User Reviews

I don't think I've seen ANY of the Poirot series with David Suchet that I haven't thoroughly enjoyed, although some of them early on that were only an hour long left something to be desired in regards to production values and truncated stories. They were still fun to watch and Suchet's portrayal of Poirot is one of my favorites of all time.

I liked this one a lot...mostly faithful to the book which I have to admit I haven't read in years. The photography and set design were outstanding and it was great to see Harriet Walter again, and especially Susan Wooldridge, a favorite of mine since "Jewel in the Crown." I do admit that I miss Capt. Hasting, Miss Lemon and inspector Japp.

I sincerely hope that the rumors I hear of this series ending have no basis in truth.

I was fully expecting Cat Among the Pigeons to be dreadful, given that the source material is not one of Christie's stronger novels. Imagine my surprise when I watched this stylish, fun adaptation, done with tongue firmly in cheek. For some reason, the campy parts of the book actually translated well to screen (even the "orientalist" flashbacks to the Middle East), and the novel's plot was already so far-fetched that for once the screenwriters didn't change very much (the deletion of one minor character changes very little). Harriet Walter is a delight to watch, as always, and the rest of the casting was also spot on. The ending, which sees Poirot trying to find a way to thank one of the students for her assistance, was actually rather touching, and was a distinct improvement on the novel's.

Without a doubt, this is one of the best of the recent Poirot adaptations, and featuring more humor and wit than many of the others, which have become quite a lot darker than was the original television series.

Good cast, good performances, a somewhat ridiculous plot, but entertaining. Nice performance by the two young girls and Suchet is his old self. I am watching this on rerun and consider it a nice change from the dark and violent series that are commonplace nowadays.

Screen adaptations of Christie's books usually play fast and loose with the original story and plot, with varying degrees of success. I always marvel at the audacity and hubris of producers and adapters confident that THEY know how to tell a story better than Christie herself, what a laugh - where is THEIR record of sales topped only by the Bible? In recent years they've been going kind of wild with very ambitious, high-gloss productions of Poirot, the results of which have been uneven to say the least, from "Five Little Pigs" (sublime) to "Sad Cypress" (hmmm) to "Taken at the Flood" (a vile wretched grade-Z trainwreck, and criminal waste of talented actors).

This one manages to come off fairly well, although there is considerable tinkering with the original story. The camera-work makes heavy use of diffusion filters throughout, giving the effect of the entire story taking place in a kind of a dreamy beige fairy-tale haze.

The lead Harriet Walter is an actress whom I respect, and who in the past I have repeatedly tried and failed to warm up to. Here she is less guarded and unusually accessible, and does an excellent job, in spite of the bizarre "period" hair and makeup inflicted on her.

My French isn't very good, but it seemed to me that the script had Poirot (and Mlle Blanche) using expressions that would never come out of the mouth of a native speaker. Also I had the English subtitles on while I watched the DVD, and there were some hilarious mistakes in the French, for example "pas du tout" showed up as "pas do tout", "oui, bien sûr" as "oui, bien, sure", and "Je vous en prie" showed up as - I swear! - "je vous emprie"!! I was in stitches and wondering what next, were they going to render "oui" as "wee" or something? Maybe it was done by computer voice-recognition software? Good lord, hire somebody who has a clue, or have someone competent copy-edit it.

Cat among the Pigeons is not one of my favourite novels, it's one of the very few I find hard to get through, it's a little bit on the flat side. The changes they make to the TV adaptation benefit the story.

It's slightly lighter in tone then some of the other episodes, despite having some grizzly murders, there are some moments of humour.

The quality of direction and the brilliance of the cast make a pretty average book into a thoroughly enjoyable drama. Harriet Walter is tremendously good as Miss Bulstrode. My favourite performance comes from Elizabeth Berrington, she is superb, so often cast as lovable, funny, sympathetic, it's great to see her cast against type, and be smarmy and devious, she's wonderful, and that fantastic hair style. Amanda Abbington is almost unrecognisable as Miss Blake, but she's great too.

Very enjoyable, 8/10

I listened to the great Hugh Fraser read the novel and had to wrack my brain to keep up with the story. The TV show is even worse in this regard. It barges past the viewer (past me anyway) with breakneck speed. I note, however, on IMDb that ten whole minutes were subtracted from the original British version for the easily-distracted American audience, which is used to ADHD-inducing commercial interruptions that shorten TV shows of all sorts. In other words, the producers (or editors) of the British version realized that millions of Americans wouldn't sit still to absorb the full show in its original length. I suppose that the shortening of the show accounts for some of my confusion and for my feeling that important points in the plot ended up on the cutting-room floor.

Other than the incomprehensible plot, the show is magnificent, drenched in period atmosphere and in fabulous acting from everyone in the show.

Back to my complaint: I imagine that if the crew had done Hamlet, the show would have stopped at "To be. That is the." How tragic that intelligent American viewers able to sit still for a longish television show have been cheated by whoever cut a large hole in this otherwise wonderful production.

