or vital information is not showed but told by characters. We learn that the sugar hammer is the murder weapon because the inspector tell us suddenly, so we have to assume it was brought to a lab and investigated, but there was never even a hint of that particular story detail.

I know we are used to a fast narrative style, we don't need to see every detail to understand how a storyline goes, but even CSI takes a few more steps then this episode of Poirot.

It all feels rushed. If they had taken five more minutes, the adaptation would have been superb.

So that must mean that someone somewhere in the production team wanted to speed up things: either the writer, the director of the editor. Well, it doesn't pay off: it makes the whole a bit chaotic and more difficult then necessary to follow.

And of course the 'dream glow' effect makes the whole movie cheap and blurry. Or did I mention that already?

Nevertheless: worth watching.

I think this is my personal favourite episode of the season, and I really liked all the episodes(even Appointment with Death, it was the weakest plot wise, but it was just as strong visually, musically and acting wise). One definite thing I liked was how faithful it was to the book. The book isn't an instant favourite of mine by any means but it was suspenseful and kept me guessing, as did the adaptation. There are one or two liberties, but I wasn't expecting it to be word from word, so that is in no way a flaw.

Mrs McGinty's Dead is very elegantly made, no surprises there saying as how well made all the Poirots are. The production values are first rate, with beautiful costumes, scenery and settings and I loved the film noir elements of the camera angles too. I loved the score as well, beautiful yet haunting and melancholic. Another definite plus is the direction, Ashley Pearce does a superb job directing, it is traditional, it is elegant and it does I agree have a cinematic feel to it.

The story is coherent, it seems simple but it isn't really, and the script has real sophistication and class. And all the actors play their parts adeptly. Amanda Root is probably the weakest of the lot, not because she was bad in any way, but there were times when I felt she wasn't quite right for her part and I do agree it was in some way to do with age, but that is my only minor problem with this adaptation. Joe Absolom is very good as the accused James Bentley, while Sarah Smart and Paul Rhys both do strong work, as does Eve Stockley. Predictably though, my favourite performances were from David Suchet and Zoe Wannamaker. Suchet is outstanding as Poirot, perfectly showing a balance between the comedic and serious Poirot, and Wannamaker was one of the bright spots of the pretty disappointing Cards on the Table but with dialogue that is both funny and sticks into the memory she is even better here.

Overall, really good and a faithful adaptation as well. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Having just read the book I can say that it is not a faithful adpation although some of the dialogue is a direct lift from the book.

For no good reason they have totally eliminated one family of 3 and also eliminated 2 of the 4 important photos.

In the book Bessie Burch was described as Fat but Emma Amos is not fat. I was disappointed to see Mrs Dangerous Davies married to one of the detectives who tormented him.

Never the less it is a well acted excellent drama. I recommend that you do not read the episode at thre same time as you read the book.

Poirot comes over to the quaint little countryside town of Broadhinney to look into the murder of Mrs McGinty, a local house maid and to try to save the alleged murderer from the gallows at the request of his friend, a police inspector. When a second murder takes place, the whole case takes a much more complicated dimension. The investigation unfolds family secrets, intimate frustrations and hidden pasts that are all eventually brought to light with the help of the infamous little gray cells. It's the nicest people that usually do the most gruesome things, might be the moral of the movie. Every episode that features Zoe Wannamaker is a good one in my book, and she always provides for great comical relief that so wonderfully counteracts Poirots serious manners. Those are also somewhat ridiculed here, like his reactions to the Sommerhayes' inn and the quality of his lodgings, which is a good contrast to a very dark, gloomy air looming from behind the tidy fronts and gardens in Broadhinney. Poirot is his usual brilliant self, but there a few other standouts as well, like Madam Carpenter, the arrogant femme fatal with an embarrassing secret. I like the current tendency in the ITV series towards a darker mood in the stories that works well with whodunits. Unlike many other episodes, here the story doesn't really revolve around a large wealthy family(like, say, After the Funeral) but rather individual couples who always turn out to be rusty underneath the gilded surface. Unfortunately, they cut out the brilliant intro music, and I can't imagine why. Bring it back, guys!

