I can't see that this is one of the more successful episodes. Of course it has the usual virtues. There is the fussy Poirot, the sardonic Japp, the surfaces of the houses and street and other objects so clean that you could eat from them, perform surgery on them. But the lovely, comforting, and sensual Miss Lemon is elsewhere, and so is Hastings.
It begins -- after the masked initial murder -- with Poirot visiting the dentist. He looks very uncomfortable. It's understandable. Who doesn't jump when the dentist says, "Now turn your head this way a little?" But that's about all the humor.
The story is exceedingly hard to follow, full of impersonations, tricks, greed, snobbery, multiple red herrings, and one of Poirot's long explanations at the end, when he reveals all the clues that have been held back from the viewer.
It's not at all badly done, but there are other, better renditions of the stories, including the two-hour versions like this one.
It begins -- after the masked initial murder -- with Poirot visiting the dentist. He looks very uncomfortable. It's understandable. Who doesn't jump when the dentist says, "Now turn your head this way a little?" But that's about all the humor.
The story is exceedingly hard to follow, full of impersonations, tricks, greed, snobbery, multiple red herrings, and one of Poirot's long explanations at the end, when he reveals all the clues that have been held back from the viewer.
It's not at all badly done, but there are other, better renditions of the stories, including the two-hour versions like this one.