Customer Reviews

Agatha Christie Mysteries (Death on the Nile / Evil Under the Sun / The Mirror Crack'd)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This only concerns "Death on the Nile".
This blockbusting film adapted from Agatha Christie's novel is the very archetype and acme of her detective stories, at least those using the services of the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot from Brussels. She builds up a closed set of people who are all concerned by the murder that is committed in a closed environment. They all have some personal interest to commit this crime, hence a motive, and none of them have an alibi, at least a real alibi. They can all have done it and Poirot is going to use his Belgian brain to sort out the facts and bring out the truth, as a reconstruction that is intended to trap or trick the culprit. And it works. That's how the mystery is resolved. One shady corner can be found though: the cobra in Poirot's bathroom will remain unexplained. It must have been overlooked at some moment in the making of the film because Agatha Christie would never do such a mistake.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Paris Dauphine & University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne

I'm going to quickly cite some of my qualifications for rating these 3 films because it's relevant to what I have to say: I'm a HUGE Christie fan -- I've read every book/play (some 2 or 3 times) that she wrote (over 80 in all), her Mary Westmacott pseudonym stuff, her tome of an autobiography (not a very good or honest work, BTW!), and all the films and TV productions of Christie mysteries that are available to date.

Now, I will begin by noting that, for me, there are essentially 3 facets to evaluating a "Christie film" -- 1. Was it a good book to begin with? -- some are excellent, some are pretty lame, 2. How closely did the screenwriter adhere to the original work?, and, 3. Did the acting come off as "genuine" or was it hokey? (Christie stories, in particular, always manifest the dreaded potential to come off badly in the hands of an unskilled director). For example, to give you a measuring stick, the best Christie film ever is: Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express

A REVISION! Here is yet another brilliant Christie film! (see my review):

Ten Little Indians / Desyat' Negrityat

This set of three DVDs are, in the aggregate, "good films," worth the price -- unfortunately, given that they were obviously high-budget films, they COULD have all been spectacular, but that simply did not happen. I'll take them from best to worst.

"Evil Under the Sun" is the star of the three. Like "Murder on the Orient Express" (which is not in this set), it's chock-full of big names: Peter Ustinov (as Poirot), James Mason, Roddy Macdowall, Colin Blakely, and others. It takes place on a resort island, an actress is murdered on a remote beach, and Poirot has to unmask the murderer at the conclusion -- standard Poirot formula. If Ustinov does not exactly fit the profile of the book Poirot, he certainly makes up for it in a fine performance. All performances are a bit overplayed but it still comes off nicely -- it's in letterbox and the cinematography is spectacular. For me, it just makes the 5-star rating that I gave it. I definitely recommend it to all viewers.

The second film in the set is "Death on the Nile," which was one of Christie's finest mysteries ever; however, this movie has a few problems, the first being that the director clearly depended upon all the big stars to simply "carry" the film. Included are Peter Ustinov (as Poirot), Bette Davis, David Niven, Angela Lansbury, Mia Farrow, George Kennedy, Jack Warden, and others. The film was produced in 1978 and all these actors were pretty much well past their primes. Again, Ustinov pulls off a super performance and I especially liked Mia Farrow too. The great David Niven was okay but the remainder pretty much stunk in their roles. Angela Lansbury, as a drunken has-been writer of fiction, was simply terrible. The story itself revolves around a honeymoon couple's (the bride is RICH!) boat tour (bulging with enemies of the bride) up the Nile River where the bride is ultimately murdered, a bullet to the head. There is also a second murder, I won't say who as that would be a spoiler. Again, Poirot has to expose the culprit at the end. The film is in letterbox format and the cinematography is magnificent. I should also say that this is not a boring film -- the activity and scenery will keep Christie fans interested throughout. Had the movie people cast fewer big names and focused a lot more on telling the story in a serious manner, this would have been an easy 5 -- I reluctantly give it a 4 and definitely recommend it to all Christie fans. Other viewers might only make it halfway through the film.

