The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman (14 Feb 93) is the second best episode of the fifth series,almost as fine as The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb (17 Jan 93).The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman is a blackmail story,very suspenseful,excellent as atmosphere,and made with gusto."Poirot" always succeeds when it uses a few B movie touches.Miss Lemmon's idyll gives a touch of uncanniness.Also,Graves,the servant,is one of the notable actors that appear in this series."TAOTIN" has more than one comical feature (the Italian lady that explains Hastings about car engines,etc.).Miss Lemmon's new friend,Graves,tells Poirot about his master being blackmailed.This blackmailed master is an Italian,as is his supposed blackmailer.On the other hand,Hastings wants to buy a car,and so has business with the Italian dealers.
Dead Man's Mirror (28 Feb 93) belongs to the same class of episodes with touches of B movies.It is about a rich aesthete,Gervase,and his entourage of young people (John,Hugo, Ruth); it is also another episode with a beautiful young actress:this time,it is Ruth (Emma Fielding).It is as good as the previous episode analyzed here (TAOTIN).Miss Lemon is absent in this one.
The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan (7 Mar 93) is another very good episode,and it features a beautiful actress,Hermione Norris (I believe).The photography is fine,there are some well-done images of a necklace,and several comical touches.It is an elegant and humorous episode,a necklace mystery in the theater's world.It is funny to see Japp at a fair.The episodes begins with Poirot's illness.
Yellow Iris (31 Jan 93) begins very funny,very well,with a dialog about food and cuisine and the obvious difference between them,with Poirot taking,of course,the side of the cuisine,while Hastings does not want to notice that difference.There is a connection with the plot,much of the action happens in a restaurant (first a South-American,then a London one).The readers and grateful,studious,devoted connoisseurs of G. K. Chesterton will be glad to identify the invisibility's theme,that reminds the one proposed by G. K. Chesterton in one of the short proses from The Wisdom of Father Brown:how can one be practically invisible? ;unfortunately,in the TV version of the "Iris" this does not work too well,or as well as one would have liked.
The Case of the Missing Will (7 Feb 93) has some very dissatisfying elements,but the intelligent treatment overrules them.First,it would have been appropriate that the characters and their reciprocal relations be identified in a more explicit way (that is,the three kids,then teenagers,the two couples,the single woman,etc.).Then,these characters are probably the most annoying in the whole series,rattlers,with their debates,verbosity, ravings and antics. A rich oldster is killed just before the day he planned to modify his will;fortunately,he had managed to inform Poirot about his new intentions just on the eve of his death.The mystery itself is not particularly interesting either. Yet I do not want to seem that I complain too much,because,as they are,these episodes are still better than most other stuff on the market.The plot is about greed and money,and a murder caused by these two motors.The cinematographic treatment is,as usually,satisfying,but the content is trite ;still, there is a very pleasing atmosphere of freshness and energy.
(It might be interesting to note that Michael E. Grost includes THE ADVENTURE OF THE Egyptian TOMB,THE ADVENTURE OF THE Italian NOBLEMAN,THE JEWEL ROBBERY AT THE GRAND METROPOLITAN, THE YELLOW IRIS, THE UNDERDOG in his interesting list of the best Poirot episodes.)
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