The Agatha Christie Collection (4K UHD)

It’s fascinating how the “whodunnit” genre of crime fiction seems to be making somewhat of a comeback in the last decade or so, from the “cosy crime” stylings of Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club novels (and the recent film adaptation) as well as modern TV series such as Death Valley and Ludwig, to broader scoped, larger budget affairs like Rian Johnson’s Poker Face TV series and Knives Out films; and yet among this renaissance there have only been a handful visitations to the work of the author who is arguably the progenitor of the genre – Agatha Christie.

Other than the criminally underlooked, semi spoofing Christie love letter See How They Run, and a few BBC series, Christie’s work has only had three major Hollywood adaptations in recent years, all from (and starring) director Kenneth Branagh as Christie’s famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. But, as Netflix gears up to tickle audiences little grey cells with a third Knives Out film, the fantastically titled Wake Up Dead Man, StudioCanal are treating fans of the genre to a new boxed set comprising of four Christie adaptations, produced in the 70’s and 80’s by John Brabourne and Richard Goodwin. Can these star studded movies live up to the standards set by some of the more modern detectives?

Murder on the Orient Express

Director: Sidney Lumet
Screenplay: Paul Dehn
Starring: Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline Bisset, Jean-Paul Cassel, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Wendy Hillier, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Rachel Roberts, Richard Widmark, Michael York
Year: 1974
Duration: 128min
Country: UK
BBFC Certification: PG

While journeying on the Orient Express from Istanbul to his home in Belgium, detective Hercule Poirot is approached by an American businessman to help protect him from someone on the train who he believes may do him harm. When this man is later found stabbed to death in his cabin and the train is held up in a snowdrift, Poirot begins an investigation to discover the killer among the passengers…

Perhaps one of the first things that stands out about this adaptation of Christie’s 1934 novel, easily one of the more well known tales on this box set, is the sheer volume of stars in its cast. I don’t normally put that many cast members on these reviews but I think this particular write up will be an exception – just look at it! That’s a lot of big names for the time, but one of the most remarkable things about this veritable cornucopia of thespians is just how much none of the supporting roles ever really over shadow the film, even the bigger presences like Sean Connery, Anthony Perkins, John Gielgud and Ingrid Bergman (who won a best supporting actress Oscar for her role here). No, that honour of course goes to the star of the show with Albert Finney’s Poirot.

It’s Finney who perhaps caused the biggest problem for me with this adaptation. Despite being a critically acclaimed performance, garnering Finney an Oscar nod and cited to be closest to Christie’s original (indeed it’s one of the few performances the author herself saw in her lifetime and personally stated was her favourite portrayal of the detective), I personally found it to be a touch overbearing. Finney’s Poirot leans heavily into the detective’s eccentricities and heavily layers on an accent that borders on parody, particularly in the earlier scenes of the film before he switches into detective mode. The physical look of Poirot is also odd here with the actor wearing a padded suit to emulate the character’s weight, something that is often painfully obvious, leaving him with no neck, a hunched back and an odd gait. Thankfully in the back half, the performance does start to shine through as we watch Poirot methodically break down the passengers through a series of interviews, a part at which Bergman’s Oscar winning performance also radiates, and this is where director Sidney Lumet fully gets his worth out of the source material.

The film almost feels noirish at times, particularly in its opening montage depicting the abduction and eventual death of the child of a wealthy family, something that will become very important as we start to unpick the events leading up to the central murder. This feel also extends to the scenes on the train, particularly its stranding in the snow while passing through Croatia; these scenes fill the train interiors with a cold and frosty light with some superb use of rear projection and matte paintings to suggest the icy landscape outside. Lumet leverages the static train to really dial into Poirot’s work as a detective, giving us a final third which is almost entirely composed of Poirot interviewing the other passengers.

It’s a remarkably understated production to this extent, boiling down the book’s notoriously tricksy plot, with its final twist that relies on the presentation and acknowledgement of numerous small details, into a focussed and driven narrative that works perfectly on screen. Managing to avoid the temptations of the extravagances of Kenneth Branagh’s 2017 adaptation, Lumet’s film is far more of a character study of Poirot and his suspects. It may not be as flashy as some of the other adaptations or even some of the other films on this set, but it’s a lean, focussed mystery drama with a remarkably compelling cast made by a master of cinema. Sadly Albert Finney’s performance does knock it down a little for me, but it’s still an essential watch in the Agatha Christie big screen canon and a fine start to this set’s offerings.

