Dead Man's Folly DVD

...John Addison, the teleplay for Dead Man's Folly was by Rod Browning.



~*~ PLOT TEASER ~*~

Ariadne Oliver (a distinguished crime writer) invites Hercule Poirot to a Murder Hunt she is organising, to be held at a country manor, Nass House, where she feels things are not quite right. So Poirot attends with his sidekick Captain Hastings, where he meets the owners of Nass House - the arrogant Sir Stubbs and ...
...secretary, the previous owner of Nass House - Mrs Folliat, Mr & Mrs Legg - a couple on the edge of divorce, Merdell - a seemingly senile old local man and Michael Weyman - a womaniser.

Nass House was previously owned by Amy Folliatt who lost her home due to death taxes when her husband died. She also had two sons who died. She has been granted life residency in River Cottage, on the Stubbs' property. On the weekend Poirot visits Nass ... more

I watched this on TV again over the Christmas period after many years. Having seen it several times in the past, being a diehard Agatha Christie fan, I couldn't help watching it over again, nor could I resist writing about it.

This TV film was released in 1986 and starred Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot with Jean Stapleton as Ariadne Oliver.

Produced by Neil Hartley, directed by Clive Donner with music by John Addison, the teleplay for Dead Man's Folly was by Rod Browning.

~*~ PLOT TEASER ~*~

Ariadne Oliver (a distinguished crime writer) invites Hercule Poirot to a Murder Hunt she is organising, to be held at a country manor, Nass House, where she feels things are not quite right. So Poirot attends with his sidekick Captain Hastings, where he meets the owners of Nass House - the arrogant Sir Stubbs and his blombe bombshell wife Hattie, Amanda Brewis - Sir Stubbs' secretary, the previous owner of Nass House - Mrs Folliat, Mr & Mrs Legg - a couple on the edge of divorce, Merdell - a seemingly senile old local man and Michael Weyman - a womaniser.

Nass House was previously owned by Amy Folliatt who lost her home due to death taxes when her husband died. She also had two sons who died. She has been granted life residency in River Cottage, on the Stubbs' property. On the weekend Poirot visits Nass House, there's to be an Annual Fair which was held every year by the previous owners and which Sir Stubbs, up until now, had not particularly been a fan of. Mrs Oliver's Murder Hunt is to take place at the Annual Fair and a local teenaged girl has been selected to be the "murder victim".

At breakfast, Sir Stubbs' wife receives a letter, which greatly distresses her, from Eddie South, a boy she knew from her home-town in the USA. She retires to her room, having suddenly taken with a headache and makes it quite obvious that Eddie South is an undesirable character that she has no wish to meet with.

Come the Annual Fair and Poirot has his "fortune" told rather unconvincingly. The "murder victim" for the game becomes a real murder victim and Hattie Stubbs disappears without trace. Now the hunt is on to find the killer and the missing lady of the manor.

Will Poirot and his sidekick Hastings solve the mystery of "whodunit" before the corpses start piling up?

~*~ ACTING ~*~

I wasn't particularly convinced with the casting choices for this film. Peter Ustinov does a fair enough job in his role as Poirot, although personally I do prefer David Suchet as the Belgian detective. Jean Stapleton as Ariadne Oliver could have played the role more convincingly - in many scenes she seems to go over the top, whereas Jonathan Cecil as Hastings hardly gets a look in which is a shame.

Kenneth Cranham as Inspector Bland didn't quite live up to his name "bland" - in fact he was anything but bland… Contance Cummings as the down on her luck previous lady of the manor played her part with grace and dignity. Jeff Yagher was charming in his role as Eddie South (and quite cute too!) Tim Pigott-Smith overdid his role and Nicolette Sheridan (nowadays of Desperate Housewives fame) was charming and quite funny as the dizzy blonde.

Christopher Guard and Caroline Langrishe didn't have enough screen time and Ralph Arliss may as well not have been cast in the film for the good he did...

Overall I don't feel that anyone's acting was overly great nor did any actor particularly stand out more than anyone else in the film. It's a shame that Poirot's character didn't have more vigour than it actually did as he's such an amusing and interesting character in the books.

~*~ CINEMATOGRAPHY ~*~

There was a lot of splendid scenery in the film which made it all the more fun to watch. A lot of it was set in a big stately home and its grounds, which always adds to the authenticity of a film.

~*~ CAST OF CHARACTERS ~*~

Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot
Jean Stapleton as Ariadne Oliver
Tim Pigott-Smith as Sir George Stubbs
Nicolette Sheridan as Hattie Stubbs
Jonathan Cecil as Captain Hastings
Constance Cummings as Amy Folliat
Kenneth Cranham as Inspector Bland
Jeff Yagher as Eddie South
Susan Wooldridge as Amanda Brewis
Christopher Guard as Alec Legge
Caroline Langrishe as Sally Legge
Ralph Arliss as Michael Weyman

~*~ WHERE TO GET IT ~*~

You can purchase this on DVD from various sources (check out Ciao's recommended sources for starters). The cheapest I could spot it via a Google search was for about £10 from dvd.co.uk, although readmore.co.uk appears to be selling it for £3.40 (source: ciao.co.uk).

~*~ OVERALL? ~*~

I wouldn't feel right giving this film anything more than 6 out of 10. I enjoyed it to some extent, but felt somewhat cheated by most of the casts' acting skills (or lack of it). If anything it seemed rather "hammy" - I really don't like that word but it's the only one I can think of to describe my thoughts. The story was good and cinematography was very pleasant to view too which were the areas where the film scored points from me.

 

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