The King of Clubs

Episode aired Mar 12, 1989
TV-14
50m

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

1.9K

YOUR RATING

Niamh Cusack and David Swift in Poirot (1989)

Agatha Christie's Poirot: The King Of Clubs

Play trailer1:56

1 Video

28 Photos

Crime Drama Mystery Thriller

A deck with a missing card provides Poirot with the clue he needs to solve the murder of the tyrannical head of a movie studio.A deck with a missing card provides Poirot with the clue he needs to solve the murder of the tyrannical head of a movie studio.A deck with a missing card provides Poirot with the clue he needs to solve the murder of the tyrannical head of a movie studio.

Director
- Renny Rye
Writers
- Michael Baker
- Agatha Christie
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

1.9K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Renny Rye
Writers
- Michael Baker
- Agatha Christie
Stars

16User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

User reviews16

Featured review

5/10

The King of Clubs

Poirot goes to the movies as Hastings visits an old friend who is directing a film. The studio boss, Henry Reddburn is an old fashioned tyrant. He fires the over the hill star of the film and wants sexual favours from his leading lady, Valerie Saintclair who is engaged to European royalty.

When Reddburn is found dead in his home, Saintclair is a suspect. She was at Reddburn's house at the time of his death and ran into the cottage behind his house where she is seeking shelter from the family.

Poirot thinks that a card, the king of clubs left behind in the packet is an important clue.

Another episode with sumptuous art decoration, Hasting even makes a comment on modern art which could easily be applied today. You even get to see some old time filming techniques as the studio shoots through a painted glass to give a desert effect.

It all masks a minor story which looked rather flawed to me. It involves Inspector Japp missing certain clues. The denouement was just underwhelming, making this a minor story.

Prismark10
Aug 4, 2018
Permalink

Trivia
Even though these are based on the official Poirot canon, its not unusual for a long running tv series to feature one or more stories set in a film and/or tv studio. Clearly, as the (first) series was shot at the historic Twickenham Film Studios, that existed during the 1930s anyway, it makes perfect sense to shoot this episode there, as unlike some certain other studio facilities available in the UK, that either never existed in tbe 1930s, or now have changed beyond its 1930s period style, there's still enough of the original site to use, even with additional (digital) Matte Paintings. It also works as a bonus playful "behind the scenes" story, showing us where Poirot was filmed in 1989. The use of the Hoover (vacuum cleaner) factory as the exterior and some interiors, of the film studio complex, instead of just Twickenham Studios 3 soundstages, also implies that Parade is a gigantic production facility, not unlike MGM.