Michael Winner‘s ‘Appointment to Death‘ (1988) is the sixth and last film in the series of adaptations of Agatha Christie’s novels starring Hercule Poirot and starring Peter Ustinov. In several places I read that it is also considered the weakest of the films in this series, a kind of exemplification of the fact that the studios rely on previous successes and do not stop until a film is made too much and too weak at the end of the series. I don’t really like classifications of this kind, and I confess that I didn’t suffer at all when watching this film, which has qualities, it has flaws, but it also has a cast and a production that make it interesting for cinema fans and viewers of today.
‘Appointment with Death‘ depicts a crime typical of the ‘whodunit’ formula of Agatha Christie’s novels and the films inspired by them. Emily Boyton is a rich man’s widow who fraudulently appropriates his entire inheritance at the expense of his and her children. Everyone around her seems to have reasons to kill her, and the only wonder is how late the murder happens, about halfway through the film. Until then, viewers are invited to follow the heroes (Emily and her family and entourage) on a trip to the Europe of 1937, on a cruise on the Mediterranean and to the Holy Land, then under British mandate. The crime takes place under the burning sun of the Judean desert, on the shores of the Dead Sea. The characters (almost all suspects) will be gathered by Poirot in a final scene where the name of the murderer will be revealed. The classic formula is respected.
Bringing Agatha Christie’s novels to the screen is not easy, Kenneth Branagh can testify. Her detective stories are intellectually stimulating yet theatrical in their lines, characters and setting. Those who dare must create a natural and believable setting, or emphasize the theatricality and mystery. Actors have to give life and individuality to characters that sometimes seem like multiplications of stereotypes. The producers of the film were Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan who, in the 80s, tried to revolutionize the film industry with productions that were both spectacular and economically viable, making films with an appeal to the public, mostly action films, with tight-controlled budgets. Using their relationships with Israeli cinema, they organized the filming of ‘Appointment with Death‘ on location in Jerusalem, Jaffa and on the shores of the Dead Sea. Qumran replaces ancient Petra from the novel (located in present-day Jordan) as the place where the final part of the action takes place. This is a historical license, as large-scale archaeological excavations began there only a decade later, after the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. With this exception, noticed only by history buffs, the atmosphere is of truthfulness as the context of the era is rendered very well. Surrounding the drama in the film are historical dramas of major proportions in Britain (the abdication of Edward VIII and the accession to the throne of George VI), Europe (the story passes through Mussolini’s Italy) and Mandatory Palestine. The cast brings to the same screen several famous actors. Peter Ustinov is at his last appearance as Poirot and seems a bit settled into the routine. Two great female stars of the past – Lauren Bacall and Piper Laurie – receive beautiful end-of-career roles and play them with charm and elegance. Carrie Fisher and John Gielgud, two other actors I really like, have rather thin roles and do everything to fill them with some content. Even if the rest of the cast is far below their level, the ensemble works satisfactorily. Solving the mystery in the novel is based on putting together, as in a puzzle, the testimonies of various witnesses who had seen something, each from his point of view. This intellectual exercise is recreated in the film through flashbacks that bring Poirot’s interpretations to the screen. ‘Appointment with Death‘ is not the best of the films inspired by the Hercule Poirot novels, but not one to be avoided either.