Evil Under the Sun
Tags: mystery, murder

Plot synopsis:
A quiet holiday at a secluded hotel in Devon is all that Hercule Poirot wants. Inevitably, he connects with the others on holiday. Arlena Marshall is a beautiful actress and a flirtatious young woman with many men attracted to her. She goes to the Jolly Roger Hotel with her husband and stepdaughter, Kenneth and Linda Marshall. Linda Marshall (aged 16) hates her step-mother. Arlena flirts with handsome Patrick Redfern, to the evident fury of his wife, Christine, a former schoolteacher. Also staying at the hotel are Hercule Poirot; Sir Horace Blatt, a braggart; Major Barry, a retired Anglo-Indian military officer with an endless series of stories to tell; Rosamund Darnley, an exclusive fashionable dressmaker, who had formerly been Kenneth's sweetheart; Carrie Gardener, a garrulous American tourist, and her husband, Odell; Reverend Stephen Lane; and Miss Emily Brewster, a quite athletic spinster.
Early on the morning of the murder of Arlena, alibis collect. Linda drops a parcel of candles when Christine asks her to Gull Cove. Arlena paddles to Pixy Cove obviously for a rendezvous; Poirot disbelieves her request for solitude. But both Kenneth and Patrick seek her. Finally Patrick asks Emily to join her daily row. He finds a body lying arms outstretched, face hidden by a hat, but red curls peeking out. Good at managing heights, he stays, while Emily gets the doctor, who diagnoses strangulation by powerful hands, therefore male.
Poirot and the police question the suspects. Kenneth was heard typing letters specifically responding to figures in previous mail. Linda falsely claims she was fond of her stepmother. By her watch, she and Christine went to Gull Cove at 10:30 and returned at 11:45, giving them an alibi. The Gardeners were with Poirot the entire time. Rosamund was seen reading at Sunny Ledge (above Pixy Cove) by Emily and Patrick. Rev. Lane and Major Barry went out, and Sir Horace Blatt went sailing. Christine, Rosamund, Kenneth and Mr Gardener all went to play tennis at noon. Earlier in the day, Miss Brewster was nearly hit on the head by an empty bottle tossed from one of the bedroom windows, so Poirot asks the chambermaid if she has observed a bottle missing. The chambermaid cannot tell, but did note another odd occurrence: somebody ran a bath at noon but everyone denies having done so.
At Pixy Cove, Poirot and police find a pair of new scissors, a fragment of pipe that could belong to many smokers, and heroin. Inside the cave, Poirot also sniffs a delicate exclusive perfume only used by Arlena and Rosamund. Poirot invites everyone on a picnic to test their vertigo. Christine and Emily both claimed fear of heights (acrophobia), but Christine easily traversed the bridge – thus she lied. After the picnic, Linda is found overdosed on six of Christine's sleeping pills, and almost dies. She has written a confession, but Poirot found her library book about magic, melted wax and a pin, and realised she mistook piercing a voodoo image for murder. Christine made sure her tablets were handy, provoking the guilt-ridden Linda to take them.
Poirot asks for similar recent nearby cases of strangulation. Alice Corrigan was found by a local school teacher, while her husband Edward was supposedly too far away to have committed the murder. But a photograph from Surrey police identify Patrick Redfern as Edward Corrigan and the teacher, a games mistress, as Christine Redfern, then known as Christine Deverill, Patrick's true love and accomplice. Patrick was not Arlena's victim, but vice versa. Patrick pretended to be smitten and bilked her of most of her inherited fifty thousand pounds for "fabulous opportunities".
