Dead Man's Folly (1986)

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

A lot of fun.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I'm slowly working my way through every instance of Christie's Poirot that I can find on film. I've seen Suchet, Ustinov, Randall, Holm, Molina, even the silly versions in a John Cleese film and a skit in a British 1980's sketch comedy. But this film with its over-the-top, melodramatic performances is the worst Poirot film I've ever seen. I rate it even lower than Tony Randall playing Poirot in the 1960's "Alphabet Murders." But understand. It isn't Ustinov who made it bad. It was the direction. I swear a few times I could see Ustinov wince at the other actors performances thinking, "How did I get into this mess?!?!" All I could think while watching was that the actors were purposely doing a send-up of Poirot, yet they all seemed so earnest, that couldn't be it. I can only conclude it was the direction. These actors are better than this. Far better!!! The movie struck me as campy, except for Poirot. Even the amazing on location setting can't overcome the failures in the acting. The only thing this did was elevate so many of the other performances I've seen for Poirot. At,least after this, it is almost impossible for any other performance to be worse!

If another actor had assumed the role of the great Belgian detective, setting this in the present day may not have been so jarring. But with Peter Ustinov having been seen in two feature films of this already ("Death on the Nile" and "Evil Under the Sun") and one more on the way ("Appointment With Death"), that is really shocking here, especially since the films were very popular, beginning with Albert Finney 12 years before in "Murder on the Orient Express".Taking away the period costumes and exotic places and putting in young men with mullets, trashilly dressed young women and a dotty mystery writer (Jean Stapleton, taking on a similar role that she had turned down for "Murder She Wrote" much to Angela Lansbury's better luck), the missing qualities are all the more obvious. Still present though are the obvious facts of Poirot being in the right place at the right time (unless you are one of the suspects) to overhear plots being hatched or collect various clues, and the result seems very forced. In this case, it surrounds a murder at a British country estate which includes false identities, disguises and even attempted matricide. Veteran actress Constance Cummings is a delight to find in this film, her character of a broke heiress with many secrets the highlight of the film.Even more obvious is the break to the commercials, sometimes returning with another character repeating what another character had just said. That gives this an aura of being rushed into production and ultimately the weakest of Ustinov's Poirot entries.

Yet another one of Peter Ustinov's made-for-TV Hercule Poirot mysteries. These movies are a far cry from his theatrically released "Death on the Nile" and "Evil Under the Sun" in almost every way (cast, production values, scripting, etc.), but taken on their own they have their moments. "Dead Man's Folly" doesn't have too many of those moments, though. As the music score (which would be more appropriate for a slapstick comedy) quickly signals, this movie is played too broadly. Ustinov takes the comedic aspects of Poirot just a step too far in this one - he does a lot of mugging and even some double-takes. Hastings is not as idiotic here as he was in "Murder in Three Acts", but Hugh Fraser is much better in the David Suchet series. Jean Stapleton is OK as Mrs. Oliver, but again, Zoë Wanamaker was better in Suchet's "Cards on the Table". The cast on the whole is not bad, and there are a couple of real stunners in it (Nicolette Sheridan, Caroline Langrishe). But the direction is bland, and the result is a murder mystery more trivial than thrilling. (**)

Now, it may come as a surprise to most people when you see the rating that I have given this TV-movie (10 out of 10), especially when you read most of the other comments on this movie. But I will explain, and you'll see that there is some method to my madness.Firstly, I'm a huge Agatha Christie fan, especially of the Hercule Poirot mysteries. I had read the book Dead Man's Folly and had enjoyed it immensely, thus making me search out this movie. When I discovered that it was Peter Ustinov who was starring as Poirot I was over the moon, as I consider him by far the best Poirot. In my opinion, Ustinov is the definitive Poirot.I managed to find the movie and then watch it. It was excellent. Ustinov was brilliant as the detective gifted with "the little grey cells". It was not as good as Evil Under The Sun or Death On The Nile, however my mark reflects the closeness of the movie to the text. I couldn't believe how close the movie was. As I was sitting there watching the film I was uttering the lines in my mind from how they were seen in the book. It was a terrific film and deserves every bit of my 10 marks.