Agatha Christie Mysteries Collection [DVD]

We enjoyed all three of these movies. They were well made and lots of interesting stars in each movie.

The AGATHA CHRISTIE'S MYSTERY COLLECTION: DEATH ON THE NILE/ THE MIRROR CRACK'D/ EVIL UNDER THE SUN three DVD set is a good buy.I remember seeing "Death On The Nile" on television on "the late show" when I was a kid and I really loved it so that brought me here to Amazon and this set.Since "Death..." was the only one I saw the other two were a treat. If you haven't seen any of these Agatha Christie movies they're pretty cool. Each feature has a star studded cast and takes place in exotic locales, with many of the characters British and very memorable.The plots are basically the same where one character is a despicable person and everyone has good reason to want that character dead. Naturally they end up dead and it's up to Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov) to figure out which person out of the group is the actual killer.Anyway, both "Death On The Nile" and "Evil Under The Sun" push this set into the 5-star category."The Mirror Crack'd" was OK and Kim Novak was hilarious as "Lola Brewster," Elizabeth Taylor's character's nemesis, and though the setting was a quaint English town and it was charming, Angela Lansbury as Jane Marple seemed only to be in the background helping her nephew solve the case. Although it's not bad it's not on the same level as the other two.The picture quality on all three movies is pretty good and have been formatted for widescreen, so it looks great on widescreen televisions. There are some special features on "Death..." and "Evil..." which are as follows:***** EVIL UNDER THE SUN SPECIALS *****TRAILER"THE MAKING OF EVIL..."--about 16-minutesCool behind-the-scenes of the movie, reminds me of those old fashioned newsreels, where the director and the cast including Peter Ustinov, Maggie Smith, and Diana Rigg among others discuss the film and their respective characters. The featurette is a little foggy, but viewable, and was filmed back then.TALENT BIOS--text info on the actors.***** DEATH ON THE NILE ******TRAILER"THE MAKING OF DEATH..."--about 24-minutesBehind-the-scenes where producer John Brabourne discusses the movie and the production designer talks about the ship that had to be built as well as filming on the actual Nile River in Egypt. Actors Peter Ustinov, David Niven, and Jon Finch talk about their roles and actor George Kennedy talks about working with Bette Davis. Again, the footage is a little foggy and I wish this featurette were longer and had more information about filming in the other locations throughout Egypt, especially the famous ones, because those were really spectacular in the movie. The featurette was filmed back then.INTERVIEW WITH PETER USTINOV--8:46-minutes--Spanish with English Sub-titles (or no sub-titles option).Ustinov is interviewed for Spanish TV and he speaks fluent Spanish! I believe this interview was done for the London Premiere of "Death..."INTERVIEW WITH JANE BIRKIN--4:28-minutes--English with some Spanish.Taken at the same time and place as the Ustinov interview with the same reporter, Birkin is teased for carrying a "pig basket" as a purse, which is ironic because she is now the designer for the very expensive Birkin Bag (made famous on HBO's "Sex & The City"), and he asks her about her role in the movie and her singing career with Serge Gainsbourg (Jane Birkin et Serge Gainsbourg).Even though I know how the mystery ends, I'll still watch these flicks over and over again because the cast, especially Ustinov, is great and the locations are just beautiful. If you like whodunits this set is a definite for your collection!UPDATE 07/20/15:I have since learned that Jane Birkin was NOT the designer of the "Birkin Bag," but was the inspiration for Hermès to design a bag, after CE Jean-Lousi Dumas met Birkin on a plane and her stuff fell out of a bag she was carrying, and so he named it after her.

I'm a fan of Agatha Christie. I have books and DVDs of her stories. I like to compare the newer moviesof her mysteries to the older movies. Sometime the newer version is better, but not always. Sometimesthe old black and white version seems to have more content in them. But I like them all.

