Synopsis
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.
Your Movie Library
Cast
- Peter UstinovHercule Poirot
- James MasonOdell Gardener
- Sylvia MilesMyra Gardener
- Roddy McDowallRex Brewster
- Maggie SmithDaphne Castle
- Jane BirkinChristine Redfern
- Nicholas ClayPatrick Redfern
- Diana RiggArlena Stuart Marshall
- Denis QuilleyKenneth Marshall
- Colin BlakelyHorace Blatt
Recommendations
- 75
Chicago Sun-Times
Evil Under The Sun is not, alas, as good as Beat the Devil, but it is the best of the recent group of Christie retreads. - 70
The New York Times
Evil Under the Sun, the latest Agatha Christie whodunit to be given the all-star screen treatment, has nothing but style, but its style goes a long way. - 60
Variety
Apart from cutting down the number of characters, Hamilton and scripter Anthony Shaffer have also had the audacity to switch things around in the inevitable denouement scene. Poirot points right away at the guilty party, while the true suspense is put into the how’s and why’s that follow. - 60
Newsweek
Director Guy Hamilton's movie is rather more effective as an advertisement for Majorca than as a thriller, and the idea of Ustinov as Poirot remains more enticing than the reality, but you could do a lot worse. Think of it as a languid cocktail party with a terrific guest list. [22 Mar 1982, p.85] - 40
Time Out
With Ustinov's energetic impersonation of Poirot and Anthony Shaffer's traditionally structured script, Death on the Nile offered a fair recreation of Agatha Christie's world, but this time Christie herself would rightly have disowned the film. - 40
TV Guide Magazine
Though director Guy Hamilton has tried to make the Christie formula more cinematic by trimming the number of characters and streamlining the plot, the picture is still rather uninteresting. Only the performances, the lovely location, and some Cole Porter tunes make it worth watching.
