Given my love for the film, I approached this series with skepticism. Trying to revive the role that Bogie just dominated (thus propelling the film to the Cinematic Mount Olympus (unlike the 1931 and 1936 versions)) and, in turn, propelled him to leading man stardom (damn good thing that George Raft turned down the role), seemed a highly dubious proposition.
The first episode was unnecessarily sluggish but I labored onwards, nonetheless. The tale and pacing improved in subsequent episodes but, even though he is a fine actor, I could not help but virtually overlay the image of Bogie upon Clive Owen - harmony was never achieved. This level of scrutiny was unfair to Monsieur Owen but my inner cinematic purist refused to slacken.
I kept watching, for the production itself was very good (actors, sets, clothing, cars, etc) and the story became more intricate.
And then came the finale, which I just finished viewing. The production suddenly became the equivalent of an old Citroen or Peugeot - the engine ceased working just before the finish line, leaving the viewers stranded. Such a cheap, ludicrous and buffoonish ending. A new character appeared just in the nick of time to shred any appreciation that the viewers had developed for the production up until that point. As my Dad used to say, "people don't speak like that in real life." A befuddling choice by the writers/Director/Producers.
So obviously I would suggest avoiding this series. Go watch some "Poirot" episodes (David Suchet - magnifique!) instead. In case you haven't seen them, check out some of Bogie's second fiddle "heavy" roles he played in the 30's (e.g. "The Roaring Twenties" with Jimmy Cagney and "Bullets or Ballots" with Edward G. Robinson).
The first episode was unnecessarily sluggish but I labored onwards, nonetheless. The tale and pacing improved in subsequent episodes but, even though he is a fine actor, I could not help but virtually overlay the image of Bogie upon Clive Owen - harmony was never achieved. This level of scrutiny was unfair to Monsieur Owen but my inner cinematic purist refused to slacken.
I kept watching, for the production itself was very good (actors, sets, clothing, cars, etc) and the story became more intricate.
And then came the finale, which I just finished viewing. The production suddenly became the equivalent of an old Citroen or Peugeot - the engine ceased working just before the finish line, leaving the viewers stranded. Such a cheap, ludicrous and buffoonish ending. A new character appeared just in the nick of time to shred any appreciation that the viewers had developed for the production up until that point. As my Dad used to say, "people don't speak like that in real life." A befuddling choice by the writers/Director/Producers.
So obviously I would suggest avoiding this series. Go watch some "Poirot" episodes (David Suchet - magnifique!) instead. In case you haven't seen them, check out some of Bogie's second fiddle "heavy" roles he played in the 30's (e.g. "The Roaring Twenties" with Jimmy Cagney and "Bullets or Ballots" with Edward G. Robinson).