Five Little Pigs

I'm quite opinionated when it comes to Agatha Christie's books-turned-movies, but this one was simply great (ignoring a minute comparison with the book).

I liked pretty much everything, from the actors, and I LOVED Rachael Stirling's performance as Caroline Crale, to the directing filled with flashbacks. Everything was so tense that you could even feel the powerful emotions and feelings the characters were going through. You could even feel sorry for the murderer in the end, as you were made to understand exactly what he was going through. Once again, I have to say that the acting was top quality.

One of my favourite episodes!

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.

I saw this when it first aired in 2003, when I was 11, and I was very impressed, really I was. Two years ago, I read the book, and I personally think the book is up there among the best with Death on the Nile and Murder in Mesopotamia. What impressed me most with the TV adaptation, which I got on video recently, was that some of the scenes, like the hanging scene, were genuinely haunting, and that's what I want to feel in a mystery. The music score gave that haunted feeling and some poignancy, in an already complicated story. As far as I can remember, the overall structure was faithful to the book, and I also liked the actress of Caroline Crale, as you really feel for her, and Amias was certainly hissable here in the way they made him behave. Marc Warren and Gemma Jones also do well as Meridith and Mrs Williams. Also what the writers got right were Angela's disfigurement and although it was changed, the ending with Lucy in the lovely dress was very effective. As ever, David Suchet is impeccable as Hercule Poirot, and he is helped by a brooding script. However there were two things I didn't like about the adaptation- the idea of Blake being homosexual(I don't think that was in the book), and Julie Cox was perhaps too old for Elsa. All in all, technically and visually it's a delight to look at, and I enjoyed this adaptation very much, though I do prefer the book. 9/10 Bethany Cox.

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!

This film is incredibly good. The cast is uniformly good. The direction is clever and thoughtful. The music is beautiful. The script has all the essentials of the plot and remarkably faithful to the book. I would be quite willing to say it's the best Christie adaptation so far. It's so good in fact that it could have been made for the silver screen. I even forgive the fact that it isn't set on a rocky battlement as it is in the book - the documentary on the DVD explains why - budgetary constraints - and the water garden does just as well. All the heart-breaking tragedy from the book - and it is a tragedy, even for the culprit - is there. It bodes well for the next lot of Poirot films, and so too for the upcoming Miss Marples. I thank the producers for having the courage, which has paid off handsomely. Well done.