Overrated and overhyped

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

A splendid cast, a brilliant original author and stunning scenery. What could go wrong? Well just about everything. Too many characters - some of them merged into each other for me, as not enough distinction in personality - and too long. Peter Ustinov, a lovely man, seemed to have his accents askew: at times sounding more German than Belgian. The whole thing seemed very amateurish which is astonishing given the credits. It simply didn't work. Perhaps it's a time thing, although I normally enjoy older movies, but having seen the polished and efficient David Suchet as Poirot, Ustinov looks like a cuddly old uncle in comparison, and that was not Poirot. Total waste of John Geilgud, and Hayley Mills just seemed colourless. None of them were realistic. At the end of the day, it was just boring.

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)

Peter Ustinov is the best Poirot since Poirot has been on film. Even though Agatha Christie says she pictured Poirot more like Albert Finney in Murder On The Orient Express, Ustinov is much less annoying and a lot more fun. He's sarcastic and funny and pulls the best Belgian accent i've ever seen. These movies have amazing plots(thanks to Dame Christie :)) and the casts are outstanding. For all you Christie readers, these are the best Poirot movies out there. I suggest you see them in order(even though you don't have too, it makes them even better. Albert Finney did it good, David Suchet did disgustingly and Peter Ustinov did it amazing.

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.