The third DVD is "The Mirror Crack'd," another pretty good Christie book -- and, again, we are presented with an overage of big names.... and I mean BIG! Angela Lansbury, Elizabeth Taylor, Kim Novak, Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis and Edward Fox, the latter giving a VERY fine performance, maybe even "saving" the film for me in the second half. The story: A frumpy local woman is murdered (poisoned) as she attends a high-end theatrical party with hundreds present... but was she the intended victim? This time, Miss Marple (Christie's top female snooper), of course, reveals all at the conclusion. I must sadly report that Angela Lansbury played Miss Marple, deplorably, and it's equally sad that the screenwriters departed significantly from Chistie's rendering of the favorite lady amateur detective's profile. Lansbury comes off as very assertive, not humble at all, and even puffs away at a non-filtered coffin nail near the end of the flick, an act that would have appalled Christie's Miss Marple. I'm a huge Elizabeth Taylor fan and she conveyed her character quite well, as expected -- unfortunately, this film was shot in 1980 and Liz was a lumbering side of Hereford beef, sporting 2 1/2 chins -- I was much saddened by this has-been appearance. Hudson, who played her husband, was similarly worn-looking with very bad make-up. Throughout the movie, he looked as if he'd been on a week-long bender. At one point, in a sort of love scene, he's lying on the bed, face up, and Taylor launches herself on to him -- you could almost hear the air hiss out of poor guy and old Rock additionally didn't seem to know what to do with his arms and hands as they didn't encircle her all that effectively. Then, the camera angle switches to Taylor's face, scrunched up on Hudson's shoulder, and it takes on a gargoyle-ish essence -- the editors should have caught this but, like the rest of the movie, you get the idea that this one was all about "yielding product," and nothing about creating art. The entire film is like this -- a "has-been actors' struggle" I would call it. Fox plays the Scotland Yard Inspector, (and loyal nephew to Lansbury/Marple), and, again, he saves the film from being a complete fizzle. Poor Tony Curtis looked as if he'd been run through a tree shredder, with very bad, scruffy-looking, (and very little) hair. Christie fans will like this film okay but I can't recommend it to anyone else. Positive aspects include the letterbox format and very nice cinematography. To conclude this one, I give it a 3 on the low end.

So there you have it.

Peter Ustinov portrays Poirot with more humor than is ever present in the books. I love Agatha Christie books, but always found Poirot to be stuffy and hard to enjoy. Ustinov is great and I couldn't love his work more.

in my opinion at least, people should own a film because they themselves enjoy it. their enjoyment can cover many different facets such as story, cast, director perhaps and production values the largest guage of enjoyment should be if they would like to see the film, or favorite portions multiple times to savor more completely their pleasure. if you purchase a DVD and it ends up on a shelf to gather dust, then the best part of owning a film is lost.

some people watch a film expecting to find perfection and this rarely happens. all this does is create an aura of frustration and disappointment. the most important thing to remember is that if you enjoy the film, is not to let others change your mind just because of their fault finding. many will just find fault because they like to pick any film apart like an artichoke until there is nothing left.

by the way, i find it rather amusing that while THE MIRROR CRACKED is supposed to take place somewhere around 1953, the film producer character of Tony Curtis, sporting a very close crew cut, and his diva film star/wife Kim Novak, arrive at the fete and make a grand entrance driving a 1959 Caddy Convertible, a glaring error of continuity, or was it an inside joke? even such a self important film proucer would be hard pressed to obtain a model automobile that wouldn't be produced until several years later.a better choice for a vehicle to utilize would have been a Bentley or Rolls, since they would be difficult to guess their ages.

After reading some of the reviews, I was a bit hesitant to purchase this movie via video on demand BUT I AM GLAD THAT I DID. No, I would not say that this was any of the actors "best" performances but I still enjoyed it. In fact, I was actually surprised by the ending. It has moments of humor that I found quite entertaining, for example, without giving too much away, Elizabeth Taylor's character says a line that contains the name of an actress with whom Rock Hudson has made a lot of movies and the look on his face is priceless. I personally think that it's worth viewing, if you don't expect toooo much.

This box set from Anchor Bay offers two of Peter Ustinov's six films as Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot. Between 1978 and 1988, Ustinov starred as the detective in three theatrical films and three made-for-television movies. This set offers his two earliest (theatrical) performances, and as a "bonus," the set provides the 1980 Miss Marple film, "The Mirror Cracked," the weakest of the films in this set. Angela Landsbury is sadly miscast as Miss Marple, though the supporting cast (Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, etc.) make it bearable.

A number of actors have portrayed Poirot over the years, and in my opinion, Peter Ustinov is still the best. Arguably, these first two films are the best of his series, and while it's a shame that there is not a complete six-film DVD box set available, I am just happy to see these great mysteries released on DVD. Anchor Bay has done another good job with this production, from offering a few vintage special features on each film to reproducing the original poster art as an insert.

For fans of Ustinov, this is naturally a must-own set. For collectors, his three Poirot made-for-TV films are available as a separate 3-DVD set, and the final theatrical film is also available separately on DVD. All can be found right here on Amazon.

I bought this set because I wanted to collect every Peter Ustinov portrayal of Hercule Poirot. Two of the movies are fabulous. As for "The Mirror Cracked", Ustinov is not in the cast and I could do without the plot as well. Nonethe less, I'm glad I purchased the set.

I was so delighted to find these wonderful Agatha Christie mysteries out on DVD finally I've seen them all a few times but the stories are still intriguing. It's also a delight to see many of the old stars in their glory days and some of today's stars in their beginning roles. I love a movie that can be watched over and over again and not lose its freshness. These movies definitely fit that category.

Being a big fan of Agatha Christie and Peter Ustinov, i was not disappointed in the movie versions. Well worth the price to see them.

I have looked at every place that rents movies for these titles. I love Death on teh Nile and Evil Under the Sun. But, I could never find them. Now I can watch them as much as I want. I have to laugh at the how Death on the Nile, changes the geography of Egypt. To think that you could be in Luxor in the morning and Abu Simbel before sunset can only be movie magic. But, I loved it anyway.