kluseba I have appreciated numerous cinematic adaptations of Agatha Christie's novels, including Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile and Evil Under the Sun that have been released throughout the seventies and eighties. The movies have convinced me and fans all around the world with charismatic star actresses and actors, characters with charisma, charm and depth as well as unpredictable twists and turns in the addicting plots. None of these things can be found in this dull film.Let's start with the few positive elements. The photography looks gorgeous and was filmed on location in Italy and Israel. The movie makes you want to visit these exotic locations. The only convincing actress is Piper Laurie who plays the cold matriarch brilliantly. Sadly, her character gets killed halfway through the movie. The few investigative flashbacks in the film's second half at least make you guess who might have committed the murder for a few moments but the outcome is surprisingly simple.On the negative side, we have not only surprisingly shallow characters but also unconvincing actresses and actors. Peter Ustinow who once again impersonates Belgian detective Hercule Poirot looks slow, old and dull and he speaks way too much without saying anything significant. His wit, sharpness and good manners of yore seem to be gone. The moment when he finally solves the crime feels artificially stretched. The story isn't particularly exciting either. This isn't only due to the fact that none of the characters evokes any kind of sympathy but also to a surprising lack of twists and turns leading to an unusually predictable outcome. The directing of the movie is also lacking sharpness as it takes almost half of the running time to introduce the numerous characters before anything significant happens. The second half of the movie feels somewhat rushed on the other side and a few questions are left unanswered. The film's conclusion is also rather underwhelming and seems misplaced. The source material is only partially to blame here since the resolution has been shortened considerably for this adaptation.In the end, Appointment with Death is the weakest cinematic adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel and there have been quite a few. The movie hasn't aged well at all. The acting performances are mostly underwhelming, the characters are uninteresting, the movie has strange pace, the plot is a routine job at best and the conclusion is disappointing. I can recommend the other adaptations mentioned in the introduction but would recommend anyone to stay away from Appointment with Death.

Lechuguilla This is not one of Agatha Christie's better whodunits. Still, it's set in an interesting locale. And it's got Peter Ustinov. So for those two reasons the film is worth watching, once.Apart from Ustinov, however, casting isn't very good. Secondary actors and their performances are rather bland and uninteresting. Younger females tend to have similar looks. Lauren Bacall looks too old for the role she plays. David Soul has got to be one of the most boring actors I have ever watched. And Piper Laurie, normally a fine actress, overacts here, possibly due to poor direction.But the worst element of the casting is what made the old "Murder, She Wrote" television series so disappointing. In those shows, the murderer was almost always played by the actor who ... To say more would be to give away too much for this film.Cinematography is acceptable, though nothing special. Period-piece costumes and production design are adequate. But the score is dreadful. It lacks style; it's nondescript, something seemingly put together quickly, or cheaply.Set mostly in the Middle East near the Dead Sea in the 1930s, the story unites an archaeological expedition with murder. A wealthy but grumpy old woman takes her brood along and they predictably encounter Poirot. A murder occurs, and Poirot solves it. The formula is the same as for most other Christie whodunits. This one lacks artistic flair and eloquence. Though worth watching once, it's no match for earlier Agatha Christie films.

gridoon2018 A Golan-Globus production of an Agatha Christie novel?, you may ask. Thankfully, the financers of Charles Bronson's entire 1980's filmography, among many other (cheapie) things, actually put some money into this project, allowing for location shooting in England, Italy and (mainly) Israel, period costumes and vehicles, etc. However, the locations are shot without much flavor and the film ends up feeling more like a TV movie than a theatrical release. The plot itself is not among Christie's strongest, though co-screenwriter Anthony Shaffer at least tries to mix it up a little with some interesting ideas (Poirot assembles all the suspects for the first time, we expect him to reveal the murderer....and he doesn't). Ustinov is still delightful, and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, as Poirot; he reminds me in a way of Roger Moore's James Bond: purists argue that these two are not 105% accurate to the books, but I'm having too much fun watching them to care. In the supporting cast, the standout is clearly Jenny Seagrove, who has all the beauty, the elegance, the spirit and the courage of the best Christie heroines.The latest (2008) David Suchet - Poirot season also produced a version of this book. It changes the story almost completely, only keeping a few names and relationships intact. Personally I preferred it for its dark, psychological approach and its truly magnificent scenery, but for a more faithful, lightweight version, this 1988 film holds up better than I remembered. (**1/2)

bkoganbing Appointment with Death was the last theatrical release of that series of Hercule Poirot mysteries. I'm sure Peter Ustinov probably could have done others. I wouldn't be surprised if in fact the BBC Poirot series starring David Suchet which we in America saw for many years may have killed the more expensive budgeted big screen Poirot that Ustinov did so well.This particular mystery finds Hercule Poirot on holiday and in the company both on ship and later in British mandated Palestine in the mid Thirties of an American family headed by a tyrannical stepmother played by Piper Laurie. She has one grown daughter and three stepchildren one of whom is married. All live with her and the terms of her late husband's will give her complete control of the family fortune. The power of the purse keeps the whole family under her thumb. Laurie's come a long way since she was a matron in a women's prison.Another woman along on the trip who's come along way is a character based on Lady Nancy Astor, an American born woman who married a title and now has a seat in Parliament played by Lauren Bacall. She's traveling with a companion played by Hailey Mills. Also along on the trip is David Soul, Laurie's family attorney and Jenny Seagrove as a young doctor. On an excursion out in the desert Laurie turns up dead and the mystery is afoot. Of course Poirot through careful questioning and a gathering of the suspects eventually finds out who the real murderer is.The film has of course an impressive cast which also includes John Gielgud as the local police inspector in Jerusalem. A young Arab boy also dies during the film, killed because he witnessed the murder and can identify the culprit. That particular act robs us of any sympathy we might have had for the perpetrator.Appointment with Death also benefits from good photography, shot on location in both Israel and Italy with interiors done in London. All the Peter Ustinov Poirot films are of excellent quality and are a great introduction to the work Agatha Christie.