I have not read the book on which this Poirot is based but this episode suffers from all those thing that make the ghastly "Marple" series unwatchable.

I recognise that it is a matter of taste but why, oh why, is everything bathed in either smoke or a yellow haze in modern British television adaptions of anything set in the 30s! The original Poirots were eminently enjoyable but the new 2 hour adaptions including this one seem to be an entirely unrelated program without the charm or humour of the original which have been replaced with an arch and cloying style that is truly annoying.

It is as if the producers are really trying to parody Agatha Christie's work.

Hercule Poirot is asked by Police Superintendent Spence to investigate the murder of Mrs McGinty, a simple, harmless cleaning lady in a small town. Her lodger, James Bentley, was recently convicted of the murder and will soon hang. The Superintendent was the investigating officer on the case but feels that Bentley is not the murderer, despite the weight of evidence to the contrary. Poirot takes the case and heads to the village of Broadhinny, where he runs into an old acquaintance, Ariadne Oliver, the novelist. She too has some theories regarding the murder.

Intriguing and interesting, as always. However, the backstory to the murder is quite far-fetched and seems overstated - I still don't know why the motive, as explained, was really a motive. There's an element of complexity for complexity's sake.

There are some areas that make up for this though. The presence of Ariadne Oliver adds a large dose of humour to the episode. The plight of James Bentley is fairly engaging and the ending is quite emotional.

James Bentley has been arrested, charged, tried, found guilty, and sentenced to hang for the bludgeoning death of Mrs. McGinty, a charwoman from whom James rented rooms. Almost immediately, however, the Superintendent in charge of the case starts to have doubts. He contacts his old friend, Hercule Poirot, to look into the matter. Poirot discovers that a crime committed long ago may have played a part in Mrs. McGinty's death. Has someone from the past come forward to commit murder? A couple of old photographs may hold the key.

It's hardly surprising I enjoyed this version of Mrs. McGinty's Dead so much. I've always enjoyed the book and I almost equally enjoyed this dramatization. It makes for a solid mystery plot. While it may not be entirely faithful to Agatha Christie's work, enough of the good stuff is still here. And really, what Christie adaptation could ever hope to be 100% faithful? The writing, the attention to detail, the cinematography, the lighting - all are what I've come to expect from the better episodes of the Poirot series. I've run out of superlatives to use when describing David Suchet. He's about as perfect for the role of Poirot as anyone could hope to be. Some of the other actors, including Zoe Wanamaker as the apple-eating Adrian Oliver and Mary Stockley as the uber-secretive Eve Carpenter also made significant impressions. Other than the botched and confusing handling of the pair of murderous backstories, Mrs. McGinty's Dead is about as good as I've seen in the entire series.

Superintendent Spence requests Poirot to look into the case of James Bentley (Joe Absolom) was has been sentenced to hang. Although Spence was the person who arrested him, he is unsure of his guilt.

Bentley was convicting of the murder of his landlady, Mrs McGinty and stealing her money from the floorboards which was never found.

Poirot is happy to investigate the case. He goes to the village of Broadhinny and speak to the locals, many who had previously employed Mrs McGinty as a cleaner.

Poirot discovers that a Sunday newspaper that Mrs McGinty read had two photos cut out. Poirot finds the edition of the newspaper and the photos featured two females who some years earlier had been involved in possible killings.

Poirot wonders if someone in the village is connected with either of the women featured in the photos and is this the reason Mrs McGinty was killed.

This was an engaging and enjoyable mystery especially as Poirot is looking to get someone sentenced to die off the hook.

It rattles along at a good pace and there are plenty of twists and false trails. I felt this benefitted from the longer running time.

Poirot also runs into crime writer Ariadne Oliver (Zoe Wanamaker) again. She is the village adapting her famous sleuth into a stage play. It is very much a running commentary on Poirot himself giving the whole thing a metatextual angle.

