Hercule Poirot met his lifelong friend, Captain Arthur Hastings, and solved the first of his cases to be published, "The Mysterious Affair at Styles". It is clear that Hastings and Poirot are already friends when they meet in Chapter 2 of the novel, as Hastings tells Cynthia that he has not seen him for "some years". Particulars such as the date of 1916 for the case and that Hastings had met Poirot in Belgium, are given in "Curtain: Poirot's Last Case", Chapter 1. After that case, Poirot apparently came to the attention of the British secret service and undertook cases for the
Hercule Poirot on screen in the 1931 British film "Alibi". The film was based on the stage play. Trevor reprised the role of Poirot twice, in "Black Coffee" and "Lord Edgware Dies". Trevor said once that he was probably cast as Poirot simply because he could do a French accent. Leslie S. Hiscott directed the first two films, and Henry Edwards took over for the third. Tony Randall portrayed Poirot in "The Alphabet Murders", a 1965 film also known as "The ABC Murders". This was more a satire of Poirot than a straightforward adaptation, and was greatly changed from the original. Much