Appointment with Death

Extremely pleasant if not especially distinguished whodunit benefits from colorful location shooting and an attractive, high-profile cast (though only Ustinov and Bacall have anything particularly interesting to do). Laurie has a few good moments as the acid-tongued matriach and while the film never really rises above a standard issue TV episode, it remains consistently fun and enjoyable, if a little sluggish during Poirot's sleuthing.

Run of the mill Christie/Poirot. Give it a shot if you're into whodunits, I guess.

It's padded and draggy, with extremely '80s musical cues and a very imperialist engagement with Palestine. The presence of extremely good actors doing their thing helps, but what really sinks it is the ending - tonally all over the place, structurally confused, and seemingly built to deny catharsis. ...but it's still better than the made-for-TV ones.

Not even Ustinov can save this waste of celluloid from a well deserved oblivion.