Reviews

I believe there is an error in this episode in that the monopoly set used by Poirot and Hastings has as its 'men' the little silver coloured items such as the top hat. But that was a later version of monopoly dating I think from the late seventies or the eighties.

The version in my house when I was a child dated from the fifties and had as its 'men' types of transport such as ship, car, motor bike, train and they were coloured such as blue and red, not silver. There may have been an earlier version in the thirties when this was set, but it was not the one using the silver 'men'.

I would be very grateful if someone could advise me on the contents of the monopoly sets going back to the 30s so that it might be possible to check back to what would have been in place in 1935 when this Poirot story was set.

This is a very simple and basic error of poor research but unfortunately the scenes with the monopoly set recur rather frequently through the whole programme and therefore it could not be re-recorded, as I initially thought when I saw the opening scene.

Can anyone tell me the name and location of the beautiful house which appeared in this film? It is probably near Rome, but I have never seen it in anything else and it is so spectacular that I am really intrigued as to its whereabouts and a bit about its history. I have also enjoyed the first part of the four part showing of this film and despite comments on the acting, I find it interesting for the historical and social comment on the times. I found the Hitler character unrealistic, but thought Bob Hoskins put in a good performance. I would be grateful for any information on the background to this film. I thought it captured the period and style of the era very well, and the characters were in the main sympathetic - which was not an emotion I expected to feel. Susan Sarandon was also strong as she always is, and I thought Anthony Hopkins, looking so much younger, came across as trying to prevent further disaster for his country. I particularly enjoyed discovering the background to Il Duce's daughter and her husband as this was a part of the conflict I knew nothing about. It inspired me to find out more.