Extras

• NEW Behind the Velvet Curtains: Jacqueline Bisset revisits The Orient Express
• Interview with Richard Goodwin
• Audio Interview with Michael York
• Audio commentary with Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson
• Agatha Christie: A Portrait
• Making ‘Murder on the Orient Express’
• Making ‘Murder on the Orient Express’: The Passengers
• Making ‘Murder on the Orient Express’: The End of the Line
• Behind the Scenes Stills Gallery
• Original trailer

Death on the Nile 

Director: John Guillermin
Screenplay: Anthony Shaffer
Starring: Peter Ustinov, Jane Birkin, Lois Chiles, Bette Davis, Mia Farrow, Jon Finch, Olivia Hussey, I.S. Johar, George Kennedy, Angela Lansbury, Simon MacCorkindale, David Niven, Maggie Smith
Year: 1978
Duration: 140min
Country: UK
BBFC Certification: PG

On a sightseeing tour aboard a steamer on the Nile in Egypt, a wealthy heiress is found murdered. When all eyes turn to the jilted former lover of her fiancee who had been stalking the couple throughout their holiday, famed detective Hercule Poirot steps in to solve the mystery and identify the killer.

Our second adventure with Hercule Poirot is a more extravagant affair. Director John Guillermin takes us to the sunny banks of the Nile with some superb location photography, something that’s a rarity in this age of green screen and volume shooting, and a film with a longer running time which, while less tight than Sidney Lumet’s predecessor, allows the characters and story to breathe a little more. Indeed it’s a good 20 minutes into the film before we properly meet Poirot, here played with far more subtlety by a brilliant Peter Ustinov, allowing us to get to know the rest of our starry ensemble.

Once again, it’s an incredible cast of acting greats with standouts being Maggie Smith and Bette Davis whose relentless bickering and verbal jousting are worth the run time alone. Add to that a wonderfully camp Angela Lansbury, a terrifically straight-laced Olivia Hussey as her daughter and a remarkably menacing turn from Mia Farrow, pulling off a fairly convincing English accent. Aside from Ustinov, Farrow is arguably the lead of the film and her former friendship with Lois Chile’s Linnet Ridgeway forms the centre to the film’s plot. 

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Ustinov is getting lost among all this talent, but the truth is his Poirot simply doesn’t dominate the screen in the way that Finney’s did, something that is an absolute positive for the film. Ustinov is perhaps playing against the literary representation of the detective but in many ways this works a lot better; Poirot here is smart with a cheeky wit, flipping between warmth and seriousness. It’s a softer, more calmly observant performance that’s paired with David Niven as Colonel Race, an acquaintance who helps him with the case. Ustinov and Niven are a great double act and contrast perfectly from the more comic performances of Lansbury, Smith and Davis.

The stunning photography and brilliant cast contrast with a story that’s also a little darker throughout than Murder on the Orient Express; without giving too much away there’s more than one murder at play through the course of this story and makeup effects on display here are some of the more grisly in this set, with bloody bullet wounds and slashed throats aplenty. It’s perhaps the slightly crude nature of the late 70’s makeup effects, with the trademark bright red blood of the era, that keeps this firmly within its PG rating. The soundtrack from Godfather composer Nino Rota also deserves some attention here, full of sweeping strings and sinister undertones alongside an infinitely recognisable theme used as a leitmotif throughout, it wonderfully compliments the visuals.

