The King of Clubs

.. When the story begins, a nasty studio head is about to get punched in the face...but his security guards arrive and escort the punchee out of the place. You soon realize this studio chief is a real piece of work...a man not above blackmail or other dirty tricks. So, when he appears to have been bludgeoned to death, the question is more like 'who DIDN'T have a reason to kill him?'.

What I love about this episode is that since Poirot is NOT a member of any police department, he doesn't have to tell anyone what he finds if he doesn't want to. In this case, after exhaustive work, he realizes that the dead man isn't worth his time...and it might have been an accident anyways. Very clever and enjoyable...and all highly dependent on one strange clue...a missing playing card.

Poirot goes to the movies as Hastings visits an old friend who is directing a film. The studio boss, Henry Reddburn is an old fashioned tyrant. He fires the over the hill star of the film and wants sexual favours from his leading lady, Valerie Saintclair who is engaged to European royalty.

When Reddburn is found dead in his home, Saintclair is a suspect. She was at Reddburn's house at the time of his death and ran into the cottage behind his house where she is seeking shelter from the family.

Poirot thinks that a card, the king of clubs left behind in the packet is an important clue.

Another episode with sumptuous art decoration, Hasting even makes a comment on modern art which could easily be applied today. You even get to see some old time filming techniques as the studio shoots through a painted glass to give a desert effect.

It all masks a minor story which looked rather flawed to me. It involves Inspector Japp missing certain clues. The denouement was just underwhelming, making this a minor story.

Film stars and Royalty combine for murder, with Poirot having to solve a possible murder of an odious bully.

It's a lavish production, it has some gorgeous buildings and sets on show, the set of Paul's bedroom is sumptuous. The room in which Mr Reedburn is discovered is also rather special, lots of glass and marble.

It's very well acted as usual, the main cast are on great form, Niamh Cusack is excellent as beautiful young actress Valerie, and the fiendishly handsome Jack Klaff is also very good as Paul.

It's not one of my favourite episodes to be honest, but I find it watchable enough, its not a mystery I feel you'd solve quickly, it does have a few twists and turns.

A pretty interesting, but visually appealing episode. 7/10

Not one of the my favorite episodes, but I did find The King of Clubs satisfactory up to a point. The set-up is great - Henry Reddburn, a studio boss (and an absolute horrid man), is found dead on his library floor with his head bashed in. Poirot is asked by a friend to help with the investigation as his fiancé was the person who discovered the body. But there are plenty of other suspects - everyone at the studio loathed the man. It's a classic start to a Poirot plot. Poirot investigations and questioning of those involved were as enjoyable as ever. I even followed his thinking on the King of Clubs clue and knew, like Poirot, what it meant. So, events in this episode were progressing nicely and just the way I like. But then we come to the end. I won't spoil things, but I felt so unfulfilled, for lack of a better word. It's not the kind of ending a Poirot episode should have. (I'd really love to be more specific, but that would be giving far too much away. Sorry.)

Anyway, there's still a lot here to enjoy. The acting is top notch. I was especially impressed with Niamh Cusack and David Swift. They easily held their own with the series' regulars. The sets were impressive. I was struck by the contrast between Reedburn's modernistic looking home and the more traditional, understated Willows next door. I also enjoyed taking a quick look at some the early filming techniques, like filming through painted glass. Interesting stuff. And, I got a kick out of Hastings attempt to explain a piece of modern art to Poirot.

Overall, a 6/10 from me.

I am a big fan of Hercule Poirot and these productions are easy and enjoyable to watch. Great sets and good performances. The weak link is the episode and the turn it took. It was reasonable enough to watch but the end was anti-climatic. It had its twists and turns but the events and set ups were easy enough to follow. Perhaps the public's views on these incidents were different back then or maybe Poirot has a unique moral code. But I found it hard to swallow when Poirot cast a blind eye to what he called an accident. A man, despite being a terrible one, was dead and there should be an investigation. But Poirot says its not the same as Murder. Yes but what about manslaughter? Poirot's behaviour is odd in visiting the actress as if nothing happened. Somewhat enjoyable yet bizarre.