Arlena was unsuspecting, but if Kenneth knew that she had nearly emptied the account, he would become suspicious and Patrick would find himself in a difficult predicament. So Patrick and Christine decided to get rid of her. Arlena went on that fatal day to meet Patrick, as Poirot had surmised. Patrick instructed her to remain hidden in the cave if anyone came around. Meanwhile, Christine set Linda's watch 20 minutes forward. When she asked Linda to check the time, her alibi was set. Later, she adjusted the watch back. Christine went to her room, applied suntan makeup then wore large-sleeved clothes to hide her fake tan, sneaked out of the hotel to the Cove, and pretended to be the supposedly dead Arlena. Emily, who, with Patrick, "found" her was easily fooled. Christine then returned to her hotel room and took a bath to wash off the tan; the bath that everyone denied taking. She then threw the empty makeup bottle out a window, which nearly hit Miss Brewster. Meanwhile, Patrick called an unsuspecting Arlena out of the cave and strangled her. Poirot needles Patrick into a near violent fury despite the cold-blooded Christine telling him to "be quiet".
Poirot tells Linda she is innocent, and confesses she will not hate her "next step-mother". In the final conversation, Rosamund agrees to give up her career for marriage to Kenneth, "I've wanted to live in the country with you all my life".

Review: He also plays the definitive Hercule Poirot, the Agatha Christie creation.Evil Under The Sun is done almost like a play, but a good play.
The sun in question, under which this evil takes place, shines down on a privately owned island in the Mediterranean, giving us a warm and exotic location.There isn't one bad performance among the cast, several of whom have appeared before in at least one other Poirot story.
Entertainment Under The Sun. With its humor, great scenery, stylized period clothes, wonderful music, complex whodunit puzzle, and deliciously hammy acting from Peter Ustinov, James Mason, Sylvia Miles, Diana Rigg, and Maggie Smith, "Evil Under The Sun" is an absolute delight.There are a couple of different ways to watch this film.
on 'zee' beach"; "Incidentally, I accept your 'hallie-by'"; "If you would care to confide in me, I should be most 'honn-erd'".The bitching between vain Arlena Marshall (Diana Rigg), a prima donna actress, and the resort's hostess, Daphne Castle (Maggie Smith) is also amusing and fun.
I've read about 50 other Agatha Christie's books since then, Death on the Nile being the second, and hey Peter Ustinov played Poirot in that movie too!
Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot is at his best in this movie that is worth the time for the soundtrack of Cole Porter classics or the magnificent cinematography alone.
What can I say, this is an excellent film, only equal to The Suchet Poirot Murder On the Links, it's the most enjoyable Agatha Christie That Ustinov has ever made!!!!
One of the film's highlights was the song Arlena(marvellously played by Diana Rigg) sings, it somewhat reminded me of Marlene Dietrich.The film also benefits from a very clever plot, that is definitely among Agatha Christie's best.
Of course there is a nasty bit of murder and our detective just happens to be around to solve the apparently unsolvable case, Ustinov has made character his own and will always be the definitive Piorot.Throughout the film there is a dry wit which a delight and a very clever twist in the end.
This is a first rate film.Rarely are so many top actors seen together in one production.What the director did was to take an Agatha Christy murder mystery and sparkle it with humour and dry wit.
In one of the only times I can recall, Hercule Poirot does not fall into a murder mystery in Evil Under the Sun. Instead he's hired by an insurance company that is suspicious about the death of a young girl whose body was found on the moors in Great Britain.
His journey continues on to an Aegean island where the former mistress of a Balkan king, Maggie Smith now runs an exclusive resort for the rich and famous.The woman who jilted Blakely is a Gertrude Lawrence like musical comedy star played by Diana Rigg.
In fact we're let in on the joke when in a shot of the hotel register, you'll see the autograph of Cole Porter prominently displayed.With really stunning scenery from Mallorca, ably substituting for the Aegean, Ustinov is aided by a great cast that also includes Sylvia Miles and James Mason.
While the plots are somewhat similar, (and some of the actors), the film is an excellent and high-spirited intermingling of murder, murder, bloody murder (actually no blood - the crime was strangulation of Diana Rigg's glamorous (what else?) Mrs. Arlena Marshall, the actress and vamp) and humour - Maggie Smith's Daphne Castle is brimming over the top with multiple solutions for the murder (her nut-cracker theory is best).
