Poirot: Death in the Clouds (1992) Movie Review
Poirot: Death in the Clouds (1992)
Movie Review by Debbie Winkler
Starring: David Suchet, Philip Jackson, Sarah Woodward, Shaun Scott, Cathryn Harrison
Director: Stephen Whittaker
Series: Agatha Christie’s Poirot
Release Date: 12 January 1992
Language: English
Length: 103 minutes
Movie Rating: Not Rated
View Format: DVD
My Rating: 
Synopsis:
“This classic mystery featuring one of Agatha Christie
Review:
This is an interesting full-length mystery in the Poirot series. Poirot (David Suchet) is fast asleep when a murder is committed a few feet away from him on a flight from Paris to London. Chief Inspector Japp (Philip Jackson) pulls Poirot aside to ask for his help on the case, but also treats Poirot like the rest of the suspects. Poirot understands Japp’s position, but cannot help but be offended, given their history, and goes all out to clear his name! Poirot enlists the assistance of a bright airline stewardess, Jane Grey (Sarah Woodward), and sets out to find the sneaky murderer. Unfortunately, the list of people who wanted the victim, Madame Giselle (Eve Pearce), dead, was very long. She is a moneylender to the wealthy and, if they fell behind on payments, she had no compunction about blackmailing them with the threat of revealing their money troubles to their peers. The prime suspect is Lady Horbury (Cathryn Harrison), a very unlikeable noblewoman who owed a lot of money to Giselle, a fact she tried desperately to hide by claiming she never met the victim before. There is Horbury’s maid, Anne (Jenny Downham), a rather plain young woman with a secret past linked to Madame Giselle, whom she loathed. Norman Gale (Shaun Scott), a handsome, likeable young archaeologist is desperate for money to fund an African dig. Venetia Kerr (Amanda Royle), who is in love with Lord Horbury (David Firth), may be willing to stoop to anything to get rid of the current Lady Horbury, even frame her for murder. Daniel Clancy (Roger Heathcott), a famous mystery writer, believes his fictional characters are real and may have murdered the elderly Giselle because his fictional detective told him to.
Poirot and Japp spend quite a bit of time in Paris, France trying to get a bead on who Madame Giselle was and why someone would want to kill her. Along the way, they unearth a host of suspects (see above) and a baby born out of wedlock that was given away years before. Now Madame Giselle’s child has come to claim their inheritance, but they end up being murdered before identification can be verified! Poirot knows that the two murders are linked, but most of the suspects that were on the plane are now in Paris with him. Any one of them would have had the opportunity to murder both of them, but I had absolutely no idea who the murderer was! I had a hunch as to who I thought it was, but I was completely wrong. The way that Poirot presents the solution at the end of the movie is genius. He gets all of the suspects together (a sure time to run away, even if it does make you look guilty, in my opinion) and starts laying out the case. Just when you think that one suspect is not guilty or is guilty, Poirot backtracks and continues along another line of questioning. The reveal is one of the longest that I have seen in the Poirot series, but it did trick the murderer into confessing to the crimes and why.
There are some wonderful comedic moments that Chief Inspector Japp has in Paris. He doesn’t speak a word of French and struggles to get by with questioning witnesses and getting basic information. He also does not get along very well with the French police, especially Inspector Fournier (Richard Ireson), who cannot remember to say “Chief Inspector,” did not get additional information on Giselle’s heir and lost her, and didn’t get to Madame Giselle’s house before her maid destroyed all records of who owed her money and how much. When Chief Inspector Japp takes over Fournier’s office, including his desk and chair, it sets up for a fairly competitive situation between the rival police forces. By the end of the movie, though, Japp has come to appreciate French food and has found a way to make himself understood through hand gestures and acting so he ends up broadening his horizons and enjoying his little forced holiday. I also enjoyed learning a bit more about flying on airplanes at the time. These people flew in a luxury unmatched today. They had plenty of room to move around in a relatively spacious cabin and two very attentive attendants to offer then real food, coffee and tea and hovered over their guests to ensure that they had the most enjoyable trip possible. It was also interesting to see that you could smoke in the airplane at this time and that there were no safety restrictions as we know them today.
I enjoyed this Poirot movie, but was a bit taken aback with how the mystery played out. I was under the impression that more of the case would take place on the airplane in a kind of locked-room scenario, but the time on the plane is not that long. Most of the movie takes place in Paris, which I enjoyed, but I wish that they had had the opportunity to film more of the sights and feel of Paris to make me feel like I was really there. I am sure that most of the Paris scenes were filmed elsewhere, which is why I did not really see any of the well-known French monuments, but I did get a feel of the essence of Paris and appreciated that. I missed Captain Hasting (Hugh Fraser) in this movie, but enjoyed seeing more of Japp and his friendship with Poirot in this episode. Because this Poirot movie is feature length instead of a shorter episode, the filmmakers were able to spend more time introducing the characters, portrayed by some very able and talented actors, and include more little details in regards to the mystery. Take the time to go back and look up this movie if you are a Poirot fan.
Content:
This movie contains murder by poison dart and murder by strangling. You see both bodies after they die and reconstructions of the murder taking place. Both are brief and clean as there is no blood or bodily fluids involved. There are a few scenes involving Lady Horbury that show a sense of entitlement and she is very rude and condescending to others around her. Recommended for ages 8 and up.
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