With the relative success of Death on the Nile, studios decided to grab Ustinov again, assemble some of the same stock company {Maggie Smith, Jane Birkin] and take him to the Adriatic coast sometime in the 30s. It is a highly enjoyable mystery, though rather easy to solve as to method once we see the model of the island. It is also more economical than Nile, without the long prelude to murder that threatens to make us lose interest in the cardboard characters that surround the detective.
Ustinov will never be able to summon up the rage of Albert Finney in the finale of Orient, partly because we laugh with him at his foibles, not at him. He does not take himself as seriously as Finney, or David Suchet in the BBC Poirots, but he is great fun and is consistent. He would actually make a fine Miss Marple, as he snoops about and eavesdrops.
The director does more to restrain the scenery chewing that was the staple of Nile; this is not to criticize such acting. Cardboard characters deserve over the top acting.
There are a couple of points that make us wonder if the writer and director have lost their way. Maggie Smith encounters a dead rabbit; while some say this is symbolism, it has little place in this light story and is never explained. Then James Mason goes skulking about on a path, but we are told he was reading in the garden. Kind of reminds us that we never did know who killed Owen Taylor in The Big Sleep.
Ustinov will never be able to summon up the rage of Albert Finney in the finale of Orient, partly because we laugh with him at his foibles, not at him. He does not take himself as seriously as Finney, or David Suchet in the BBC Poirots, but he is great fun and is consistent. He would actually make a fine Miss Marple, as he snoops about and eavesdrops.
The director does more to restrain the scenery chewing that was the staple of Nile; this is not to criticize such acting. Cardboard characters deserve over the top acting.
There are a couple of points that make us wonder if the writer and director have lost their way. Maggie Smith encounters a dead rabbit; while some say this is symbolism, it has little place in this light story and is never explained. Then James Mason goes skulking about on a path, but we are told he was reading in the garden. Kind of reminds us that we never did know who killed Owen Taylor in The Big Sleep.