EVIL UNDER THE SUN lol

[morosco]

Posted: 7/24/11 at 10:49pm

Just finished watching this on Netflix. I'd forgotten what an outrageous hoot this movie is. Delicious performances from Maggie Smith and Diana Rigg (who could always through her legs higher........and wider).





Updated On: 7/24/11 at 10:49 PM

[Q]

Posted: 7/24/11 at 11:03pm

I've never seen this - I think I might have to.

[Urban]

Posted: 7/25/11 at 5:21am

It is absolutely fun to watch. Maggie Smith's scary perm is along worth the price of buying it!

I tend to at least once a year watch the "Big 4" All-Star Cast Poirot movies over the course of one weekend (this, Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile & The Mirror Crack'd)

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/25/11 at 6:54am

It's not a great movie, but still fun to watch. After Murder on the Orient Express, there was a string of these all-star Agatha Christie adaptations. They almost went downhill in quality sequentially, with Murder being the best:

Murder on the Orient Express
Death on the Nile
Evil Under the Sun
The Mirror Crack'd

[fflagg]

Posted: 7/25/11 at 5:11pm

The Mirror Crack'd is a Miss Marple, not Poirot. The film has Angela as Marple and of course Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Kim Novak {!}, Tony Curtis, and in his film debut, Pierce Brosnan.

Evil Under the Sun also has the yummy Nicholas Clay who died not long after this film. His biography is vague in re to the cause of death; although married, the rumor was that he was gay and AIDS could have been the culprit. He was a charismatic actor also in other Agathas and one ep of Sherlock Holmes.

Evil also boasts Jane Birkin [her second Agatha], Roddy McDowall, Sylvia Miles, and James Mason.

And of course the music of Cole Porter. . .

[StageManager2]

Posted: 7/25/11 at 5:33pm

"Evil Under the Sun also has the yummy Nicholas Clay who died not long after this film."

fflagg, he died 18 years after this movie.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/25/11 at 7:01pm

I remember how HORRENDOUS Lois Chiles was in "Evil Under the Sun." I couldn't wait for her to die.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/25/11 at 7:03pm

I remember hoping she'd die in "The Great Gatsby."

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/25/11 at 7:50pm

LOL That whole movie would have been better if an axe murderer had run rampant through it.

And I just remembered ... Lois Chiles was horrendous in Death on the Nile, not Evil Under the Sun.

See how they all run together?

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/25/11 at 8:11pm

I think we can agree that had she shown up in "Evil Under the Sun" she'd have made it worse than it already is (love it though I do).

[fflagg]

Posted: 7/25/11 at 10:01pm

Really? Thank you for the clarification. He was a good actor.

And Lois was in DEATH ON THE NILE. And her debut was supposedly THE WAY WE WERE.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 9:59am

Poor old Lois Chiles -- the female Keanu Reeves. Watching her in DEATH ON THE NILE trying to get out some of Anthony Shaffer's dialogue is real agony, especially during that big scene with Angela Lansbury, who trots it all out with such effortless hilarity.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 11:06am

I know! It's like watching a (dumb) kitten trying to fight a (drunk) crocodile.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 11:32am

Lansbury deserved an oscar nod for that performance.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 12:09pm

She's a hoot. And her costumes are unbelievable.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 1:14pm

She looks like she's going to slide right off the screen.

I love how she careens all over the place if it were choppy seas, even on dry land. And Olivia Hussey just stares at her. She truly is the Drowsy Chaperone in this movie.

And how about Bette Davis ordering Maggie Smith around?!

Of course Death on the Nile is much better than Evil Under the Sun, and Murder on the Orient Express is much better than Death on the Nile, so there you have it.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 1:16pm

Bette ordering Maggie around? How about Maggie manhandling Bette? There's one scene where it looks like she nearly dislocated the old lady's shoulder!

They're wonderful together.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 1:21pm

"She looks like she's going to slide right off the screen" is a perfect description, btw. As a friend said, I don't think she's ever truly vertical the entire time.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 1:26pm

Chiles: "Frankly, Mrs. Otterborne, I don't find being likened to a "nymphomaniacal babboon" flattering. And I suggest we leave it to our lawyers to decide what is adequate compensation for being the butt of your vulgar drivel! Good afternoon!"

Lansbury: "Philistine! I'll show you what reputation is about!"

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 2:09pm

I may have to watch this movie again ... like today.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 3:07pm

I defy you not to be amused when Lansbury refers to Hercule Poirot as Hercules Porridge.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 3:12pm

And accompanying Maggie and Diana at the piano is the late Denis Quilley, London's first Candide, Sweeney Todd and George in La Cage and who also feeds dear, dear Johnny one of his best lines in Murder on the Orient Express.

I must pay more attention to Lois Chiles next time - I never noticed her acting but was probably distracted by the late Simon MacCorkindale. And I'm not talking about his acting either.

These films do go downhill; by Evil Under the Sun they've moved from thriller to campfest. The Mirror Crack'd was dire (although I still reserve the right to address clerics as "Vicar Baby") and I think Angela's Miss Marple is a surprising and rare miss in her career. Joan Hickson really cuts the mustard in that role.


Updated On: 7/26/11 at 03:12 PM

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 3:22pm

"I must pay more attention to Lois Chiles next time - I never noticed her acting"

It's understandable: Her acting is conspicuous by its absence.

(And yes, Joan Hickson is without peer as as the divine Miss M.)

[Scripps2]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 3:31pm

I think she popped up in Dallas as well, although I can't remember where she fitted in.

Lois Chiles that is, not Joan Hickson.
Updated On: 7/26/11 at 03:31 PM

[fflagg]

Posted: 7/26/11 at 9:12pm

DEATH ON THE NILE was not the financial hit that ORIENT was. Although Angela won a Best Support Actress award from I think the National Board of Review and may have also rec a nom from the Golden Globes. The film won an Oscar for Costume Design.

Re MIRROR, Elizabeth was the second choice; Natalie Wood was the first choice and would have been superb as Marina.

APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH is out of print; the last Poirot feature film with Ustinov. Supported by Bacall, Carrie Fisher, and others.

There is another bad remake of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE starring . . . Frank Stallone!

Joan Hickson is also in two other Agatha films: MURDER SHE SAID and LOVE WITH A STRANGER from 1937.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=711MWg4-J-c