I was somewhat alarmed by the overall picture quality of last Sunday's [ 14 SEP 08 ] episode of Poirot, what were they exactly trying to achieve with all that soft focus, or maybe they are trying to cover something up? The extended pale halos hugging any character that dared to step into direct light was something akin to a Ready Brek commercial from the 1970's, at least they had an excuse. If HD is too harsh a medium for premium television drama then go back to sourcing on film, yes it's expensive but at least you will have an original that is infinitely transportable and not locked down by the limitations of the technology of the day.

This episode looks like a jrpg from the snes era? It plays like one too, he goes door to door entering all these pretty, quaint houses. I like this episode a lot.

James Gordon Bentley is a young man from the village of Broadhinny who is out of work. He has been convicted by a jury for the murder of Abigail McGinty, a charwoman in the community. But after he is sentenced to hang, Superintendent Spence, who handled the investigation, isn't sure he is guilty. So, he visits Hercule Poirot to ask a favor.

Poirot is semi-retired and no longer has his familiar circle around him - Captain Hastings and Miss Lemon. He now has a butler-valet named George, and has let his once narrow mustache widen beyond the corners of his mouth. But, Poirot is never fully retired, because there is always some case lurking around the corner to draw him back into action. Or, to engage the gears of his little grey cells once more.

So, in "Mrs. McGinty's Dead," Agatha Christie's most famous fictional sleuth, goes back into action. When Superintendent Spence visits Poirot, he tells him about the trial, the good counsel Bentley had, etc. Poirot says, "So, according to the law, this James Bentley, he has nothing to complain of?" Superintendent Spence says, "If he's hanged for something he didn't do, he's got something to complain of."

Spence says, "In my experience, the actual murderers tend to look, well, cocky. Not this little fellow. Something in my water says he just isn't the murdering type." But now, Spence says he is being sent to Glasgow on a fraud case. "It's a very fraudulent place, Glasgow," he says.

So, he has come to ask Poirot to look into the murder before Bentley goes to the gallows. 'You perceive things in - pardon me - a funny kind of way. You might find something I've missed," Spence says. "But it's the devil of an imposition, to ask you to .." Poirot interrupts him and says, "Do you know what is the biggest problem of my life?" Spence replies, "No." Poirot says, "An abundance of leisure. I will look into this for you, Superintendent, with great joy."

And he is off to Broadhinny where he encounters a variety of inhabitants, some of whom are nasty, suspicious and/or impolite. But as he continues to dig, who should appear but an old acquaintance, the mystery author Ariadne Oliver. She helps provide some humor and distraction, as well as a couple of references for Poirot. And, as with most of Christie's entertaining mysteries, this one has a couple of extra entanglements.

But, Poirot uncovers the real killer and Bentley is saved in the end. Watch closely toward the end for a pretty tell-tale sign of who the culprit may be. It's not a clue that Poirot uncovers, but one the film gives to the viewing audience.

As with most Poirot mysteries, this film has its occasional clever line and some subtle humor. Besides those above, my favorite line in the film is when Poirot makes a phone call after being pushed in front of a moving train. He says, "Superintendent, I have some very good news for you. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. It is that someone has attempted to kill me."

Here are a couple more favorite lines from this film.

Bentley, "Next morning, there she is, dead. That's it." Poirot, "How did you feel at that moment?" Bentley, "Well, I hadn't had any breakfast, so I was starving."

Poirot, "No, very nice people live in Broadhinny. They tell me so themselves."

Poirot, "And here I will not beat around the shrubbery."

This episode is in my view the worst in the Poirot series that I have seen. Other reviewers rave about how accurate the story is and this may be so, but I am deeply disturbed by the cinematography of this and a few other episodes. The producers of the series have expressed their desire to make the movie-length episodes more gloomy than the shorts from the 1990s. They have succeeded so well that I find it hard to enjoy Mrs McGinty's Dead and some of these other ones. Scene changes give me headaches, camera angles pain my eyes, the background music seems slapped on without too much care. All to show how avant-garde the director is, I suppose. A little less artsy-fartsy cinematography would make the episode no less gloomy and disturbing but would keep it watchable. The episode only scores a 5 because David Suchet is an old friend as Poirot.