Peter Ustinov portrayed Agatha Christie’s great Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, a total of six times from 1978 to 1986. The first two films, Death on the Nile (1978) and Evil Under the Sun (1982), were rather lavishly produced, star-studded affairs from EMI. The third film, Appointment with Death (1988), was still star-studded, but its budget from Cannon Films was significantly less. The final three films – Thirteen at Dinner (1985), Murder in Three Acts (1985), and Dead Man’s Folly (1986)—were all made-for-TV productions and strangely set in modern times.
Buy Evil Under the SunMy favorite Poirot is and will always be David Suchet, but Ustinov’s version of the famed detective (though quite different from Suchet’s and, in fact, quite different from how Christie wrote him) has won me over. The three made-for-cinema films are quite good. I’ve never been able to find a copy of Thirteen at Dinner, but the other two TV movies have their charms but are considerably less in quality.
My favorite of all Ustinov’s Poirot films is this one, Evil Under the Sun. It has a great cast, a beautiful setting, and a very good mystery. It also contains one of my favorite moments in any Poirot adaptation ever. Dressed in an absolutely ridiculous swimming outfit, Poirot slowly walks down to the sea. He looks around to make sure no one is watching, then slips his feet into the water. Wading up not quite to his waist, he walks back and forth, making swimming motions with his hands. Then he retreats back to the hotel. When asked by another guest if he’s been swimming, Poirot nods in agreement and says,”Yes, I have been swimming! There’s nothing like the shock of cold water and rhythmic movement to stimulate the little grey cells.” Poirot is too vain to actually swim, and too vain to admit that he doesn’t. The sight of him in that suit pretending to swim is simply wonderful.
The sea Poirot doesn’t swim in is the Adriatic; the beach is on the coast of a small island where he’s staying at a very fancy hotel. He’s waiting for Sir Horace Blatt (Colin Blakely), a man who was swindled out of a precious diamond. That mystery takes a back seat to the main one (a murder, of course), and, in fact, Blatt disappears for much of the film.
Like many of Agatha Christie’s best mysteries, this one finds Poirot trying to solve a murder in an isolated location amongst a large cast of potential killers, all of whom have perfect alibis.
The hotel is run by Daphne Castle (Maggie Smith, who gets some of the film’s best lines). The guests include Arlena Stuart Marshall (Diana Rigg), a famous actress; Odell and Myra Gardener (James Mason and Sylvia Miles), producers hoping to get Arlena in their next stage production; Kenneth Marshall (Denis Quilley), Arlena’s new husband; Linda Marshall (Emily Hone), Kenneth’s teenage daughter; Rex Brewster (Roddy McDowall), a writer who has penned a gossipy tell-all about Arlena and needs her permission to publish it; Patrick Redfern (Nicolas Clay), who’s having an affair with Arlena, and Christine Redfern (Jane Birkin), Patrick’s rather mousy wife.
The film spends its first hour letting us get to know these characters and their relationships to one another and allowing Poirot to stick his little grey cells in every nook and cranny. Nearly everyone has some kind of attachment to Arlena (even Daphne Castle used to act next to her) and a reason to kill her. I don’t think it counts as much of a spoiler to say she’s the one who gets murdered (and Diana Rigg has a great deal of fun being as bitchy as possible as Arlena before she gets strangled).
The rest of the film finds Poirot interviewing everyone on the island (well, nearly everyone; Daphne has several staff members who all seem to be islanders, and we see numerous other native islanders running about, but the film (nor Poirot) pays them much mind). Everyone has an alibi for the time of the murder. Nobody could have committed the murder, it seems, but as Poirot notes, there is still a body.
The solution is nice and clever. Christie was always good at creating an impossible puzzle and then carefully putting it all together. I love a good mystery, but honestly, I’m never all that concerned with the details of whodunnit. I come for the characters and the setting, and Evil Under the Sun has those in spades.
Everyone in the cast gets at least a few moments to shine. The star, of course, is Ustinov, and he’s wonderful. I can’t help but compare every other actor playing Poirot to David Suchet, and Ustinov isn’t nearly as fussy in his portrayal, but he finds his own way to inhabit the role. Diana Rigg and Maggie Smith are a delight, tossing hilariously catty one-liners back and forth. But everyone, really, is quite enjoyable. Much of the film was shot in Mallorca (which portrays the fictional country of Tyrania); its sun-drenched beauty is just gorgeous.
Evil Under the Sun is exactly what I want from an Agatha Christie adaptation. I don’t expect great art or perfect cinema; I want a twisty mystery and a great cast. I want something I can cozy up to whilst lying around in my pajamas and a nice cup of tea. And that’s exactly what this is.
Kino Lorber provides Evil Under the Sun with a new HDR/Dolby Vision Master 4K scan from the original 35 mm negative. Unfortunately, my UHD disc would not play on my player. I could only get the menu for some reason so I cannot comment on its quality. The Blu-ray that comes with this set looked quite beautiful, though.
Extras include the following:
DISC 1 (4K UHD):
- Brand New HDR/Dolby Vision Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative
- Audio Commentary by Film Historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson
- Triple-Layered UHD100 Disc
- Optional English Subtitles
DISC 2 (BLU-RAY):
- Brand New HD Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative
- Audio Commentary by Film Historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson
- The Making of Evil Under the Sun
- Radio Spots
- Theatrical Trailer
- Dual-Layered BD50 Disc
- Optional English Subtitles
