StudioCanal is to re-release four classic film adaptations from the pen of Agatha Christie, each restored in stunning 4K in a new essential box set for any fans of the whodunit. The Agatha Christie Collection is available on 4K UHD and Blu-ray. Pre-order now.
Featuring Sidney Lumet’s Murder on the Orient Express, John Guillermin’s Death on the Nile, and Guy Hamilton’s The Mirror Crack’d and Evil Under the Sun, StudioCanal Vintage Classics The Agatha Christie Collection will be available to buy on November 24.
Sidney Lumet’s Murder on the Orient Express stars Albert Finney in his only incarnation as the Belgian sleuth Poirot, despite Agatha Christie’s own endorsement of him as her personal favourite. Lumet’s movie would see Ingrid Bergman win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role, a feat she would repeat at the BAFTAs, where the film received 10 nominations in total, including a win for John Gielgud, who took home the award for Best Supporting Actor.
Peter Ustinov then exercised his “little grey cells” as Poirot in the subsequent films, Death on the Nile and Evil Under the Sun, and was supported by an equally stellar cast across both movies, which included Jane Birkin and Maggie Smith, Bette Davis, Mia Farrow, David Niven, James Mason, Roddy McDowall and Diana Rigg. Finally, everyone’s favourite crime-solving sleuth (Angela Lansbury) was promoted from a supporting role in Death on the Nile to centre stage as Miss Marple in The Mirror Crack’d.
The list of acting royalty that graced these films illustrates the sheer quality of these archetypal British mysteries. From Geraldine Chaplin, Tony Curtis, Edward Fox, Rock Hudson, Kim Novak and Elizabeth Taylor to Lauren Bacall, Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Connery, Anthony Perkins, Michael York, and Vanessa Redgrave, these movies are a who’s who of stage and screen.
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (1974)
It’s the jewel in the crown of Agatha Christie adaptations on screen, and one of the finest whodunnits ever committed to celluloid. Sidney Lumet’s 1974 adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express isn’t just sublime in its performances, direction, cinematography and music; it set the template for every whodunnit on screen after.
For Sidney Lumet (Long Day’s Journey into Night, Network, Dog Day Afternoon), the EMI and Paramount-backed Murder on the Orient Express was a detour from his trademark dramas, an elegant, all-star production introducing the outstanding Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot. But it was a detour that proved him to be one of the finest ‘actors’ directors of his generation.
Bringing together a cast that included some of the greatest stage and screen talent, including Sir John Gielgud, Lauren Bacall, Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Connery, Anthony Perkins, Michael York, Vanessa Redgrave, Ingrid Bergman, Wendy Hiller, and more, one might assume the set was a battleground of artistic one-upmanship. But that couldn’t have been further from the truth under Lumet’s direction. Instead, Murder on the Orient Express was a creative powerhouse of partnership and performance, evident in every perfectly crafted frame.
No single actor attempts to steal the show —not even Finney, who arguably offers the best portrayal of Poirot ever seen —earning him an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Murder on the Orient Express is an ensemble piece and a celebration of Christie, her characters, 1930s sophistication and charm, and the power of the whodunnit to captivate audiences.
Lovingly restored for its 4K UHD debut, Lumet’s film captured the imaginations of audiences and found the love and admiration of Christie herself before her death in 1976, two years before the sequel Death on the Nile graced screens. Kenneth Branagh would bring the Orient Express back to cinema screens in a lavish 2017 adaptation, but it’s Lumet’s original that remains a first-class cinematic experience.
