Perhaps, then, one of the reasons Iliked “Evil Under The Sun” was that this time, when Ustinov paused in hissummation (after verbally convicting everyone in the room), and it was clear hewas about to finger the real killer, I guessed the killer's identity, and I wasright. What's important is that all theright clues be distributed, so that Poirot and the audience can pick them up,mull them over, and discover the culprit. Nobody really cares who gets bumpedoff, and nobody really misses the departed. I can observe, however, that one of the delightsof the movies made from Agatha Christie novels is their almost complete lack ofpassion: They substitute wit and style. Nothing else I could say about the crime wouldbe fair. The murdereris one (or more) of the above.
The newly discovered corpse belongs to one of the above. Theyinclude Maggie Smith, a former actress who now runs an elegant spa in theAdriatic Sea Diana Rigg, as her jealous contemporary Sylvia Miles and JamesMason, as a rich couple who produce shows on Broadway Jane Birkin and NicholasClay as a young couple constantly arguing over his roving eye Colin Blakely asa rich knight who's been taken by a gold digger Emily Hone as the young newwife and Roddy McDowall as a bitchy gossip columnist who knows the dirt abouteverybody. He is so expansive, so beaming, sosuperior, in the opening scenes that he remains spiritually present throughoutthe film, even when he's not on screen.Īll of the rest of the cast are suspects. He has a bit of business involving a dip in the sea thatis so perfectly timed and acted it tells us everything we ever wanted to knowabout Poirot's appetite for exercise. As Poirot, Peter Ustinov creates a wonderful mixture of the mentally polished andphysically maladroit. It's the cast that makes EVILmore fun than the previous manifestations of this identical plot. It continues with the discoveryof another corpse, with the liberal distribution of gigantic clues and withPoirot's lip-smacking summary of the evidence. Itcontinues in obligatory fashion with the gathering of a large number ofcolorful and eccentric suspects in an out-of-the-way spot, which just happensto also be the destination of Hercule Poirot. It begins in the usual way, with a corpse.
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