Ustinov is a warmly funny Poirot and takes second place only to Albert Finney in "Express" The real show though, is in the over the top performances by Maggie Smith and Dianna Rigg.
Evil Under the Sun. Fun adaptation of another Agatha Christie murder mystery with Ustinov doing another fine job as master sleuth Hercule Poirot.
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.
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).
Evil Under The Sun. I have watched another two notoriously famous works of Agatha Christie, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (1974) and DEATH ON THE NILE (1978), despite of three in a row, I could still enjoy this one to a great extent.The distinction of a star-studded cast and an isolated milieu is too overt to be surprising, luckily enough the island itself compensates a mind-distracting delightfulness.
Also it has been the third time around, so as that I am lucidly familiar with its plot design-pattern, the obvious target is farcically recognizable and the murderer is not so perplexing to guess, in addition that all the cartoonish characters attenuate the tone of the headlining murder, which I will recommend to those who usually are shunned by the murder/crime genre.Speaking of its cast, I adore Maggie Smth, I am thoroughly enjoy her a touch over-the-top performance here, also Jane Birkin is magnificently multi-faceted (I couldn't recall her roll in MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS though).
Entertainment Under the Sun. This is one of the Agatha Christie big screen adaptations that sometimes gets unfairly derided as being boring or not up to snuff with others like "Murder on the Orient Express" or "Death on the Nile".
Acceptable rendition based on Agatha Christie novel , shot in Majorca and being second of six appearances playing Detective Hercule Poirot by Peter Ustinov.
He investigates the tourists and numerous suspects , all support cast (Jane Birkin , Nicholas Clay , Maggie Smith , Roddy McDowall , Sylvia Miles , James Mason , Denis Quilley , Diana Rigg) .
At one point this movie was mooted as being the follow-up Agatha Christie film to Murder on Orient Express but the picture eventually arrived fourth in the Brabourne-Goodwin series after Death on the Nile (1978) and The crack mirror (1980) .
¨Evil under the sun¨ was made and released about forty-one years after Agatha Christie's source novel of the same name was first published in 1941 , being selected to be the 1982 Royal Film Performance ; this movie was the first ever filmed version of this story, it being remade with Poirot: Evil Under the Sun (2001) with David Suchet .
This expensive all-star Agatha Christie film, with Peter Ustinov once again as Poirot, is a better film than its predecessor which was made by the same production team, DEATH ON THE NILE (1978, see my review).
As someone else here mentioned, Peter Ustinov is not the Hercule Poirot of the Agatha Christie books as David Suchet is, but he's the most colorful and fun.
The superior cast includes Maggie Smith, Diana Rigg, James Mason, Roddy McDowall, Sylvia Miles, Jane Birkin, and Nicholas Clay.
Mostly for Poirot completest and admirers of then-trendy, all-star ensemble casts from the 1970s and early '80s, Evil Under the Sun finds Peter Ustinov in his second outing as Agatha Christie's famous Belgian detective (three years after 1978's Death on the Nile).
As the title promises, the action this time takes place on an Adriatic island (though Christie fans will surely balk at the switch from the novel's setting on the English coast), where a famous stage star (Diana Rigg) is murdered, and the list of likely suspects is unusually high.
Depicting the inner-inner circle of Hollywood and their sycophants, this installment of Agatha Christie's film adaptations finds our favorite Poirot afoot a posh island resort run by the inimitable Maggie Smith, but as usual instead of determining who dunnit, it's more a matter of who didn't.Filmed in Majorca, Spain, directed by Guy Hamilton (Goldfinger and Christie's The Mirror Crack'd) and replete with Cole Porter songs, you can't fail with this all star cast and Peter Ustinov.All in all?
Ustinov is good as the beguiling Belgian, though his somewhat dodgy accent takes a little getting used to, and the kind of stuck-up, no-good-in-a-fight feel he has is perfect for this quick-talking character, as is the rest of the eclectic cast who turn in grandiose and stage-suited performances of the innuendo-laden adaptation of Agatha Christie's source novel.
