Thirteen At Dinner

VHS, 91 minutes, WARNER

A lucky number for "Hercule Poirot" fans! Lord Edgware isn't just dead. He's murdered, colder than a poached salmon. Whoever killed this snobbish husband of a giddy movie star will need the tightest of air-tight alibis - because Hercule Poirot is on the case! Peter Ustinov delightfully returns to his long-beloved role as Poirot in "Thirteen At Dinner," based on Agatha Christie's "Lord Edgware Dies." The setting (the film was shot in and around London) is Hollywood-on-Thames, plunging the refined sleuth into the quite alien world of an on-location film crew. The casting is historic, sort of a reigning Poirot vs. an heir apparent. David Suchet, who went on to portray Poirot on the PBS-TV "Mystery" series, plays the great detective's foil Inspector Japp. With suspects aplenty (including Faye Dunaway in a delicious dual role), an occasional corpse, urbane atmosphere and Poirot's "little gray cells" working overtime, "Thirteen At Dinner" is a full-course mystery. Bon appetit!.