mbrachman

This was an exceedingly boring, slow, and talky movie. The characters were barely sketched out and were mostly clichés- the useless dilenttante hanger-on (Roddy McDowell), the milquetoast Broadway producer (James Mason) and his harpy, nagging wife (Sylvia Miles), the bitchy actress/gold-digger (Diana Rigg) who emotionally abuses her stepdaughter (Emily Hone, in one of only two film roles; her mediocrity as an actress is all too evident), said stepdaughter struggling with utterly boring adolescent problems while hating her stepmother, the grieving widower, father of the girl, who remarried too soon (Dennis Quilley), the handsome young husband (Nicholas Clay) who may or may not be cheating on his flighty wife (swinging '60s model Jane Birkin), the no-nonsense innkeeper already with a snappy remark (Maggie Smith), all gathered on an Adriatic Sea island retreat where they are under the scrutiny of Agatha Christie's iconic Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov in his second time out in the role). Poirot is there investigating the disappearance and probable theft of a valuable gem, acting for an insurance company charged with insuring this item. Of course, one of those present on island turns up murdered and Poirot must discover the culprit.

The actual narrative in boring and slow-moving in the extreme. The dialogue is extremely stagy, perhaps reflecting its theatrical provenance, and the acting is mannered and stilted. Ustinov, an actor and real-life Renaissance man whom I've admired in other roles, is particularly scenery-chewing as Poirot, with a silly Walloon French accent and line delivery in which he throws French words and phrases apparently at random into otherwise English dialogue. There is a bit of intrigue in the final half hour when Poirot reveals the murderer, but it is hardly worth the agonizingly slow one and one-half hours preceding it. And the final revealer as to the criminal's motive, when she/he quickly gives up to Poirot a crucial piece of evidence that she/he could very easily have hidden more effectively, is utterly unconvincing.

Considering that this movie was loaded with superb acting talent- Ustinov, Smith, Miles, McDowell, and Mason in one of his last roles (he died in 1984), the results of this stagy drag are utterly disappointing.

If you want to see James Mason still at the height of the powers that rwas eleased the same year, watch the Boston-based legal drama "The Verdict" in which Mason as a defense attorney spars with struggling alcoholic plaintiff's attorney Paul Newman. Don't watch this slow, boring nonsense.

Karloff (né William Pratt, one of the few instances of someone with a normal sounding name taking on a harsher or more sinister professional name) is superb in this B horror classic, a variation on the good twin/evil twin trope.

Karloff portrays Gregor, a decadent, corrupt, and sadistic Hungarian aristocrat in the early 19th century, reigning over his subjects with despicable privileged authoritarian abandon. The people in his realm are fed up with his greedy, libertine, and cruel ways and plot to overthrow him. He steals from the poor and uses their women like sex slaves, then disposes of them in nonchalant (and murderous) fashion. In one unforgettable scene, he devours a pear, cutting off chunks of its juicy flesh with his knife as he eats, commenting on his love of the fruit, as he ignores the pleas of his latest mistress to marry her; when she threatens to blackmail him into marrying her, he plots a dispose of her as blithely as he does a pear core, only with much greater cruelty.

Will Gregor get away with his crimes and debauchery? He summons his long-estranged, younger-by-several-minutes twin brother, the humane and good-natured Anton (also Karloff), to the family home, but his gesture is not altruistic; he plans a devious double-cross on his kindly sibling. But the family lives under a curse that says the younger brother is destined to kill the older. Will Gregor escape this fate?

Karloff is excellent portraying this conscienceless monster, as well as his benign twin. The pear-eating scene itself is worth the price of admission.