Sadly Over-hyped

Please don't spend money on this.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Hercule Poirot receives a letter, indicating that a murder is about to take place, showing the date and area and challenging Poirot to solve the case. It is signed the "ABC". The murder takes place, with a copy of the ABC railway timetable nearby. Soon hereafter Poirot receives another letter with a similar indication. It is soon apparent that the murderer is killing people in alphabetical order by surname and area - the first person had a surname starting with A and was killed in an area starting with A, the second B in an area starting with B. Poirot and the police try to stay one step of the murderer but it proves to be a difficult task.Quite original as this is not your usual Poirot case. No group of suspects to choose the most likely murderer from - the murderer is a serial-killer and could be anyone. We are given hints as to who the serial killer is, but catching him is another story.One or two scenes in the movie do give the conclusion away though. The problem with keep-the-time-tight TV movies is that any scene must have value and can't be filler...

A serial killer strikes in London: he selects his targets in alphabetical order of name and location. He also sends letters to Hercule Poirot, signing as "ABC", boasting about his "accomplishments" and challenging Poirot to find him.Reportedly this is one of the favorite Poirot episodes of David Suchet himself, and you can see why. Agatha Christie has rarely been more audacious in her misleading and manipulating the (reading & viewing) audience than she is here. Halfway through, you may feel a slight disappointment, that the film has told you too much; stick with it and you'll find out why this is not the case. They often say "seeing is believing", but in this story sometimes you shouldn't even believe what you can see with your own eyes! All this, and some priceless Poirot-Hastings interaction as well: a top-notch episode. (***)

Captain Hastings returns to London from South America and both he and his old friend Poirot are immediately drawn into their most difficult case yet. Poirot has received a letter from an anonymous writer who calls himself ABC. In the letter, the writer boasts that he is cleverer than Poirot and Scotland Yard and warns him of a murder that is to be committed in Andover. When Chief Inspector Japp of the yard investigates further, it turns out that an elderly shopkeeper called Alice Asher was battered to death on the exact date that the letter said a killing in that town would occur. In addition, a copy of the ABC railway guide was found beside her body opened at the corresponding pages. Poirot subsequently receives three more letters from ABC, an unknown serial killer who selects the towns and names of his victims in alphabetical order. For instance, in Bexhill-On-Sea, a flirtatious waitress called Betty Barnard is strangled on the beach. In Churston, millionaire tycoon Sir Carmichael Clarke is clubbed and killed while in Doncaster, an innocent cinema goer is stabbed in the local cinema while watching a film. In common with the first killing, a copy of the ABC railway guide was found beside each body. The most likely explanation behind the crimes is that they are the work of a psychopath who is determined to prove his superiority to Poirot and the police force. This theory is strengthened because even the most detailed investigations can find no link between any of the victims. However, things begin to change when a possible suspect is found in Alexander Bonaparte Cust, a seemingly ordinary stocking salesman (though highly nervous and neurotic) whom happened to be on the scene of every crime on the day they occurred. When a blood stained knife is found on Cust's person at his lodgings, he is arrested and Japp thinks that the case is closed. However, Poirot isn't satisfied of Cust's guilt because he no longer believes the crimes to be the work of a lunatic, but of a clever murderer who wished his crimes to look as if they were committed as such. In addition, Poirot isn't convinced that Cust would of been cunning or even clever enough to devise such a scheme and he calls all the interested parties together and reveals the solution to this baffling case in his usual inimitable fashion...Agatha Christie's The ABC Murders was first published in 1936 and had been filmed previously in 1966 as an ill-advised comedy thriller starring Tony Randall as Poirot and Robert Morley as Captain Hastings in a contemporary setting*. Thankfully, twenty-seven years later in 1992, London Weekend Television gave us this fine adaptation, which returned the story to its original 1930's setting and wisely concentrated on the plot rather than a series of gags. Under Andrew Grieve's flawless direction, it becomes a tightly plotted, thrilling and exciting detective story in which the costumes, lighting, acting and all other technical aspects have exactly the right touch. It is a shame that this film wasn't given a theatrical release as it's that good it ought to have been. Clive Exton's dramatisation is spot on and David Suchet had by now established himself as the best screen Poirot. He is ably supported by Philip Jackson as Japp and Hugh Fraser as Hastings. In almost every episode, some light comedy is introduced between them into the script in order to relieve the tension of the story. In this case, Hastings is forever trying to relate his boring story of how he shot a large crocodile and stuffed it as a gift for Poirot. Poirot was none too pleased with this gift but in order to be polite he shows his gratitude while both he and Japp try to avoid hearing Hastings' story at all costs. As always with this series, every member of the supporting cast has been chosen on the basis of their suitability to play Christie's characters and among them Donald Douglas as Sir Carmichael Clarke's suave brother Franklin and Donald Sumpter as the tortured Alexander Bonaparte Cust are standout. * The Alphabet Murders (1966) Directed by: Frank Tashlin

The book is a good one and it has been well dramatized here. Donald Sumpter is excellent as the travelling salesman, Cust.It's unlike other Christies in that most of the victims are not wealthy or aristocratic. The scenes in the Andover shop and at Bexhill are (perhaps unintentionally) touching. The deaths are really sad -- which is almost never the case in a Christie book, where murder is only a chance for an interesting puzzle and the victim is quite often a nasty tyrant whom almost everyone wants dead. When Hastings is moved by the scene in Andover, Poirot brushes his comments aside, saying they must not succumb to sentimentality.Entertaining. Recommended.