Paul Evans I would go so far as to class The Clocks as superb, it's such a wonderfully clever and intricate mystery, loaded with great characters and red herrings, it's bound to have the viewer tied up in knots. It's the closest Poirot gets to investigating espionage, the mystery is first rate, and gives a broad range of opinions from people terrified by the threat of war. The opening is brilliant, it's so dramatic and intriguing, it really does set the tone.It's a beautifully styled episode, it's so classy looking, the costumes, sets etc, all first rate. There's one scene where Poirot is stood by the coast, with the sea full of ships, I thought that looked fantastic.Great performances, Anna Massey and Tom Burke both fantastic in particular, Frances Barber also makes a small role into something great, hugely charismatic.The pacing on this story is excellent, it moves by very quickly, with no dull moments.I really enjoy reading The Clocks, and think they did a fine job dramatising it, great episode, 9/10

bensonmum2 Poirot is approached by Lieutenant Colin Race for help with a case. Race has found himself mixed-up in an unusual murder mystery. The story goes like this: Walking down a street, Race is nearly knocked over by a hysterical young woman named Shelia Webb as she runs from the front door of a house. Inside the house are a dead body and the owner of the house, a blind woman who knows nothing of the girl or the dead man. The police cannot identify the body and no one can explain how Webb, a typist for hire, came to be in the house with the dead man. Added to the mystery are four clocks in the room where the dead man was found, all set to 4:13. The blind woman knows nothing of the clocks and no one can explain what they mean. Oh, there's also some missing military documents that Race has been investigating thrown into the mix. Poirot has is hands full with this one.I've ranted recently about several of the newer Poirot episodes. Some are twisted and changed from Christie's original work to the point they are unrecognizable. Some are filmed in a modern style more suited for something like CSI than a classic detective story set in the 1930s. I'm happy to report that neither is true with The Clocks. The story, while it varies on some aspects of Christie's The Clocks, holds true on most of the main plot points. It's easily recognizable to anyone familiar with the book. And the movie is told is style more fitting Poriot and Christie. It looks more like the earlier episodes I enjoy so much.The Clocks was always one of my favorite Christie books and this adaptation did not disappoint. I congratulate director Charlie Palmer and the screenwriters for taking a fairly complicated story with multiple characters and suspects and putting it together so well. There are plenty of red herrings that work perfectly. It has all the hallmarks of a classic, well made, and well told mystery. The acting is top notch. By now, my enjoyment of Suchet's work goes without saying. The supporting cast, including Tom Burke as Race and Jaime Winstone as Shelia Webb, is very strong. There's even some good comic relief provided by the frustrated Inspector Hardcastle, played brilliantly by Phil Daniels. The sets and locations are once again flawless. I'm amazed at all the varied locations the producers were able to find for filming. Just beautiful. Finally, the music is a real bonus. It fits nicely with the unfolding story. Overall, an easy 8/10 from me.

secretstina I really liked "The Clocks", I think it's because I got all emotional over that love story! I really felt sympathetic for Rosemary Sheila Webb, and that is a sign of good acting, right? (Also, I noticed to my amusement that Tom Burke looks a tiny bit like a less-girly, more-handsome Edward Cullen.) The music also created an atmosphere that was more dark and emotional than usual. Without Hastings, Japp, or Lemon, this movie is more "let's save this young girl from being wrongly convicted" than "let's make jokes and watch Poirot be whimsical", if that makes sense. Not only is this movie more serious than most in the series, but it is also more focused on the characters Colin and Sheila and less on Poirot himself.I agree with other reviewers that it was strange how the spy plot and the murder plot actually turn out to be completely separate. I also thought the murderer became obvious pretty early on. Still, the full details of the resolution did surprise me in the end and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie despite, as some have pointed out, the extraordinary coincidences it would have taken to make it all possible.

Robert J. Maxwell Some nice shots of Dover as Poirot investigates the case of a dead man found in a blind woman's home. A young lady enters the empty house, having been called for some temporary secretarial business, sees the legs of the corpse behind the setee, and rushes out hysterically into the arms of a handsome passing stranger who happens to be the son of the now-retired Colonel Race. Young Race acts as Poirot's sidekick in this episode and he also falls for the young secretary whose love in return is pure, though she herself has a slightly shady past.I kept thinking I'd like to know more about that shady past. This dark young woman is attractive enough but has been "working" for one of her agency's clients twice a week for some months. It develops that she is no virgo intacta. I, frankly, don't think she's pristine enough for the son of the devoted and dull and respectable Colonel Race, although it might have been entertaining if the old Colonel himself had a fling with her.There isn't too much to say about the plot, or rather plots. Christie often threw in some other subplot involving people who are particeps criminis. In this case, they don't simply divert the investigators, they confuse the viewers too. One of the plots is about the equal in importance of the other and they have nothing to do with one another. An opening scene, in which two women chase one another and are both run down and killed, hangs irrelevantly in the air until the final few minutes.I won't give away too much, I don't think, if I say that it all has to do with the approaching war with Hitler's Germany and with the inheritance of a great deal of money.