Peter Ustinov's Poirot made two 'big screen' appearances with starry casts (both excellent in my opinion) before retreating to TV movie land with a further three stories (slightly less starry and variable in quality). 'Appointment With Death' was his return to the big screen - I remember going to the cinema on it's release. The cast is semi starry this time and, unlike the TV movies, Poirot is now back in period...almost - the theme music is very eighties!
The basic plot in 'Appointment With Death' is not really one of Christie's strongest. The book is notable mainly for the extraordinary creation that is Mrs Boynton and the strange psychological hold she has over her family. Much as I like Piper Laurie, I was disappointed that in this film the character is turned into a more obvious pantomime villain. Lauren Bacall's Lady Westholme is by far the most vivid character here, overdoing it just very slightly but not too much. Jenny Seagrove has some good moments but Soul, Fisher and Mills are a bit wasted. Gielgud has little to do as Colonel Carbury. The remaining Boyntons are not very convincing - some quite poor acting here I thought. Sadly I felt that much of the time even Ustinov was 'going through the motions' - there seems little of the fun from the first two movies.
The locations are lovely although it was disappointing not to see Petra (as in the book) but perhaps they couldn't get permission to film there and the 'period' feel is generally pretty good. I enjoyed watching this movie again but it's sadly not a patch on Ustinov's earlier outings as the Belgian detective.
The basic plot in 'Appointment With Death' is not really one of Christie's strongest. The book is notable mainly for the extraordinary creation that is Mrs Boynton and the strange psychological hold she has over her family. Much as I like Piper Laurie, I was disappointed that in this film the character is turned into a more obvious pantomime villain. Lauren Bacall's Lady Westholme is by far the most vivid character here, overdoing it just very slightly but not too much. Jenny Seagrove has some good moments but Soul, Fisher and Mills are a bit wasted. Gielgud has little to do as Colonel Carbury. The remaining Boyntons are not very convincing - some quite poor acting here I thought. Sadly I felt that much of the time even Ustinov was 'going through the motions' - there seems little of the fun from the first two movies.
The locations are lovely although it was disappointing not to see Petra (as in the book) but perhaps they couldn't get permission to film there and the 'period' feel is generally pretty good. I enjoyed watching this movie again but it's sadly not a patch on Ustinov's earlier outings as the Belgian detective.