"Cat Among the Pigeons" is one of the best of this series. It's faithful to the book, which has a strong story, and is filled with great production values and atmosphere, and the acting -- absolutely wonderful.

Poirot is asked by a friend, Miss Bulstrode, to present a sports prize at her girls' school, Meadowbank. Then she asks him to stay on, as she wants to retire and choose a successor and would like his opinion. The obvious one for the job, Miss Chadwick (Susan Wooldridge) is a little too conservative for Miss Bulstrode.

Things turn chaotic. The country of Ramat, overrun by anti-monarchy revolutionaries, has caused the only surviving heir to the throne, Princess Shaista, to get out. She is sent to Meadowbank and believes people are trying to kill her. Miss Springer, the gym teacher, is a sadistic piece of work who enjoys finding out peoples' secrets. She is later found stabbed with a javelin.

Each of the rest of the staff seems to be hiding something. There is another murder of another teacher, an attack on a teacher, and the princess is kidnapped.

Tennis rackets, rubies, revolution, fakes, and undercover work all figure in as Poirot attempts to find the culprit - the cat among the pigeons.

Terrific, with Suchet the perfect Poirot as ever, and with brilliant performances by Walter and Wooldridge, both very accomplished actresses. Endeavor fans may recognize Anton Lesser as the investigator helped by Poirot.

Well worth viewing.

Hercule Poirot is asked by Miss Bulstrode, an old friend and the headmistress of Meadowbank school (a prestigious school for girls), to award the first prize after their annual sports event. After the ceremony Miss Bulstrode asks Poirot to stick around at the school, as she is thinking of retiring and wants Poirot to observe the staff. Among the pupils are the princess, and heir, of a middle eastern kingdom and a girl whose uncle was murdered in the recent coup in the princess' country. Then the gym teacher, a loathsome, meddling, bullying, universally-hated person, is found murdered in the gym, killed by a javelin. In addition, the tennis racket of the girl with the murdered uncle is missing.

One of the best Poirot mysteries. Not overly complex and quite plausible. Solvable by the audience, but not easily and only through elimination. A good balance of difficulty and solvability. Some good twists, revelations and red herrings too. Great setting and ambiance - you can taste the English private school air.

The Bulldog Drummond-type plot of Cat Among the Pigeons requires some considerable suspension of disbelief, but this film is so beautifully shot, so sumptuously acted, so gorgeously sly, that it is just one hugely enjoyable romp. Of course the murder victims are awful people that the world can do without; of course the good guys are all noble and articulate and upper-class, and the whole is set in a fabulously soft-focus England replete with a jolly-hockey-sticks girls school, proper school marms, impoeccable manners, afternoon tea from delicate china, exotic jewels, foreign princesses, handsome spies, very civilised shoot-outs, a suitably grumpy police inspector, a wonderfully dramatic expose and the incomparable Poirot. It all hangs together in a most satisfactory way, with one huge glaring plot point.... Everyone at the school has a dark secret. And so the entire film comprises the police, several members of the British Secret Service, and Poirot himself trying to work them out. Yet the gym teacher manages to dig up everyone's secrets entirely on her own! How come she managed it so easily, while the others needed files, reports, background investigation, interviews, the finest minds in English espionage, and considerable help from Poirot to reach the same conclusion?

Cat Among the Pigeons is a lively episode of Poirot. Director James Kent keeps it busy and almost anyone could be a suspect.

Poirot is requested not to attend a murder investigation but a prize giving at a private girls school, Meadowbank. The headmistress, Miss Bulstrode then asks Poirot to stay on to size up any likely successors for her job as she intends to retire.

It is not long before Poirot is investigating a murder when Miss Springer the sports teacher is found dead, killed by a javelin.

Then one of the pupils, Princess Shaista from Ramat, a country in the brink of revolution is missing, believed to be abducted. There is also a quest for some lost rubies.

Poirot believes there is a clue regarding an angel. Something a mother of one of the pupils spotted. Miss Springer might had been killed as she enjoyed finding secrets about people and using what she found for mischief.

This one has a starry cast, some surprises but is also rather contrived. At one point, one of the suspects complains to Poirot about his melodramatic theatrics.

Hercule Poirot attends a special program to present the Pembleton Lacrosse Shield to the Meadowbank girls school in Broadhinny. The school co-founder and head mistress, Miss Bulstrode, is an acquaintance and old friend. She is considering retiring soon, and she asks Poirot to stay on a few days to observe some of the faculty to recommend her replacement.

In short order, two murders happen, and Poirot is at work solving a mystery that's tied to foreign espionage, a foreign revolution and smuggling priceless jewels out of that country, and a kidnapped princess. As always, Agatha Christie's story is highly entertaining, and David Suchet is superb as Hercule Poirot. All of the cast are very good.

This is one of barely a handful of the many Christie stories put on film in which I could guess the culprit by halfway through the film. It does give a more obvious inkling of whom it may be than most of her story films, I think. Of course, I wasn't sure until the end, but my guess was spot on this time, where most of the time I'm off or can't decide between a number of suspects.

