Triangle at Rhodes

Towards the beginning of this episode, Poirot, while on vacation on the island of Rhodes, points out to a fellow tourist that he is intrigued by the behavior of English people on vacation in foreign countries. On this point, as so many others, I am inclined to agree. Any government official who happened to watch this episode could certainly be excused for eying any potential English tourist with grave suspicion.

Right from the beginning, and throughout the episode, one is struck by the stunning depiction of the location. From the costumes, to the archaeological sites, to the shots of the sunset, they could have won awards for the cinematography alone. And, because the story is set in the mid 1930's, there are a number of references to the growing unrest of the time. (Apparently Rhodes was then part of the Italian empire.) In some ways, the location makes up for the overly melodramatic acting and the curious sequence of events. In this adaptation of the story, Poirot is scheduled to leave the island and is at the harbor ready to get on a boat when the murder takes place at the hotel. Despite being stopped by harbor officials and "detained", apparently suspected of espionage, when someone from the hotel comes running to fetch him to help solve the murder, Poirot merely hands his business card to the official and, not only is he allowed to return to the hotel unimpeded, but shortly afterword he is seen being informed about the case by the Italian police inspector. Really? So, the plot holes are an issue, but I was so charmed by the location, the scenes of people shouting in Greek and Italian, and the blatant depiction of the English making idiots of themselves, capped off by the line I've used for the title of this review, that I can overlook those other details this time.

I learned a bit about history as I watched this particular installment of "Poirot". Apparently, the island of Rhodes in Greece was occupied and run by the Italians from just before WWI until the middle of WWII. So, as you watch, you'll see a lot of officials from the fascist Italian regime...wearing black shirts or sporting hats like Mussolini.

Poirot is on vacation in Rhodes. While there, he has a chance to observe some unhappy couples. One has a husband who is accusing the other husband or trying to steal his wife! Soon this soon to be stolen wife is found dead...poisoned. And, the man who was accused of trying to have an affair with her is caught with a bottle of poison in his pocket. But, as you'd expect with such a show, there is way more to this than meets the eye and some serious scheming is going on here!

This episode is exquisitely written and has some neat twists and turns. It is probably the best of the episodes I've seen so far and is well worth your time.

As I have said before, London Weekend Television lavished money on this series, it really was no expense spared.

We are still in the first series and Poirot has gone on vacation in Rhodes, meaning overseas location shooting.

Rhodes at the time was under Italian control and Poirot finds himself investigating the murder of beautiful enchantress Valentine Chantry (Annie Lambert) by a poisoned drink. It seems her husband might had been the intended victim and the main suspect is Douglas Gold (Peter Settelen.) Gold is visiting the island with his wife but he is mesmerised by Valentine and soon arouses her husband's jealousy as well as upsetting his own wife.

Poirot is stripped here of his regulars with no Hastings and Japp. He does have a character who he gets friendly with during his investigation. The drama is leisurely paced, sumptuously filmed and tries to wrong foot you with a wrong kind of triangle.

Hercule Poirot goes to Rhodes (a Greek island) on vacation and, wouldn't you know it, gets involved with the death (via poisoning) of a rich and glamorous (and married, to her fifth husband) woman staying at the same hotel. Captain Hastings is not present in this one; Poirot's sidekick is a woman he meets in Rhodes.

The mystery is pretty good, once again appearances are completely deceiving, but the highlight of this episode must be the magnificent, vividly photographed island scenery. In both story and production values, "Triangle at Rhodes" reminded me of the 1982 film "Evil Under the Sun". This is a TV production of cinematic standards. (***)

This is not a favourite of mine, but it is still a very good episode of a truly great mystery series. The short story wasn't a favourite either but it was an enjoyable read, and the plotting here is well constructed and easy to follow in general. The true star though is the scenery, it is utterly amazing, and captured wonderfully by the skillful and very vivid photography. The dialogue is great and the direction is efficient. And I loved the music too, the only real problem and this is very minor is that the mystery does start off fairly slowly. But everything else is fine, and among the acting David Suchet of course stands out as Poirot while Annie Lambert is a delight as Valentine Chantry. Overall, a very good episode that is well worth watching for the amazing scenery. 8/10 Bethany Cox