SUMMARY: RUNNING TIME: 51:00 Min.
First broadcast on February 19, 1989, Renny Rye directed this early episode that Clive Exton adapted from Agatha Christie’s 1936 short story. On a Mediterranean cruise, Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot and his best friend, Captain Arthur Hastings, are among the passengers uneasily witnessing turbulence in the Clapperton marriage.
Having gone ashore with two sympathetic female companions, Col. Clapperton later returns to shockingly discover that his wealthy spouse has been murdered inside their locked cabin. Poirot and Hastings realize that that something beyond a random jewel theft is the true motive precipitating Mrs. Clapperton’s homicide.
Hercule Poirot: David Suchet
Capt. Arthur Hastings: Hugh Fraser
Col. John Clapperton: John Normington
General Forbes: Roger Hume
Capt. Fowler: Ben Aris
Mrs. Clapperton: Sheila Allen
Ellie Henderson: Ann Firbank
Nelly Morgan: Dorothea Phillips
Emily Morgan: Sheri Shepstone
Kitty Mooney: Melissa Greenwood
Ismene: Louise Jones
Pamela Cregan: Victoria Hasted
Mr. and Mrs. Tolliver: Geoffrey Beevers & Caroline John
Mr. Russell: James Ottaway
Skinner: Colin Higgins
Bates: Jack Chissick
Photographer: Giorgos Kotanidis
Note: For historical purposes, Christie’s plot, intentionally or not, resembles her middling 1933 Parker Pyne short story, “Death on the Nile,” which utilizes a similar premise and locale. By comparison, “Problem at Sea” is a more satisfying mystery.
REVIEW:
High-caliber production values (spot-on acting, terrific location filming, etc.) easily surpass an average mystery that resorts to an eye-rolling gimmick for the ‘big reveal’ sequence. Still, none of this faithful episode’s storytelling flaws ought to be attributed to this otherwise well-played production. It simply conveys a decent Poirot tale making the story look better than Christie’s source material actually is.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 6 Stars