Cert PG / Runtime 106 mins / © 1974 STUDIOCANAL FILMS Ltd
EXTRAS
- NEW Behind the Velvet Curtains: Jacqueline Bisset revisits The Orient Express
- Interview with Richard Goodwin
- Audio Interview with Michael York
- Audio commentary with Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson
- Agatha Christie: A Portrait
- Making ‘Murder on the Orient Express’
- Making ‘Murder on the Orient Express’: The Passengers
- Making ‘Murder on the Orient Express’: The End of the Line
- Behind the Scenes Stills Gallery
- Original trailer
The Agatha Christie Collection from StudioCanal
DEATH ON THE NILE (1978)
With the commercial and critical success of Murder on the Orient Express in 1974, producers John Brabourne and Richard Goodwin had the greenlight for further Christie adaptations. However, their carefully cast Poirot (Finney) had opted not to return. Finney was understandably concerned about being typecast as the Belgian detective. Still, his departure left Babourne and Goodwin with a tricky task: how do you replace the man Christie approved of? Equally tricky was finding the right director following Lumet’s glorious adaptation and his ability to manage an all-star cast. For the role of Poirot, Babourne and Goodwin hit gold with the casting of the legendary Peter Ustinov, a character actor who always carried a twinkle in his eye. However, with the choice of director, Babourne and Goodwin’s selection was not quite as assured.
John Guillermin certainly had experience of wrangling the weight of an all-star cast, having sweated his way through The Towering Inferno in 1974, a movie that came with more than a few big egos. But unlike Lumet, Guillermin could be volatile, with a renowned temper and a spiky temperament. Equally problematic was his view of women, as he boasted of sleeping with every leading lady he had ever directed. This would lead to tensions on the set, particularly when Guillermin butted up against the ferocious Bette Davis, who admired his strength but clearly disliked his persona. Add the stresses of location filmmaking, and Death on the Nile had all the ingredients for a disaster rather than a whodunnit.
Therefore, it is a miracle and a testament to the truly amazing ensemble cast of David Niven, Maggie Smith, I.S. Johar, Mia Farrow, Jane Birkin, Lois Chiles, George Kennedy, Jack Warden, Olivia Hussey, Simon McCorkindale and the effervescent Angela Lansbury, led by Ustinov, plus the steady hand of Babourne and Goodwin that Death on the Nile didnt lead to a literal death!
With sumptuous cinematography from Jack Cardiff, a man who knew the challenges of on-location filming from The African Queen, and a truly magnificent score by Nino Rota (The Godfather), Guillermin’s movie, written by Anthony Shaffer, triumphed. Peter Ustinov made the Belgian detective Poirot his own, and unlike Finney, he stuck around. But the true electricity in Death on the Nile comes from Lansbury, Farrow, Davis and Smith, who light up the screen and leave you begging for more.
Cert PG / Runtime 140 mins / © 1978 STUDIOCANAL FILMS Ltd
EXTRAS
- NEW Sparkling Homicide: A Video Essay by David Cairns
- Audio commentary with Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson
- Making Of
- Interview with Angela Lansbury
- Interview with costume designer Anthony Powell
- Interview with Producer Richard Goodwin
- Interview with Peter Ustinov
- Interview with Jane Birkin
- Behind the Scenes stills gallery
- Costume Designs Gallery
- Original Trailer
THE MIRROR CRACK’D (1980)
Guy Hamilton apparently wasn’t a fan of Agatha Christie’s novels, and according to reports, that made him the perfect pick for producers John Brabourne and Richard Goodwin’s third Christie outing alongside EMI. However, the title selected for this third outing was a rather strange affair, given the opulent, globe-trotting big screen adventures of Poirot on the Orient Express and a Nile steamer.
This time, the action would centre on the chocolate-box village of St. Mary Mead, and the super sleuthing would shift from Poirot to the reserved, sharp and quintessentially English figure of Miss Marple, played by Angela Lansbury, following her performance in Death on the Nile. We still had the all-star cast, this time including Geraldine Chaplin, Charles Gray, Tony Curtis, Edward Fox, Rock Hudson, Kim Novak, the irrepressible Elizabeth Taylor, and, yes, you’re not mistaken, a young uncredited Pierce Brosnan. Still, the resulting picture felt more like a made-for-TV movie than a cinematic outing.
That’s not to say the film isn’t engaging, lively, and beautifully shot; it is, but one wonders why Brabourne and Goodwin took such a sharp stylistic turn after the success of the previous movies. Maybe they felt the audience wanted something different, or perhaps they needed something different or possibly the toned-down production reflected the changes underway at EMI; either way, it’s a decision that would see The Mirror Crack’d disappoint at the box office.
