Appointment with Death

You'd think that with a good story (an Agatha Christie whodunit), a solid cast of actors, and some great locations, it would be difficult not to produce a good movie. Unfortunately, in this case all that is for naught. "Appointment" has the look and feel (and lousy sound) of a badly done 'Movie of the Week' or an episode of 'The Love Boat' from hell. Most of the blame should go to director Michael Winner: every one of his directorial choices -- from his over-reliance on pedestrian shots, his ill-conceived blocking, or the waste of good acting talent (he should be shot for turning Piper Laurie and Lauren Bacall into scene-chewers) -- seems designed to make this production the movie equivalent of root-canal.

Suspense and intrigue with Poirot on holidays in Jerusalen . This whodunit deals with Hercules Poirot (Peter Ustinov) as the Belgian sleuth man in he case of killing a rich , unpopular heiress in an archaeological dig during a luxurious vacations . He investigates the travelers and as numerous suspects , all support cast ( Carrie Fisher, Nicholas Guest , David Soul , Hayley Mills , John Terlesky , Lauren Bacall and Jenny Seagrove married to Michael Winner). Who is the killer? , can he find the guilty? . Hercules Poirot is helped by a British Colonel (John Gielgud). After the clues have been shown we will get a chance to give the answer with Poirot finding out about the culprit at a twisted finale with outstanding surprises but are taken the murders from different viewpoints of everyone which it makes a little bit boring, pedestrian , endless and overlong.

The film is a detective story in which you are the detective . In the picture there are mystery , emotion, love story , suspense and wonderful outdoors from Jerusalen , Italy and the rout on the cruise ship . The movie gets a lush costume design ( John Bloomfield ) and magnificent production design . Colorful and sunny cinematography by excellent cameraman David Gurfinkel . Sensitive and atmospheric musical score by Pino Donaggio . Actors 's interpretation are first-rate , Peter Ustinov acting is similar to Albert Finney ( Murder on the Orient Express). Ustinov starred various Hercules Poirot films as : ¨Evil under the sun¨(Guy Hamilton), ¨Death on the Nile¨(John Guillermin) and for TV with low budget as : ¨Murder in three acts¨,¨Dead man's folly¨ and ¨Thirteen at dinner ¨; but the best considered is Death on the Nile .

This film is professionally directed by Michael Winner though contains some flaws and poor edition . After directing the successful ¨Death wish¨ he made worst sequels in which Bronson-Paul Kersey goes on to torture robbers , all of them inferior and the violence could be deemed excessive , are the following : ¨Death wish II¨ with Jill Ireland and Vincent Gardenia , ¨Death wish III¨ with Ed Lauter and Deborah Raffin. Subsequently Michael Winner career was failed , alternating some hit as ¨The sentinel¨ and various flops as ¨ Firepower, The big sleep, The wicked lady, Appointed with death, A chorus of disapproval, and Bullseye ¨. The flick will appeal to suspense lovers and Agatha Christie-Poirot novels buffs .

Agatha Christie's Appointment With Death is not her best book, but is well crafted and a pleasant read. This adaptation isn't terrible, but it is the weakest of Peter Ustinov's outings as Poirot. Speaking of Ustinov, he is excellent here, I had no problem with him. And Lauren Bacall, Carrie Fisher, Jenny Seagrove and John Gielgud give fine support. The film does have some splendid locations, even if Petra was changed to Jerusalem if I remember rightly, and the music was good too. However, the script isn't that polished, a lot is changed from the book and some of the changes are underdeveloped, the character of Hassan was unnecessary. But my main gripe with the movie was the character of Mrs Boynton. The same applies for the recent David Suchet version(which was more unfaithful but better musically and visually, and the acting was more solid in that one too), the character of Mrs Boynton was never done quite right, despite the wholly hateable portrayal given by Piper Laurie. In the book, she is a bit of a tyrant, in the adaptation, she was portrayed as nasty and cantankerous, but lacked the depth of the character in the book. Overall, not bad, but I did think Death on the Nile and Evil Under The Sun were better. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Poirot investigates the death of Lady Boynton, a former Prison Officer, and heiress who's conned her stepchildren out of their inheritance.

Where to begin.....so it's not a favourite book of mine, it's a bit messy here and there, and I understand why in Suchet's later adaptation, they chose to heavily rewrite it, this is a more faithful adaptation, albeit one with changes.

It's a great looking film, huge credit to the production team for using multiple filming locations, father than settling for some horrendous special effects, that part works very well.

I guess it comes down to whether or not you like the story, as I've said it isn't a favourite of mine, and at times I feel like it wanders a little, but as far as Ustinov's adaptations go, it isn't bad at all, it's very watchable.

The music is horrendous, it hasn't aged very well, you can argue it's of the era, but it's not good.

A terrific cast, Ustinov is great as Poirot, arguably one of his best performances in the role, Bacall and Fisher are great, for me it's the great John Gielgud that steals the show.

7/10.

the story isnt as good as evil under the sun or death on the nile however it is interesting enough to watch.the sorely underused carrie fisher is good in this a small role for david soul who i met once in Hull about 1980.not a typical Michael Winner film though in fairness he has had that Death wish tag for too long.needless to say it isnt overlong thanks to tight editing from Arnold crust Winner himself.