Triangle at Rhodes

Poirot, Hastings and Miss Lemon have all gone off on holiday. Poirot's in Rhodes having a well earned rest, but of course The great Detective cannot escape one thing, murder.

The scenery is utterly breathtaking, no studio based sets here, beautifully filmed in Greece. It all works impeccably well for the time period. There are some wonderful costumes on show, it's a good reminder of how glamorous the era was, Annie Lambert (Valentine) looks sensational at times.

I love the music throughout the episode, so different, it adds to the exotic feel of the episode.

Fourteen minutes in you see that Poirot's newspaper is blank. It only has a front cover.

I love Triangle at Rhodes, not just for the visuals, I love the story too, I love the twist in the tale. It's an incredibly watchable episode. 9/10

This is not a favourite of mine, but it is still a very good episode of a truly great mystery series. The short story wasn't a favourite either but it was an enjoyable read, and the plotting here is well constructed and easy to follow in general. The true star though is the scenery, it is utterly amazing, and captured wonderfully by the skillful and very vivid photography. The dialogue is great and the direction is efficient. And I loved the music too, the only real problem and this is very minor is that the mystery does start off fairly slowly. But everything else is fine, and among the acting David Suchet of course stands out as Poirot while Annie Lambert is a delight as Valentine Chantry. Overall, a very good episode that is well worth watching for the amazing scenery. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Hercule Poirot goes to Rhodes (a Greek island) on vacation and, wouldn't you know it, gets involved with the death (via poisoning) of a rich and glamorous (and married, to her fifth husband) woman staying at the same hotel. Captain Hastings is not present in this one; Poirot's sidekick is a woman he meets in Rhodes.

The mystery is pretty good, once again appearances are completely deceiving, but the highlight of this episode must be the magnificent, vividly photographed island scenery. In both story and production values, "Triangle at Rhodes" reminded me of the 1982 film "Evil Under the Sun". This is a TV production of cinematic standards. (***)

Hercule Poirot, private eye, is closed. The postman delivers mail and the building doorman adds it to the growing pile of correspondence. Captain Hastings is off for a shoot, probably in Scotland. Miss Lemon is away visiting her sister - on the channel coast. And Mr. Poirot - he's off to some foreign country in the east. So, is the episode of "Triangle at Rhodes" opened.

But that's enough in old England, we then catch up with Poirot in the eastern Mediterranean. He has a few days left at Rhodes and then he must leave. But that's enough time for a crime and our master sleuth to solve it. And, so the story goes. This is another very interesting and different intriguing story. It had me fooled even the second time I watched it and then I only got it half right this recent third time, several years later. This episode has six interesting characters, and a very good, surprise type of ending. Agatha Christie, through her Hercule, could really come up with some good ones.

Without his usual cadre of characters, Poirot is more reserved, so we don't have much humor in this episode. Here's my favorite line.

Hercule Poirot, "Where are you headed, major, Abyssinia?" Major Barnes, "How in Hades did you know that?" Poirot, "Well, I assumed you want to be there for the ostrich-shooting season."

As the two previous reviewers have mentioned, it is the beautiful photography of the beautiful island of Rhodes that makes this episode special. Although I think that the mystery with its well done misdirection is good. This happens to be one of the very few short stories that I actually remembered how it ended even though it has been decades since I read it. The story is a simple one - two couples, the Chantrys and the Golds meet on a beach on Rhodes and later, one of them is poisoned. But was the "right" person poisoned or was the intended victim someone else? Frances Low as Poirot's sidekick does a very good job but I prefer the shows with the regular sidekicks of Hastings, Japp and Lemon and the humor and interest they add to the shows. But there are no bad Poirot shows only some that are not as good as others.