While none of the early characters of Poirot's circle are in this film, Detective Inspector Kelsey welcomes Poirot's help in solving the crimes, and defers to his leading questions. And, as with all of the Poirot mysteries, as written for the screen (if not by Dame Agatha herself), this one has some clever lines and a little humor. Here are some favorite lines.

Hercule Poirot, "I comprehend. The challenge - it has gone."

Poirot, "There does not need to be present a crime for the investigator to thrive."

Miss Bulstrode, " Monsieur Poirot has an international reputation." Detective Inspector Kelsey, "Oh? So does Mussolini."

Poirot, "But nothing, rien, is more dangerous than to try the blackmail on a person who has killed at least once."

When terrorists raid a school in Switzerland, Prince Ali of Romart (Raji James) and British Security Agent Bob Rawlinson (Adam De Ville) defend the Romart crown jewels, precious rubies, which are smuggled into the United Kingdom.

Princess Shaista (Amara Karan), cousin of Prince Ali, and next in line to the Throne of Romart, arrives in England to attend "Meadowbank Independent School for Girls," as does Jennifer Sutcliffe (Jo Woodcock), a niece of Bob Rawlinson, who remember his involvement with someone named Angelica.

Mr. Forbes (Don Gallagher) and Mrs. Forbes (Georgie Glen) arrive at Meadowbank to enroll their daughter, Patricia Forbes (Georgia Cornick), a weight-challenged youngster, whom its Physical Education instructor mercilessly bullies.

Mrs. Upjohn (Pippa Haywood) also arrives to deliver her daughter, Julia Upjohn (Lois Edmett), who befriends Jennifer Sutcliffe, they exchanging tennis racquets on the court, and small-talk in their quarters, along with foreign student Hsui Tai (Katie Leung).

Miss Bulstrode (Harriet Walter) operates Meadowbank as its co-founder and Head Mistress. Miss Chadwick (Susan Wooldridge), its other co-founder, presumes to Miss Bulstrode that she stands next in line to operate the school should Miss Bulstrode proceed with her plans to retire.

Also on staff at Meadowbank are Ann Shapland (Natasha Little), its Secretary/Receptionist, who has her own office and sitting room; Miss Blake (Amanda Abbington), its free-thinking Art instructor; Miss Johnson (Carol MacReady), its housekeeper; Miss Eileen Rich (Claire Skinner), its Poetry instructor, who delivers the story's title, "Cat Among the Pigeons"; Mlle. Louise Blanche (Miranda Raison), its French instructor; and Miss Grace Springer (Elizabeth Berrington) its Physical Education instructor, who complains chronically.

On the first day of the new term, Miss Bulstrode invites one Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) to address the gathering at the Auditorium, and to present the Meadowbank Champions an award for "the Pemberton School Lacrosse Shield." She also requests his staying on a few days, in order to advise her selection of a successor from among Meadowbank's staff.

At the accompanying reception, Lady Veronica (Jane How) crashes the event in a display of eccentricity; and, as Miss Chadwick ushers her through the door, Mrs. Upjohn tells Miss Bulstrode that she is stunned to recognize from across the room "The Angel," whom she has presumed deceased.

Poirot begins his sleuthing early on, as he scrutinizes the Misses Chadwick, Shapland, Blake, Johnson, Rich, Blanche and Springer, and also the school's gardener and grounds-keeper, one Adam Goodman (Adam Croasdell), who becomes sweet on Ann Shapland. And he scrutinizes all the more once bodies begin to turn up around the campus.

One night at 12:50 AM, Miss Johnson (Carol MacReady) and Miss Chadwick (Susan Wooldridge) investigate a light in the pavilion and discover a body skewered with a javelin.

Inspector Kelsey (Anton Lesser) arrives by day to investigate the murder, as do Mr. and Mrs. Forbes, to withdraw Patricia.

The next evening, Jennifer and Julia discover the Romant rubies hidden within the handle of a tennis racquet, the means of smuggling them into the country after the revolution.

But when Ann and Adam hear Miss Chadwick's scream, they discover another body inside the pavilion, the victim of a striking with sandbag. While the second victim survives, Meadowbank continues to be over-ridden with the scandal of murder.

Plus there's an apparent kidnapping, which leads Poirot and Inspector Kelsey to "The Glass Slipper" nightclub, and a third body discovered in the boat-house by morning, another victim of a sandbag bludgeoning and also a drowning.

Hercule Poirot gathers a roomful of suspects into the Meadowbank chambers and begins to explain his suspicions, when the perpetrator of the two successful murders draws a pistol, to claim a third victim, after Mrs. Upton returns to identify "The Angel."

Miss Bulstrode, therefore, has her choices for a potential successor narrowing as the list of candidates dwindles, so will her selection process become easier or all the more difficult to bear?

The cast is rounded out by Jemma Carlisle as School Girl, Olivia Jewson as School Girl, Laura Tarrant as Jane, Fudge Hammali as Adam Trimble, and Aaron King as Teacher.