Overall, and despite some casual racism that’s sadly emblematic of the era, Death on the Nile is perhaps the best film in this set; a lavish production that’s less of a noir thriller and more of a Sunday afternoon romp, with a fabulous cast that never stands still and remains remarkably entertaining even if you know the story and, indeed, who dun it…

Extras

• NEW Sparkling Homicide: A Video Essay by David Cairns
• Audio commentary with Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson
• Making Of
• Interview with Angela Lansbury
• Interview with costume designer Anthony Powell
• Interview with Producer Richard Goodwin
• Interview with Peter Ustinov
• Interview with Jane Birkin
• Behind the Scenes stills gallery
• Costume Designs Gallery
• Original Trailer
  

The Mirror Crack’d

Director: Guy Hamilton
Screenplay: Jonathan Hales, Barry Sandler
Starring: Angela Lansbury, Geraldine Chaplin, Tony Curtis, Edward Fox, Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor
Year: 1980
Duration: 105min
Country: UK
BBFC Certification: PG

As a Hollywood production begins shooting in a sleepy English village, darkness descends as a local woman is poisoned. When it appears that the intended victim was the film’s star, local amateur sleuth Jane Marple investigates the crime. Sort of…

One of the key things you’d probably want to do when making a film about Agatha Christie’s other main hero character, Miss Marple, is make sure you put on screen a story that focuses on the elderly detective and her sleuthing skills, right? Apparently not, according to The Mirror Crack’d. We may as well call this an Inspector Craddock film as it’s Edward Fox’s character who we’re spending most of the run time with and the film really suffers for this somewhat directionless feeling.

Things start off promising, cold opening with a 1950’s detective film. It’s brilliantly meta, especially when it turns out it’s a film being watched by the whole village and is used as a method to demonstrate Marple’s sharp mind when the projector breaks and she deduces who the killer in the film is. Director Guy Hamilton seems to be having a lot of fun here, dipping into some older mystery film tropes and it sets up the idea of the film crew setting up camp in a local country house to make their new feature film.

We have another great cast on display here as well, on paper juxtaposing brilliantly some golden age Hollywood stars with more cosy Brits; in practice, however, things are a little more uneven. Rock Hudson and Edward Fox stand out well in their respective roles as the beleaguered film director Jason Rudd and the detective inspecting both the murder of the local woman, Heather Babcock (a brilliant, but underused Maureen Bennett) and the alleged attempted murder of Rudd’s wife, film star Marina Rudd. On the flipside of that, however, we have Tony Curtis and Kim Novak, both full of histrionics and wildly chewing scenery as film producer Martin Fenn and Marina’s rival diva, Lola Brewster. Both actors stand out among the cast for their wild antics and often threaten to derail the movie tonally when they’re onscreen. Be on the lookout as well for an uncredited appearance by a ridiculously young Pierce Brosnan being directed by a Bond director a good 15 years before he took on the mantle of 007

Of the principal cast, however, perhaps the standout here is Elizabeth Taylor who is simply luminous in her role as an ageing Hollywood star whose time may have come on the big screen. She fills Marina with a distant sadness and gravitas, a woman who may have lost both her career and her husband and has found herself in an unfamiliar country surrounded by people she despises. It’s a fantastic, almost meta role for Taylor.

But what of Marple, played here by the great Angela Lansbury? As previously mentioned, the character barely appears in the story in any meaningful way, having her ankle sprained in an early scene in a way that leaves her housebound for most of the narrative. But even when she’s onscreen, Lansbury never feels comfortable in the role, a woman in her 50’s made up with some godawful “old person” makeup to look like she’s in her 80’s, she plays Marple so incredibly soft spoken with a forced age that really shows through. It’s quite striking given how the actor would eventually go on to critical acclaim playing Jessica Fletcher in the long running TV series Murder, She Wrote in the mid 80’s, how little of an impact she makes as one of the greatest literary female detectives here.

Guy Hamilton is certainly an interesting choice of director here, following up a string of “action man” films, including a long run on Bond with what is a far more cosy mystery, but he manages to add a lighter hearted tone to the proceedings with a little comedy which can unfortunately skew a tad farcical at times. Couple this with a soundtrack from composer John Cameron which has some unnecessary saxophone drops on it and you have a film which is tonally dissonant for the period in which it’s set.

Despite this, the final twist is surprisingly dark and the denouement more low key and personal than the usual act of gathering the suspects together for the reveal. While not terrible, The Mirror Crack’d is, ultimately, a weaker film than the others in this set. Its plot is somewhat more meandering, it feels rather much cheaper and it’s sadly rather unsatisfying to spend such little time with our main character.

