Teresa Reviews “The Cornish Mystery” (1990)
Fidelity to text: 4 1/2 poison bottles
Replace an anonymous landlady with Miss Lemon, an anonymous policemen with Inspector Japp, augment a few scenes alluded to in the text and you’ve got yourself an enhanced — while still faithful — film.
Quality of movie on its own: 4 1/2 poison bottles
Everything worked, including the weather. For once, it wasn’t a sunny day in May. It’s raining, far more common in England at any time of the year than the constant sunshine we’ve been getting in the series. I have a few quibbles, but they’re minuscule flaws in this gem.
Miss Lemon, we’re told, is the perfect secretary. What we didn’t know until this episode is among her talents is the ability to check the windows and spot reluctant clients.
Unlikely, you say? You would be wrong, because on this rainy day Miss Lemon sees a woman loitering in the park in front of Whitehaven Manors. This apprehensive, drab, middle-aged woman is not the type to loiter in the rain, constantly approaching the building’s front door and anxiously retreating. Miss Lemon scents a potential client who’s unable to make up her mind about asking Poirot for help.
When she is confronted, Mrs. Pengelley refuses to come inside so Poirot and Hastings meet her in the park under their umbrellas.
She’s terrified of being noticed since her market town is a hotbed of gossip and someone is always watching, even in London. It’s an interesting conversation. When you watch this interview the second time, you’ll see how often Mrs. Pengalley lies to Poirot. I didn’t catch the subtleties, but Poirot does and they were reason enough for him to take the case. I’ll come back to them later.
Poirot doesn’t ascribe real urgency to Mrs. Pengalley’s problem so he and Hastings don’t rush for the next train. It’s serious, but not desperate. He and Hastings arrive in Polgarwith, a market town in Cornwall, the next evening. They visit the Pengalley home and discover that Mrs. Pengalley, as she feared she would be, is dead. She told Poirot she suspected her husband, Edward, was poisoning her, and it turns out she might be correct.
Why would Edward Pengalley, the dentist, do such a thing? According to Mrs. Pengalley, her husband hired a hot blonde hussy as his receptionist and hygienist.
Miss Marks is a stunner (Hastings is smitten) and you can see why Mr. Pengalley hired her. She’ll bring in every male client in Cornwall to have her bend over close them, even if she is prodding their gums with a dental pick.
Freda, Mrs. Pengalley’s niece, is equally shocked and can’t conceive of her uncle murdering her aunt. Freda tells Poirot something even more important: the truth about why she moved out in a huff. It was because auntie Pengalley was panting after Freda’s fiancé and causing embarrassment all around. Mrs. Pengalley had neglected to tell Poirot this tidbit. Jacob Radner, fiancé and up-and-coming tailor and outfitter, gives Poirot more detail about how uncomfortable he was being pursued by Mrs. Pengalley.
Like Jessie the maid, Radner tells Poirot he can’t talk dirt about the dead or who he thinks dunnit and proceeds to do just that. But he doesn’t want Poirot to pursue Pengalley for murder because of the scandal. The town thrives on malicious gossip and idle speculation.
Poirot doesn’t come to any conclusions, but he warns Radner that keeping silent to prevent scandal won’t change a thing. Vox populi will force the case out into the open. He tells Hastings as they leave that Mr. Pengalley will be in the dock for murder before the August bank holiday.
Weeks later, Edward Pengalley announces his engagement to his hot hygienist. The gossip flares into an inferno, he’s roundly denounced as a wife-poisoner, angry letters to Scotland Yard are written, her body is exhumed, and what do you know?
The gossips are right: Mrs. Pengalley was poisoned with arsenic in the form of weedkiller.
Poirot and Hastings return to Polgarwith. Poirot watches Mr. Pengalley suffer in the dock as the town turns on him. Cans of weedkiller are waved around in court. Inspector Japp has arrived to collect any remaining evidence on this open-and-shut case and enjoy a few Cornish pasties.
It’s then that Poirot confronts the true murderer and extracts a signed confession. Hastings gets a chance to shine here, proving that he can think on his feet when not blinded by hot blonde hussies. But afterwards, Hastings confronts him. Poirot says “That was not sentiment. That was business.” He had no proof, but now, with a signed confession, he does. As Poirot knows full well, he could testify in court that he knew, courtesy of the little gray cells, that Mr. Pengalley was innocent and twelve stolid Cornishmen would laugh him out of court and vote to hang.
It was during Poirot’s summing up that I felt the scriptwriter missed an opportunity to enlighten us dumber members of the audience. Poirot knew Mrs. Pengalley lied to him. Her niece, Freda, lived with her for eight years by her own admission, yet she didn’t know why Freda moved out in a huff? Then, Mrs. Pengalley’s manner changed when discussing how the nice Mr. Radnor was merely a pleasant young man. When Poirot interviewed Freda, she was distressed over the murder. She was also open about why she moved out and how awkward and unpleasant it was to see her 50-something aunt pursue her barely 30-year-old fiancé. At the same time, Freda refused to believe her uncle murdered her aunt.
Who was lying: Mrs. Pengalley or Freda? Poirot used his knowledge of human nature to deduce what happened as opposed to what he was told. Why didn’t Poirot rush to Cornwall to save his client? Because he didn’t think she was at that great a risk of being poisoned. He knew she lied to him, yet she still died. Just a few sentences of clarification would have been welcome.
The Cornish Mystery is a great episode and worth watching twice. There’s so much to enjoy, from I Ching readings and discussions of rice to seeing real English weather: rain, rain, and more rain. You’ll love it.
