Hickory Dickory Dock (1995)

A Masterpiece!

The acting in this movie is really good.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Hickory Dickory Dock suffers from some random ingredients thrown together and a plot was cooked up. Ironically as a subplot involves Inspector Japp staying with Poirot as his wife is away and he has to eat fancy food when he just prefers a fry up.Miss Lemon introduces her sister who is all at sea. The student boarding house she runs has been stricken with some minor thefts of some inconsequential items. A diamond ring, a shoe, a stethoscope, a rucksack that has been ripped up are some of the missing items. Poirot suspects there is something more sinister afoot and then one of the student is found dead.Although one of the guest in the house admits to being a kleptomaniac, she does state that a few of the items missing were nothing to do with her. Poirot finds that the boarding house is mixed with a diamond smuggling ring and in the background of the Jarrow march, a dying socialist MP is of interest to Inspector Japp.The director has gone for some arty shots of a mouse running about and the repeating riff of a nursery rhyme but it rather detracts from a plot that does not flow too well.

Hercule Poirot's secretary, Miss Lemon, has a sister, Florence Hubbard, who runs a university hostel in Hickory Road. During a visit, Mrs Hubbard informs Miss Lemon that there has a been a spate of robberies from the hostel of late. Miss Lemon suggests that Hercule Poirot investigate under the pretext of giving a talk to the students on crime solving. He does just that and uncovers some details. A few days later, Mrs Nicoletis, the owner of the hostel, is murdered. Poirot suspects that the robberies and the murder are linked. Aided by Chief Inspector Japp, he uncovers more than just robberies and a murder.Quite intriguing, with a seemingly unrelated parallel story having a great bearing on the case. Some good twists and turns with the murderer not obvious until the end.One of the standout features of this episode is the wonderful sub- plot involving Poirot and Japp and their culinary and cultural differences. Some quite funny scenes involving their rather diverse eating habits, and the contrast between the sophisticated Poirot and the more basic Japp.Cast includes Damian Lewis, later of Band of Brothers and Homeland fame, in only his second screen role. If the actor who plays Nigel Chapman reminds you of Colin Firth, that's because it's his brother, Jonathan Firth.

There is a great sense of style to this episode, and I particularly enjoyed the use of the nursery rhyme as incidental music (even if it is a bit heavy at times). Likewise the use of the mouse is quite good, although again it could have been used more sparingly for better effect (did he really need to be at the scene of every murder and in the 'reveal' sequence as well?). So these fun little add-ons I quite liked. One could extend that too, to include the throwaway comedy material about Japp being home alone and with rather simple tastes in food, décor and heating. All of these things I quite liked, but at the same time have to consider if they are not also part of the weakness with this episode too.The thing is, so far I have not really mentioned the actual story and that is probably because it is not particularly strong. It starts well, with the return of Miss Lemon and a link to a very odd series of minor thefts which is curious and had my interest from the start. Unfortunately the development of the mystery is not particularly well done; partly I think because the episode is so often the episode is more interested in the asides or the manner of delivery rather than the meat and potatoes business of delivering a good narrative in an effective manner (another irony since the joke is made of Japp's much, much simpler tastes – which include said foods). The mystery has enough force in the delivery to make it just about work in terms of the structure and style we are used to, but it didn't really hold me as it should have done, and I did think it rush to make up lost ground at the end, mainly so it could tie everything together in the usual final scene.The cast play with this the best they can, but again the best work seems to be reserved for Suchet and Jackson having comedic moments together. I liked this (despite the knock-on effects) although like the previous episode it did make me miss Hastings, where such interplay complimented the episode rather than distracting from it. Moran's return was nice and seemed more than just a plot device to link to the mystery, while the support cast are mostly interesting and well played (including a young Damien Lewis (although depressing to think of him looking almost as young 20 years later hanging around in Homeland).There are good aspects to this episode, but it must be said that they do tend to be on the sides and in the main body the narrative/mystery is not well delivered, with too much focus on the style and the supporting comedic material, rather than getting the mystery right and then building off and around this foundation. I enjoyed it for what I liked, but there was a lot here that really wasn't as well done as it needed to be.

There is a lot to like in this longer episode: Japp and especially Miss Lemon have prominent roles, a lot of humor (some of it laugh out loud), an interesting setting in a student hotel, we learn more about Japp's and Miss Lemon's private lives, a quirky and cool motif of a mouse running throughout the show with good repetition of the nursery rhyme, an intriguing cast of characters, interesting puzzles and a resolution to all of the puzzles that make sense. The story starts inauspiciously enough - Miss Lemon, ever the perfect secretary, has made multiple mistakes in a letter. Upon questioning, she tells Poirot that there have been a number of thefts at the student hotel her sister runs. Poirot goes to the hotel and investigates the generally petty thefts. Unfortunately, soon thereafter a murder occurs. There are suspects galore and a sufficiently intricate plot with yet an additional murder. While murder is appalling, we do not know the victims sufficiently well enough to feel a great sadness at their deaths so what is memorable in this episode are the way Poirot solves the puzzles, the humor and the depiction of the friendship between Poirot, Japp and Miss Lemon. This makes for a satisfying and most enjoyable episode. Highly recommended.