Certainly a nice change from thr three made for TV films in which Ustinov stars as Poirot, which are excellent too, namely Thirteen at Dinner and Murder in Three Acts, and Dead Man's Folly, but Ustinov's full potential is really unleashed in the big-screen appearances.

Move over David Suchet! There is only one Hercule Poirot, that is Sir Peter Ustinov.


One of Agatha Christie's Best!   May 25, 1999
 11 out of 15 found this review helpful

Although this is one of the more light hearted of the Agatha Christie film adaptions done, it's also one of the best. With a stellar cast, including Peter Ustinov as the clever Poirot, this mystery keeps you guessing until the end. Certainly one of my favorite films, right next to "Murder On The Orient Express"!


Best Of The Agatha Christie Movies   January 25, 2000
 9 out of 9 found this review helpful

This is one of the best movie based on Agatha Christie's novel. Featuring class actors such as Lauren Bacall, Peter Ustinov, Hayley Mills, Carrie Fisher...,we get an array of characters that make very good suspects. However, it is Piper Laurie's magnificent performance as Emily Boynton that deserves most credit because she plays her character so well that it reduces any sympathy that the audiences might have for her. Who else can try to poison her lawyer in the presence of her step-children without being corny, except the talented Piper Laurie?


The Murder of a Matronly Matriarch   July 27, 2002
 9 out of 10 found this review helpful

The matriarch of a brood of ineffectual children lords it over them and bullies them almost beyond enduring. They put up with their stepmother because their father's will left everything to her (or did it?) and the children are such wimps they cannot support themselves. Did I mention that the matriarch was once a matron in a women's prison? By the time ...gets bumped off, the viewer will be ready to cheer. But every child has a motive (the money), the means (access to mom's medicine for the overdose), and the opportunity (nobody has an alibi). There are even a few bystanders with ample motive. Not to fear, the redoubtable Hercule Poirot is on the scene to untie this whodunnit's Gordian Knot. He eavesdrops on everyone's conversations, rakes everyone over the coals with his scathing interrogations, and handily exposes the killer.

This all happens in the Middle East, as Poirot vacations in the Holy Land. The environs of Jerusalem provide some beautiful background, and the viewer visits the dusty digs at Qumran, the site of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The movie follows the book pretty well, but I was disappointed that the producer moved the scene of the murder from Petra to Qumran. The beautiful architecture of Petra would have made for more satisfying visuals than the excavation holes of Qumran. Remember the fabulous building in the side of the mountain from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?" That's Petra.

Peter Ustinov serves as a passable Poirot, but he's too big and too unkempt to capture the charm of Christie's Poirot. David Suchet, star of the A&E Poirot series, sets the standard against which all other video Poirots must suffer. Lauren Bacall almost stole the show with her rendition of an American-born M.P. who tried to out-English the native born English.


Great Adaptation   January 1, 2002
 8 out of 9 found this review helpful

I think Michael Winner made a great adaptation of "Appointment With Death". They picked just the right actors to fit the parts.

The story is about the Boynton family on a 30's Holy Land tour. Mrs. Boynton (Piper Laurie) and her long suffering children Lennox (Nicholas Guest), Nadine (Carrie Fisher), Carol (Valerie Richards), Raymond (John Terlesky) and Ginevera visit Europe and the Holy Land. But their lawyer, Jefferson Cope (David Soul), secretly joins them. Mrs. Boynton makes enemies with everyone she meets. Including Lady Westholme (Lauren Bacall), Miss Quinton (Hayley Mills) and Dr. Sarah King (Jenny Seagrove). John Gielgud makes an appearance as Colonel Carbury.

I hope you enjoy this movie as much as I do!