Sammo

The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim - S2-E5

Plot hole: The killer has a perfect (in movie logic at least) plan but he amplifies its risks to 1000000% getting caught on purpose with an incriminating item that links him to his secret identity and that is amazingly likely to have him questioned and face the wife of the deceased (who recognizes him in 0.5 seconds) and other witnesses. Even without Poirot it is impossible to imagine a trial happening without him having to appear in some capacity. And in this TV dramatization, the motive of Lowen to hate Davenheim is obvious, but not the other way around, so it appears even more baffling that he'd utterly ruin his perfect escape just to mess with a rival apparently he had a upper hand on. Moreover, the dramatization makes his plan even more absurd, as instead of pawning the valuable ring like in the original and being only marginally involved, here he has it days after the murder, and robs the Inspector chief! Any bobby would do. Finally, here he also wears prosthetics, again drawing attention.

Sammo ★

The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim - S2-E5

Other mistake: When Japp and the bobby arrest the pickpocketer, the dialogue says "It was only last week that we put him inside for three months" which obviously does not make sense. In the original story he did the 3 months of jail the year before, and this has to be a flub in the lines of this TV version (it is specified also that he did those in the winter, so the Sergeant can't possibly mean that he was released last week). (00:35:00)

Sammo ★

The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim - S2-E5

Factual error: At Poirot's, Hastings browses a copy of Speed magazine - but it's the August 1936 issue. The story is set in mid-October 1935 (not just for consistency with the rest of the season, but also because the newspaper brought by Hastings towards the end mentions Duff Cooper as Financial Secretary for the treasury, which is a position held in that year before the elections - which are also mentioned). (00:18:30 - 00:43:40)

Sammo ★

The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim - S2-E5

Plot hole: The safe is behind a painting that acts like a real door. When Mrs Davenheim spots it, it's wide open. But Japp questioned her in the same room and the painting was in place back then. It really makes no sense that with a story depicted as being so big (it makes the first page of the national newspapers) and with an investigation in place, nobody in a week has checked the safe at all. (00:27:50)

Sammo ★

The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim - S2-E5

Continuity mistake: During the conversation between Lowen, Hastings and Japp through the car window, in his close-ups Tony Mathews moves his torso closer to the window and then back towards the wheel, several times. That is not always reflected accurately in the reverse shot with just the shoulder visible. For instance, right at the end of the scene, he leans in saying "Good God, you don't think you can keep a thing like that secret, surely", but his body is exactly in the same spot in the shots before and after. (00:24:20 - 00:25:10)

Sammo ★

The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim - S2-E5

Other mistake: Lowen allows Hastings inside his Bugatti, but then leaves to join a member of his staff who beckoned him. We actually see him in front of the staffer and the person with him. Cue Japp, who has then a little comical interlude with Hastings for about 20 seconds. Cut then to Lowen who.is just now being introduced to the guy he came over to greet. Surely he has not been standing in awkward silence all that time. And even if we assume that this conversation is supposed to happen simultaneously to the Hastings and Japp show, it is half as short, meaning it would have cut into their antics when he ends it by yelling at them. (00:23:15)

Sammo ★

The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim - S2-E5

Factual error: Poirot reads a fake copy of the Daily Express with a big article about the mystery disappearance. What makes it a not so believable fake, besides the odd artwork instead of a picture (a clash of style with the real Express first pages), is that you can make out of the words of the article closest to the camera, and like it happens to other props used this season, it mentions the Abyssinian crisis...but saying that "Mr. Churchill himself made the only speech." Churchill was not in office in the 30s. (00:17:05)

Sammo ★

The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim - S2-E5

Factual error: It is shown explicitly that The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim includes the fact that before going to his study at 4:30 PM, he starts the record player, with Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture", and that the record stops at 4:45 PM. The problem with it is that Mrs. Davenheim during the whole 15 minutes stayed in the same spot, absent-minded, and in 1935 a recording of that song would have been on a three sided 72 rpm record, since 33 rpm LPs were introduced in 1948. (00:03:15)

Sammo ★

The Cornish Mystery - S2-E4

Continuity mistake: Mrs Pengelley is outraged by Hastings' question about the niece. Poirot opens his umbrella and begins to move forward to ask a different question. The left side of his coat is mostly spotless, but in the next close-up that side is instead covered in water stains, including a quite visible streak on the chest. (00:05:40)

