ThiefHott
Too much of everything
Fatma Suarez
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Rexanne
It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny
Fletcher Conner
Of his three feature film turns as the famed Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, Evil Under the Sun is Peter Ustinov's best performance. Once again Poirot travels to an exotic local to observe a star studded cast (in this case Maggie Smith, Diana Rigg, and James Mason) of upper crust British snobs and waits for one of them to be murdered. Of course, every one has both a motive and an alibi and it is up to Poirot to solve the crime without the police getting in his way.Ustinov shines in his most obnoxious turn as the fussy Belgian and while he is not quite on the level of Albert Finney and David Suchet, he plays the character as he should be played. Guy Hamilton ably directs, keeping it moving at a good pace while allowing the mystery to unfold and giving the audience a chance to solve it without making it easy. It does leave you to wonder though, has Poirot ever gone on a vacation without someone being murdered?
Coventry
I absolutely worship Agatha Christie and am addicted to reading, watching and listening to everything she ever did. This year alone, I think I read at least twelve of her novels and (re-)watched a handful of movies that are based on her legendary writings. This woman truly was a genius and there are few creative minds that I respect and admire more! It's only been a few months since I watch "Death on the Nile" for the fourth time, but for some inexplicable reason this was just the first time that I laid my hands on "Evil under the Sun". From many viewpoints, this film is extremely similar to the aforementioned "Death on the Nile" (1978) and, to a lesser extent, "Murder on the Orient Express" (1974). All films feature a sizeable cast of characters, of which each and every single one is eccentric and on the verge of loathsome, and - in good old Agatha Christie tradition - they also all have the profile as well as the motives to be a potential and secretive murderer. All three films also take place in a confined and inescapable location (a train, a cruise ship or in this case a remote tropical island) and it takes a relatively long time before the pivot murder is being committed, allowing more than enough time to elaborate on all the suspects' motives and their feelings of hatred towards the murder victim. In this tale, which was moved from the English coast towards a high- society island resort in the Adriatic Sea, the brilliant detective Hercule Poirot investigates the whereabouts of a valuable diamond. The beautiful and famous actress Arlena Marshall is also on the island to spend her honeymoon with her new but much older new husband Kenneth and step-daughter Linda. Poirot quickly notices that literally everyone on the island bears a deep grudge against Arlena, whether it's because of historical feuds, her adulterous nature or her stubborn business decisions. When Arlena's body is eventually found, strangled on the beach, all suspects quickly provide Poirot with waterproof alibis. I'm not entirely sure if Mrs. Christie would have appreciated the fact that her story was transferred to a more tropical location, since she was so typically British with regards to her locations and character drawings, but at least director Guy Hamilton splendidly makes use of the holiday resort setting and masterfully directs the extended A-listed cast. Peter Ustinov literally merges with his Poirot character and many of the great names in the supportive cast clearly had an excellent time appearing in this grotesque whodunit. The 1945 film "And Then There Were None" inarguably remains the greatest Agatha Christie adaptation, and personally I was more blown away by "Murder on the Orient Express" as well, but "Evil under the Sun" nevertheless comes highly recommended in case you're looking for something to watch on a lazy, rainy Sunday afternoon.
l_rawjalaurence
The fourth in the series of Brabourne/ Goodwin produced adaptations of Christie that began with MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (1974). This one, set on an island in the Mediterranean (actually filmed in Majorca) has Peter Ustinov in his second outing as Poirot investigating the murder of a self-interested actor (Diana Rigg), with a gang of suspects including hotel-keeper Maggie Smith, cuckolded husband Denis Quilley, camp journalist Roddy McDowall, theatrical producer James Mason and his domineering wife Sylvia Miles, and would-be gigolo Nicholas Clay and his mousy spouse Jane Birkin. Anthony Shaffer's script gives plenty of opportunity for humorous sequences, especially the cat-fights between Smith and Rigg, and the scene where Poirot, clad in a bathing-dress, attempts to have a morning swim. Whereas David Suchet in the television version tended to be low-key in his characterization, referring to his "little gray cells" and how they solved cases on more than one occasion, Ustinov turns in a flamboyant performance, full of little details: the sequence where he overhears Clay and Birkin arguing in their hotel room ends with a shot of Poirot twitching his mustache, as if he doesn't quite believe what they are saying (he is eventually proved right). The score has rightly been praised: John Lanchbery's arrangements of Cole Porter standards are both florid yet particularly appropriate for the film's bourgeois ambiance: the characters' entire lives are dedicated to pleasure rather than work. As Poirot observes, somewhat cynically, they resemble slabs of meat laid out in the sun to brown. Guy Hamilton's direction is both slick and very clear: unusually for most Christie adaptations, EVIL UNDER THE SUN ties up every single strand of its complicated plot, leaving viewers without too many questions to ask as to whodunit and why. Definitely one of the better versions of the great detective novelist's work, even if it departs quite significantly from the source-text.
elissa12-736-430073
Great film, escapist entertainment. While attempting to figure out who did it, I enjoyed the repartee (Have a sausage, dear!)between Daphne & Arlena. Arlena looks mah-velous! I do want to find a robe like Hercule Poirot's, that robe he wore to the beach - where can I find something like that? The cinematography is wonderful and I wondered where it was filmed - Balearic Islands, Mallorca - but the scenery looks more like the Tyrrhenian Sea or the Greek Islands. I wished I could go to this Mediterranean hotel and spend a blissful few days, traipsing around in my flowing dress or colorful bathing costume. I had no clue as to how the murder was committed or who did it - all the characters had a reason to wish Arlena dead, even her stepdaughter. I do think the final resolution was far-fetched and took so much planning - wishing someone dead is a lot less work than actually planning every minute of the morning to actually make it happen. Still, it was great entertainment worthy of a second or third viewing just to concentrate on the setting, scenery, and nostalgic period of the 20th century.