Following the huge success of Peter Ustinov's first appearance as Hercule Poirot in "Death on the Nile" (whose artistic value certainly is equally high), the producers ventured into yet another big-scale, all-star movie adaptation of one of Agatha Christie's most famous novels: "Evil Under the Sun".
Again, the cast list almost sounds like a 'Who's Who' of the most popular and brilliant actors of the time: Diana Rigg, James Mason, Maggie Smith, Jane Birkin (who both had also been with Ustinov in "Death on the Nile"), Roddy McDowall, and Colin Blakely and Denis Quilley, who both had been among the cast members of the first, and perhaps greatest, all-star Poirot movie of the 70s, "Murder on the Orient Express", with Albert Finney in the title role.But, although not exactly responding to Poirot's appearance as Agatha Christie had always described him (a short, stocky man with pitch black hair and mustache, both smoothened with brilliantine), by now it was hugely versatile polyglot Peter Ustinov, who not only delivered a perfect French accent (no, of course Poirot is NOT French, he's Belgian, as he has got to underline constantly here as well; but his mother language IS French...), but also put his own personal stamp on the role - which would last through four more movies starring him as Poirot, until the audience had almost identified him with the Belgian sleuth.So we must simply take "Evil Under the Sun" as it is - anyway, the 'different' Poirot is not the only change made in comparison with Agatha Christie's novel: the story was originally set on an island off the coast of Devon, and not on the obscure Mediterranean island of "Tyrania"...
Besides that, a wonderful musical score filled with Cole Porter's greatest hits further enhances the carefully recreated late 30s' atmosphere - and contributes to the overall feeling of lightness and entertainment despite the dark and deadly goings-on...Needless to say that there NEVER is a dull moment throughout the whole movie (actually, it's one of those movies you can just watch over and over again without getting tired of it!); and it's LITERALLY a murder hunt, not only for Poirot, but also for the audience: very cleverly presenting a 'jigsaw puzzle' of evidence and testimonies, it gives you the chance until the last moment to find out the murderer - if you can...So, considering all those elements that so magnificently complement one another, from cast to screenplay and directing to settings and musical score, "Evil Under the Sun" undoubtedly ranks among the VERY best movie adaptations ever of the great works of Agatha Christie!.
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..
Maggie Smith, James Mason, Sylvia Miles, Diana Rigg, Roddy McDowall, Jane Birkin, Colin Blakely, Nicholas Clay, Denis Quilley, and Emily Hone are all staying at the beautiful hotel where a terrible crime might be committed.
When a woman turns up murdered on an isolated island resort, it is up to a vacationing Hercule Poirot to work out who did it when all present have iron-clad alibis in this Agatha Christie murder mystery adaptation.
The film is notable as Peter Ustinov's second turn as Hercule Poirot following 'Death on the Nile' in 1978 and with a Cole Porter soundtrack used just as effectively as Nino Rota's score to the 1978 film and with equally good performances, 'Evil Under the Sun' is likely to go down well with most who enjoyed the 1978 film.
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.
It stars Peter Ustinov, James Mason, Maggie Smith, Nicholas Clay, Jane Birkin, Colin Blakely, Sylvia Miles, Denis Quilley, Roddy McDowall, Diana Rigg and Emily Hone.
Music is scored by Cole Porter and cinematography by Christopher Challis.When a flighty lady is found murdered on a Mediterranean island, famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot takes up the caseComing late in the day as part of the big star ensemble Christie adaptations to screen that were very popular in the 70s and 80s, Evil Under the Sun doesn't break the mould.