Sammo ★

The Lost Mine - S2-E3

Audio problem: There's a bit of a mix-up in the codenames of the cars who chase Reggie Dyer. Unit 7 is the first to give chase and it is identified by its crew with the photographer. Then Unit 8 intercepts at the rendez-vous point. Check the license plate; FVW 49. Japp mentions a "unit 10" that is not shown. Later in Chinatown, Japp calls for the other cars, and "Car 8" responds, but its license plate is now YD 8501 and it's another car model. Unit 10 is again not shown. They dubbed in the wrong voiceover, they should have kept offscreen the second response by Unit 8 and made it Unit 10's.

Sammo ★

The Lost Mine - S2-E3

Factual error: One of the two police cars identified as Unit 10, is appropriately enough, a Sunbeam-Talbot Ten. The episode is set in 1935 though (with amazing accuracy for some details, including the poster for the movie "George White's Scandals 1935" shown before the car tailing starts), and that car was manufactured only after 1937. (00:19:55 - 00:22:00)

Sammo ★

The Lost Mine - S2-E3

Other mistake: Japp manages to coordinate the pincer action of the 3 police cars using a very broad map and no real information about the whereabouts of the suspect. The whole scene is rather silly, it would work in a modern thriller with a GPS, perhaps, not with toy cars and a street map of London.

Sammo ★

The Lost Mine - S2-E3

Stupidity: The policemen in car 7 are able to take pictures and talk to Japp with total ease, with a direct eyeline at such a low distance from the 3 people that is quite amazing they haven't been discovered - everyone was blind and possibly deaf, since they were so close and with the window open, you'd think they could even easily be heard.

Sammo ★

The Lost Mine - S2-E3

Factual error: In Poirot's study, Lord Pearson shows the big piece of mineral, saying "You're left holding a a nugget of top-grade 24-carat silver." That's a laughable blunder, from a top level banker and investor about to do a massive mining deal even. Silver purity is expressed in millesimal fineness. (00:11:30)

Sammo ★

The Lost Mine - S2-E3

Continuity mistake: His Bankship visits Poirot during the evening, and begins telling him the story of the silver mine. "For half a century, men have died", he says. Poirot has the magnifying lens in the right hand, but also the rock in the left; cut to a different angle, the hand with the rock is held low, out of frame, and then back to the first shot, with the rock exactly where it was. (00:11:55)

Sammo ★

The Lost Mine - S2-E3

Factual error: The episode is set at a precise date (it's even a plot point); 8/2/1935. But at the beginning Poirot and Hastings are playing Monopoly, and right there on the board you can distinctly read; "Trade Mark - Pat.app. For Nº 3796-36." As signaled by the last 2 digits, it's a 1936 edition (the UK localization of the game). (00:01:40)

Sammo ★

The Veiled Lady - S2-E2

Stupidity: The gang is brutal enough to have Lavington killed; considering they know where he lives and that there's just a single housekeeper, it would have been miles easier for them to just kill or tie her up and ransack the house themselves with all the time they wanted, rather than involving the most famous detective with an obvious ruse and hope he'd find the object.

Sammo ★

The Veiled Lady - S2-E2

Continuity mistake: The cream colored shoes of the Lady are prominently featured in the finale. When the actress has to run, not only are the heels replaced by modern tennis shoes, but they're black, in contrast with her white stockings. (00:46:40)

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The Veiled Lady - S2-E2

Factual error: To meet The Veiled Lady the second time, Hastings and Poirot go to the Natural History Museum. The establishing shot is the iconic "Dippy the Diplodocus", right in the main hall. But in 1935, Dippy would have been in the reptile hall instead, and with his head and neck mounted differently. (00:37:35)

Sammo ★

The Veiled Lady - S2-E2

Continuity mistake: Poirot tells Miss Lemon to calm down because "It is only the simple blackmailer." Pauline Moran has her right hand on the bag, but in the close-up that follows her hand is at a distance from it. The difference in position (and thus in the takes being edited together) is reflected by a mistake happening a few seconds later, when you can notice as she turns around to answer the door, that her gloves have also switched hand. (00:12:10)

Sammo ★