Extras

• NEW Reflections on Miss Marple: featuring Jean Kwok, Rian Johnson, Matthew Sweet and Mark Aldridge
• Audio Commentary by Film Historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson
• Interview with screenwriter Barry Sandler
• Interview with Angela Lansbury
• Interview with Producer Richard Goodwin
• Behind the Scenes Stills Gallery
• Storyboards Gallery

Evil Under The Sun

Director: Guy Hamilton
Screenplay: Anthony Shaffer, Barry Sandler
Starring: Peter Ustinov, Colin Blakely, Jane Birkin, Nicholas Clay, Maggie Smith, Roddy McDowall, Sylvia Miles, James Mason, Dennis Quilley, Dianna Rigg, Emily Hone
Year: 1982
Duration: 117min
Country: UK
BBFC Certification: PG

While holidaying in the Adriatic, Hercule Poirot is called into action when the body of a glamorous film star is found strangled to death in a remote bay; but which of the other guests at the resort could be the killer?

Evil Under The Sun is a massive return to form after the disappointment of The Mirror Crack’d and closes out this set with what feels like a greatest hits encore; not only do we have Peter Ustinov returning as Poirot and Guy Hamilton back behind the camera, a number of the actors present have also appeared in both the previous Poirot films. Add in Anthony Shaffer returning to scripting duties from Death On The Nile and we have a film that feels much better defined and a much more fun romp.

Despite a dark and bleak opening as a body is found on the Yorkshire Moors, the action quickly switches to the island of Mallorca – it’s a change from the books Devon setting, mainly to give the film a bit more of an exotic feeling, but also because director Hamilton lived on Mallorca and it was far more convenient for him to get to work every day! This sunny setting is glorious with some beautiful shots that use the 16:9 aspect ratio to fill the screen with sea and sky. All of this is undercut by a brilliantly jazzy score from Cole Porter. The sunniness is undercut with a darker air, however, and while it’s not as graphic as Death On The Nile, the script written by Shaffer and Barry Sander has enough teeth to engage.

All of this is buoyed by that fabulous cast made up of faces both returning and new. Maggie Smith is as wonderful as ever, this time trading barbs with an equally delicious Dianna Rigg, while a fabulously camp Roddy McDowall only adds to the bitchy sniping in what is most definitely a stand out role in the ensemble. But Ustinov truly makes Poirot his own here, demonstrating a superb take on the character. He imbues the detective with a genuine warmth and wit to go along with his eccentricities, before pulling out all the stops to deliver a solid wrap up of the case in the final act, making this perhaps the best cinematic take on the character.

While it’s perhaps not as polished as Death On The Nile, it still retains the fun, lazy afternoon detective drama feel, with a story that twists in directions you don’t expect, and is a perfect way to round out the set.

Extras

• NEW Back to the Island: Emily Hone remembers Evil Under the Sun
• NEW Excessive Creatures: A Video Essay by David Cairns
• Making Of featurette
• Audio commentary with Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson
• Interview with costume designer Anthony Powell
• Interview with screenwriter Barry Sandler
• Interview with producer Richard Godwin
• Behind the Scenes stills gallery
• Costume Designs gallery
• Original Trailer 
• “The Royal Film Performance 1982: In the Gracious Presence of H. M. the Queen & H. R. H. the Duke of Edinburgh – At the Odeon Leicester Square
• Agatha Christie’s “Evil Under the Sun” 1982 featurette

Overall

This 4K box set from StudioCanal is a sumptuous treat for Christie fans and, indeed, fans of crime mystery cinema alike. With the notable exception of The Mirror Crack’d, all the films here are incredibly entertaining and well worth your time, providing a brilliant snapshot of cinema in their respective years with the talent both in front and behind the camera. The 4K HDR image is impeccable, clean but with the expected film grain, and the colours are vibrant and clear.

StudioCanal have bolstered this with some fantastic bonus features which only build on those from previous Blu Ray releases with some brand new interviews with modern fans including the aforementioned director Rian Johnson, as well as retrospective discussions and interviews with cast members, including a fascinating one with Emily Hone, a young actor who only starred in Evil Under The Sun and one other film before retiring from acting, eventually forging a career owning a needlepoint business.

A genuine treat, this box set gets a big recommendation.