Hooray!There's not much to dislike here, it's a splendid cast list headed by the wonderful Ustinov as the mercurial Poirot, visually it's pretty, almost as pretty as the rather delectable Diana Rigg in fact, and it's great fun to try and do your own bit of detective work; which morphs into annoyance when failing to see what Poirot did!Minor irks are that it goes on for too long before the murder occurs, and there's an over reliance on humour, that whilst fun, tends to detract from the suspenseful mystery waiting to be unravelled in the latter stages of the piece.Far from perfect but its faults are unassuming, it's safe and enjoyable entertainment for a rainy day.
Evil Under the Sun is based on an Agatha Christie novel and features one of her most celebrated creations, Hercule Poirot.
The rest of the film follows Ustinov as he investigates the whereabouts at the time of the crime of each character one by one, and by a process of elimination figures out who committed the killing.James Mason, Maggie Smith, Dennis Quilley, Nicholas Clay and Jane Birkin are all among the suspects in the stellar cast.
The acting is very professionally done, which is not surprising when one considers that the film stars two theatrical dames (Maggie Smith and Diana Rigg), one knight (Ustinov) and at least one (James Mason) who was unlucky never to achieve that honour.
Peter Ustinov returns to the role of detective Hercule Poirot in this curiously lax Agatha Christie mystery with camp asides.
The makers seem to have thought "Death on the Nile was a hit - Christie, Ustinov, star cast, jokes - we'll do it again." The "hilariously catty dialogue" between Rigg and Smith is vulgar, unfunny smut, as is James Mason's dialogue.
Guy Hamilton took over directing duties on this third cinematic Hercule Poirot film, adapted from the Agatha Christie novel.
Its all tremendous fun though with some wonderfully witty dialogue, fabulous costumes and a great soundtrack featuring the tunes of Cole Porter.In my opinion there are no bad turns in this film but I do have a particular fondness for Maggie Smith and Diana Rigg.
This is one of those rare cases where the character as adapted and performed has replaced the book one in my mind.In this murder mystery set on a Mediterranean island (a departure from the novel, which took place in Devon), Ustinov is surrounded by a first-rate cast, featuring, among others, Maggie Smith, James Mason and Diana Rigg.
Nicholas Clay and Jane Birkin are fantastic also, her transformation is sensational, what a beauty!It is a lavish looking film, the locations are sensational, and the costumes are superb, they really add a glamorous note to it, Rigg looks sensational in many scenes.Overall 9/10 Great story, brilliantly acted, but the characters are just magical, entertaining!.
But the best example of what makes Evil Under the Sun so much fun is watching Maggie Smith and Diana Rigg go at each other.
Peter Ustinov returns as Hercule Poirot in this sunny Agatha Christie thriller.
Diana Rigg is the bitchy actress/victim and the collection of campy suspects includes Roddy McDowell, James Mason, Sylvia Miles (oddly cast as Mason's wife!), Jane Birkin, and Maggie Smith, who performs a very catty duet of Cole Porter's YOU'RE THE TOP with Rigg.
EVIL UNDER THE SUN marks the second of Peter Ustinov's appearances as the famous Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot and it's very similar to look and feel as his first, DEATH ON THE NILE.
While Shaffer's story isn't bad and makes a fun movie, it's not Christie."Evil Under the Sun" is the third in the series kicked off by "Murder on the Orient Express" (1974) of glamorous, all-star Christies.
This was the second outing for Maggie Smith and Jane Birkin from "Death on the Nile"); and for Denis Quilley and Colin Blakeley (from "Murder on the Orient Express").The biggest problem with "Evil" is Peter Ustinov.
The best we can say is, he's a different detective with the same name.Giving Ustinov's clever but visually dissatisfying Poirot and the radical revamping of both the story and the character, "Evil Under the Sun" put an end to the hitherto promising Brabourne/Goodwin productions of Agatha Christie.
The stellar support cast, including James Mason, Roddy McDowall, Dame Maggie Smith, Diana Rigg and Sylvia Miles, also have great fun playing cat and mouse with each other.The familiar music is from Cole Porter, while the scenery is most picturesque.Thursday, April 15, 1999 - Video