Synopsis
Holidays can be murder.
An opulent beach resort provides a scenic background to this amusing whodunit as Poirot attempts to uncover the nefarious evildoer behind the strangling of a notorious stage star.
1982 Directed by Guy Hamilton
An opulent beach resort provides a scenic background to this amusing whodunit as Poirot attempts to uncover the nefarious evildoer behind the strangling of a notorious stage star.
Morte ao Sol, Zlo pod sluncem, Nyaraló gyilkosok, Agatha Christie: Das Böse unter der Sonne, 午日奇屍, Hercule Poirot Mord I Solen, 백주의 악마, Meurtre au soleil, Δύο Εγκλήματα Κάτω από τον Ήλιο
If you ever find yourself on a holiday with Hercule Poirot, pray you sprung for the vacation insurance. Somebody’s gonna die and then Poirot is gonna spend the rest of your trip talking about it.
james mason not wanting to have an alibi so he’ll be suspected of the murder just to cause drama only to be seen leisurely reading a book while the murder was taking place is iconic to me
Whodunit, die allmähliche Aufklärung eines Verbrechens und der Suche nach einem oder den Tätern. Als hier angeführte Beispiele:
„Ein Schuss im Dunkeln“, „Eine Leiche zum Dessert“, „Mord im Orient-Express“ oder als jüngstes Beispiel hier anzuführen: „Knives Out“.
Hier reiht sich „Das Böse unter der Sonne“ bestens mit ein. Die Insel im Mittelmeer ist als Kulisse traumhaft wie komprimiert. Das Ensemble aus Peter Ustinov (der einzige wahre Hercule Poirot), Roddy McDowall oder Maggie Smith spielt leichtfüßig auf. Die Geschichte ist, nach einer Vorlage Agatha Christie, mehr Schein als Sein (das sich der guten Dame sehr bewusst war) die dennoch bestens funktioniert.
Fazit: Ein Wohlfühlpacket.
When you’re sofa-ridden and decidedly under the weather, what better than to have an Agathathon, topped off with the sun-drenched delights of Evil Under the Sun? While not scaling the heights of Orient Express or Nile of the original prestige Christie adaptations, Evil is bags of fun, typified by the gloriously bitchy exchanges (scripted by Anthony Shaffer) between Maggie Smith and Diana Rigg.
I choose to overlook the dodgy child actress and the Irish accent that miraculously appears in Nicholas Clay’s performance halfway through the film.
Two hours of transportation to an idyllic Adriatic isle in 1937 peopled by a gorgeously costumed set of catty characters is enough to bring the colour back to anyone’s cheeks.
Context: Maggie Smith is a former singer dancer turned cooky hotel manager on a gorgeous secluded island...
They were this close to making it into an internationally famous musical but somehow ended on a murder mystery uh
Welp... this was damn fun.
While David Suchet is still my favorite Poirot, I warmed up to Ustinov considerably while watching Death on the Nile (1978), and my appreciation of him only intensified here. His physical appearance may not line up with descriptions of Poirot in the books, but I'll be damned if he doesn't nail his personality almost as well as Suchet. And this is every bit as fun as Death on the Nile. Hell, it tops it in some respects, with more eye-catching scenery and a twist that's much more difficult to predict, although Nile has more interesting characters and better casting. The cast does a great job here but nobody stood out like Mia Farrow, David Niven,…
Ein herrliches Nummernstück, das gerade nach "Knives Out" an satirischer Kraft über die zur Schau gestellte High Society gewinnt. Als würde man sie wie diese bratenden Körper in die Sonne legen.
Oder wie die inoffizielle Hymne des launigen Agatha-Christie-Krimis so schön sagt: "Anything Goes...!"
"I'm better now. In fact, I'm determined to enjoy myself. It's so blissful here, so tranquil, so far from all violence and trouble."
"Yes, you are right, Madame; the sky is blue, the sun is shining, and yet you forget that everywhere there is evil under the sun."
If an Agatha Christie mystery set in a beautiful Spanish beach resort sounds exactly right as the July weather creeps in, then you'll agree that Evil Under the Sun is summer fun! Enjoy it now, before Kenneth Branagh inevitably readapts it and drains all the excitement away.
Top five fashion icons:
5) Unapologetic eye candy Nicholas Clay in his cheeky swim trunks. Bien sûr.
4) Peter Ustinov's Poirot in his bathing suit…
Literally what is the point of making a whodunit if it’s not as unfathomably gay as this. Masterpiece. And a very special shout-out to the costume designer who curated roddy mcdowalls (who I WILL have to stan) wardrobe in this.
Cinematic Time Capsule
1982 Marathon - Film #12
Are you all comfortable?
...Even the murderer?
There's nothing quite like a classically twisty Christie full of campy characters in outrageous costumes to stimulate the little grey cells.
And Ustinov’s Poirot is as fun and refreshing as a mid-morning’s pantomime swim.
BONUS POINTS for the tart-tongued dueling of Diana Rigg & Maggie Smith. And even though I can’t prove it, I’d say Maggie is easily the most delightfully sardonic dame there’s ever been.
Do you mean that we sat here and listened to all of that and you can’t prove a word of it?
Ein weiterer Agatha Christie Film. Ein weiteres mal, sind alle verdächtig. Ein weiteres mal haben alle ein Alibi. Ein weiteres mal, wird Hercules Poirot den Mörder entlarven. Für mich ist und bleibt das Böse unter der Sonne der aller aller aller aller aller aller aller beste Agatha Christie Film.
Es war auch der erste Film, den ich von diesen gesehen habe. Als meine Oma davon erfuhr, dass ich z.b. großer Alfred Hitchcock Fan bin, empfahl sie mir direkt, Das Böse unter der Sonne. Mein Vater wiederum war erstaunt, dass ich den Film noch nie gesehen hatte, weshalb ich den Film mit ihm direkt im double-feature mit Tod auf dem Nil anguckte.
Bis heute finde ich aber diesen Film den besseren.…
I actually preferred this to Death on the Nile since it seemed like everyone who was in Death on the Nile was more comfortable in this. Ustinov gives a stronger performance, the outfits are IMPECCABLE (I cannot express how important the outfits are in adding to my overall enjoyment of this film), and the structure feels less repetitive when Poirot is investigating each of the suspects, since instead of simply accusing each person one by one, Poirot collects alibis and other small clues from each guest, making the lead up to the big reveal more interesting to follow. The camp of this movie is also dialed up to eleven, thanks to those incredible outfits and some hilariously over the top performances from Sylvia Miles, Maggie Smith, and Roddy McDowall. Also...without giving away the ending...after the killers are revealed there is a very fabulous costume change. Basically, long story short, costume designer Anthony Powell went above and beyond.