Of course, while it may feel twee, TV-like in its scope and aesthetic and somewhat disappointing regarding the amount of screen time Lansbury gets as Marple, in a story that primarily focuses on her police inspector nephew (Fox), nothing can take away from the devilish brilliance of the story. Equally enchanting are the performances of a cracking ensemble cast, which sees Taylor, Hudson, Novak, and Fox steal the show. And as for the utterly charming Lansbury, while she sadly never returned to the role of Marple, she was about to cement her place as a TV icon playing another sleuth, Jessica Fletcher.
Cert PG / Runtime 105 mins / © 1980 / STUDIOCANAL Films Ltd
EXTRAS
- NEW Reflections on Miss Marple: featuring Jean Kwok, Rian Johnson, Matthew Sweet and Mark Aldridge
- Audio Commentary by Film Historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson
- Interview with screenwriter Barry Sandler
- Interview with Angela Lansbury
- Interview with Producer Richard Goodwin
- Behind the Scenes Stills Gallery
- Storyboards Gallery
The Agatha Christie Collection from StudioCanal
EVIL UNDER THE SUN (1982)
Evil Under the Sun was initially pencilled in by EMI and producers John Brabourne and Richard Goodwin as the follow-up to Murder on the Orient Express. But it would find itself quickly replaced by Death on the Nile before pre-production began. This, of course, made sense from a literary perspective, as Death on the Nile was published some five years before Evil Under the Sun. However, why Evil Under the Sun wasn’t chosen as the third film outing is far more of a mystery, as, unlike The Mirror Crack’d, it felt like a more cinematic proposition due to its Mediterranean location.
Returning to the director’s chair was Guy Hamilton, and it’s clear from the outset that he feels more at ease with his second picture than he was with his first. Also returning was the fabulous Peter Ustinov, who feels more at ease as he explores Poirot’s character and injects more humour than in his first outing. Plus, the enchanting Maggie Smith is back for another bite of the Christie pie, as are Denis Quilley, Jane Birkin, and Colin Blakely, all of whom once again shine under the Mediterranean sun. They are joined by the amazing Diana Rigg, Roddy McDowall, James Mason, Nicholas Clay and more. Therefore, Evil Under the Sun had all the ingredients to be an intoxicating sun-drenched murder mystery cocktail. Yet, for all its beauty, it never quite hits the mark, and much like The Mirror Crack’d before it, it feels less cinematic than the first two outings and too often opts for melodrama and humour over atmosphere and thrill.
That’s not to downplay the charm of Evil Under the Sun. The score of Cole Porter classics is fantastic, as are the performances and the lush cinematography of Christopher Challis. But by trying to adapt to the changing film market and the tastes of the early 1980s, Evil Under the Sun jettisons much of what made both Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile so engrossing: dramatic clout. There’s a lot to love, but like The Mirror Crack’d, it’s clear that EMI’s big-screen Christie adaptations had lost their ’70s sparkle as TV began to encroach on the murder-mystery market. Possibly for that reason, Evil Under the Sun marked the end of the EMI cinematic journey, with Ustinov reprising his role as Poirot in made-for-TV movies from 1985 onwards.
Cert PG / Runtime 117 mins /© 1981 Titan Productions
EXTRAS
- NEW Back to the Island: Emily Hone remembers Evil Under the Sun
- NEW Excessive Creatures: A Video Essay by David Cairns
- Making of featurette
- Audio commentary with Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson
- Interview with costume designer Anthony Powell
- Interview with screenwriter Barry Sandler
- Interview with producer Richard Godwin
- Behind the Scenes stills gallery
- Costume Designs gallery
- Original Trailer
- “The Royal Film Performance 1982: In the Gracious Presence of H. M. the Queen & H. R. H. the Duke of Edinburgh – At the Odeon Leicester Square
- Agatha Christie’s “Evil Under the Sun” 1982 featurette
The Agatha Christie Collection is available on 4K UHD and Blu-ray. Pre-order now.
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