Five Little Pigs

This is one of my personal top favorites of Christie's books, and I've always wondered why it hadn't been adapted for television; although considering how badly many of them have fared in the past, you figure maybe its just as well! Amazingly, this production has stuck remarkably close to the book - tight budgets and weather permitting - although it starts to derail badly a couple of times at the very end. Christie's books are sometimes quite dark and very adult, something which has usually been scrubbed out of the various movie and television versions, as they are dumbed down, cheered up, and "sanitized for your protection". However in this adaptation, the producers have instead chosen to "dive deep", and have come up with something surprisingly moving, which starts to edge towards Greek tragedy. In many ways, it stands head and shoulders above prior Poirots.

The casting has netted a very interesting group of actors, although as much as I admire Aidan Gillen's work he is the last person that I would have thought of for Amyas Crale - I would have looked for someone more like Denis Quilley. Suchet's work here is just about seamless, as he wisely takes a "less-is-more" approach to this serious outing. Its amusing to see Annette Badland in a minor role; she appeared memorably in a "Miss Marple" many years prior, as an unfortunate victim tied to a clothesline.

Five Little Pigs is one of my favourite novels of all time, when you love a book so much it's so often the case that any adaptation lets it down somewhat. Not the case with Five Little Pigs, this adaptation is glorious. Very few changes were made from the text, so plaudits to the team involved for creating such a sincere, quality version. I was a little underwhelmed by recent productions like Dumb Witness and Hickory Dickory Dock, Five Little Pigs is all together a more sophisticated and sumptuous production. The first thing you're aware of us is how lucky the team were with the weather, it was filmed on days of glorious sunshine, that adds to the feel of the story, it looks sensational.

The production values are superb, it looks amazing, I loved the music too, indeed the overall flavour of the episode is outstanding. The performances are truly great, Rachel Stirling, Gemma Jones, Aimee Mullins are all brilliant. Aidan Gillen is terrific as the handsome but aloof Amyas Crale, perfect casting indeed.

It's so well paced, the contrasts of colours and textures really help with the flow of the story, you get the brightness of the past, and the harshness of present day, after the tragic deaths have occurred.

Story telling at its very best, 10/10

This is definitely one of the best, if not the best, adaptation of a Christie story, "Five Little Pigs," and certainly a top Christie story in itself.

A young woman, Lucy Crale, comes to see Poirot to ask for help in clearing her mother's name. Fourteen years earlier, Caroline Crale was hanged for the murder of her husband, an artist, Amyas Crale. Lucy promises that even if it turns out that her mother committed the murder, she will accept it, but she wants the whole truth.

Poirot then visits the five people who were present when the murder took place: Amyas' best friend, Philip Blake, a visitor at the Crale home when the murder happened; Philip's brother Meredith, from whom it is suspected that Caroline stole the poison used to kill Amyas; Elsa Greer, Amyas' lover and whose portrait he was painting; Caroline's half-sister, Angela, who is sure her sister was innocent; and Miss Williams, Lucy's governess. After hearing each story, Poirot knows the truth and reunites all of them to make the announcement.

The story unfolds neatly, and at the end, Poirot keeps you guessing. The flashbacks are beautifully, dreamily photographed, and the locations are lovely, as is the period atmosphere. The way the flashbacks were filmed is reminiscent of the flashback scenes in the feature film, "Murder on the Orient Express." The acting is superb, with David Suchet perfect as usual, and he's surrounded by some top talent, including Rachel Stirling, the brilliant Toby Stephens (he comes by his talent honestly, being the son of Robert Stephens and Maggie Smith!), Gemma Jones, and Patrick Malahide, Top drawer - don't miss it.

The Poirot series has always appealed to me because I love that era, but also because it's intriguing and interesting. This is no exception - actually, this is one of my favorites, if not THE favorite.

A young woman asks to meet Poirot and she explains that she believes her Mother was wrongly hanged for killing her Father. There are a number of flashbacks, beautifully arranged in accurate places. Every suspect is interviewed and gives their account on the story. One little pig is lying.

Not only did the incredibly sad story make an impact on me, but the hauntingly beautiful score which set just the right mood (mysterious, sad, haunting) for the movie. It is the cherry on top of a very beautiful, yummy cake.

Poirot: Five Little Pigs is one of the best movies I've seen. It just feels right. You just relax and enjoy the story - you don't have to cringe at bad actors. A truly beautiful, hauntingly sad movie.

Quite the best Christie adaptation I or my wife have seen to date. We were particularly surprised by how emotionally engaged we were. Where as with most detective stories you remain dispassionate, quietly observing from the outside, FLP draws you in to care about the characters and come the final denouement we are both intellectually and emotional rewarded by the resolution.

The direction and story telling are perfect - cutting neatly between the present and five flashback accounts of the same 14 yrs old incident. We are led gently up all manner of garden paths, and even allowed to think we've 'nailed it' only to have our smugness shot down in the final reel. The acting is far above the norm, and the casting, especially of the flashback 'younger versions', particularly effective.

FLP is lovely to look at - with a nice contrast for the flashbacks to a heightened, over exposed look, and lovely to listen to - the score is a magnificently clever variation of the basic Poirot theme.

Yes - an all round joy that we even wanted to watch again the next day. A 'whodunit first' for us!