This was the final film of the Peter Ustinov Hercule Poirot films for me
to see. I will be waiting for my certificate from the Agatha Christie Appreciation
Fan Club or perhaps a letter from the Queen. This one was made for TV as
were two others of the six in total, but it has an genial insouciant air
about it that the other two did not. It is nicely done with dollops of subtle
humor throughout and a decent mystery though it seemed more obvious to me
than as it was in the book, But then I had read the book so that may be the
reason why. Ustinov brings a light flair to this one playing croquet and
dropping bon mots along the way as I do crumbs from a large cookie. He is
an entertaining Poirot but in truth not very much like Christie's character.
In the books Poirot is quite humorless, vain, never flamboyant, never one
to stare at the backside of a woman walking. Only one of the actors portraying
him gets close to the book and that is of course David Suchet of the long
running series. I watched a documentary on Poirot and Suchet explains how
he spent months reading the books and trying to get all of Poirot's mannerisms
down. I mention this because Suchet is in this film as Inspector Japp, with
an accent that sounds just like Michael Caine. He clearly was not influenced
by Ustinov's portrayal when he began the Poirot series in 1989.
Some glamour is in this one in the shape of Faye Dunaway giving a big grand
over the top performance as an American film star. She is married to Lord
Edgeware but wants a divorce that he has refused to give her. She asks Poirot
(who she saw on the David Frost show along with an impersonator of her) to
intercede on her behalf with her husband. How can Poirot say no to such a
charming woman. The Lord tells him that in fact he sent a letter to Lady
Edgeware six months ago agreeing to the divorce. The next morning he is found
dead in his study. Everyone of the many suspects seems to have a perfect
alibi but slowly Poirot cracks them open.
One of the suspects is an American action film star played by Lee Horsley
(Matt Houston) - and it gives the film an opportunity to poke fun at the
film industry as we see the stunt doubles doing all the risky scenes and
then the director rushing over to Horsley standing there and praising him
for a great job well done. Another suspect is portrayed by Bill Nighy - younger
than I have ever seen him - took me a while to recognize him. Also, on hand
for all three of the TV movies is Jonathan Cecil (whose father in real life
was a Lord) as Hastings - who hovers about Poirot like a fly on Mike Pence's
head, Their relationship is an odd one - Cecil plays Hastings as a total
simpy character - often being insulted by Poirot and just smiling - sort
of like a verbally abusive marriage. In the books which Hastings narrates
- though he is not in all of them - he gets married in the second book and
shuttles off to South America and back - he is nothing like this. I enjoyed
this one while the other two TV films were at times a slight chore to get
through.