I'm going to quickly cite some of my qualifications for rating these 3 films because it's relevant to what I have to say: I'm a HUGE Christie fan -- I've read every book/play (some 2 or 3 times) that she wrote (over 80 in all), her Mary Westmacott pseudonym stuff, her tome of an autobiography (not a very good or honest work, BTW!), and all the films and TV productions of Christie mysteries that are available to date.Now, I will begin by noting that, for me, there are essentially 3 facets to evaluating a "Christie film" -- 1. Was it a good book to begin with? -- some are excellent, some are pretty lame, 2. How closely did the screenwriter adhere to the original work?, and, 3. Did the acting come off as "genuine" or was it hokey? (Christie stories, in particular, always manifest the dreaded potential to come off badly in the hands of an unskilled director). For example, to give you a measuring stick, the best Christie film ever is: Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient ExpressA REVISION! Here is yet another brilliant Christie film! (see my review):Ten Little Indians / Desyat' NegrityatThis set of three DVDs are, in the aggregate, "good films," worth the price -- unfortunately, given that they were obviously high-budget films, they COULD have all been spectacular, but that simply did not happen. I'll take them from best to worst."Evil Under the Sun" is the star of the three. Like "Murder on the Orient Express" (which is not in this set), it's chock-full of big names: Peter Ustinov (as Poirot), James Mason, Roddy Macdowall, Colin Blakely, and others. It takes place on a resort island, an actress is murdered on a remote beach, and Poirot has to unmask the murderer at the conclusion -- standard Poirot formula. If Ustinov does not exactly fit the profile of the book Poirot, he certainly makes up for it in a fine performance. All performances are a bit overplayed but it still comes off nicely -- it's in letterbox and the cinematography is spectacular. For me, it just makes the 5-star rating that I gave it. I definitely recommend it to all viewers.The second film in the set is "Death on the Nile," which was one of Christie's finest mysteries ever; however, this movie has a few problems, the first being that the director clearly depended upon all the big stars to simply "carry" the film. Included are Peter Ustinov (as Poirot), Bette Davis, David Niven, Angela Lansbury, Mia Farrow, George Kennedy, Jack Warden, and others. The film was produced in 1978 and all these actors were pretty much well past their primes. Again, Ustinov pulls off a super performance and I especially liked Mia Farrow too. The great David Niven was okay but the remainder pretty much stunk in their roles. Angela Lansbury, as a drunken has-been writer of fiction, was simply terrible. The story itself revolves around a honeymoon couple's (the bride is RICH!) boat tour (bulging with enemies of the bride) up the Nile River where the bride is ultimately murdered, a bullet to the head. There is also a second murder, I won't say who as that would be a spoiler. Again, Poirot has to expose the culprit at the end. The film is in letterbox format and the cinematography is magnificent. I should also say that this is not a boring film -- the activity and scenery will keep Christie fans interested throughout. Had the movie people cast fewer big names and focused a lot more on telling the story in a serious manner, this would have been an easy 5 -- I reluctantly give it a 4 and definitely recommend it to all Christie fans. Other viewers might only make it halfway through the film.The third DVD is "The Mirror Crack'd," another pretty good Christie book -- and, again, we are presented with an overage of big names.... and I mean BIG! Angela Lansbury, Elizabeth Taylor, Kim Novak, Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis and Edward Fox, the latter giving a VERY fine performance, maybe even "saving" the film for me in the second half. The story: A frumpy local woman is murdered (poisoned) as she attends a high-end theatrical party with hundreds present... but was she the intended victim? This time, Miss Marple (Christie's top female snooper), of course, reveals all at the conclusion. I must sadly report that Angela Lansbury played Miss Marple, deplorably, and it's equally sad that the screenwriters departed significantly from Chistie's rendering of the favorite lady amateur detective's profile. Lansbury comes off as very assertive, not humble at all, and even puffs away at a non-filtered coffin nail near the end of the flick, an act that would have appalled Christie's Miss Marple. I'm a huge Elizabeth Taylor fan and she conveyed her character quite well, as expected -- unfortunately, this film was shot in 1980 and Liz was a lumbering side of Hereford beef, sporting 2 1/2 chins -- I was much saddened by this has-been appearance. Hudson, who played her husband, was similarly worn-looking with very bad make-up. Throughout the movie, he looked as if he'd been on a week-long bender. At one point, in a sort of love scene, he's lying on the bed, face up, and Taylor launches herself on to him -- you could almost hear the air hiss out of poor guy and old Rock additionally didn't seem to know what to do with his arms and hands as they didn't encircle her all that effectively. Then, the camera angle switches to Taylor's face, scrunched up on Hudson's shoulder, and it takes on a gargoyle-ish essence -- the editors should have caught this but, like the rest of the movie, you get the idea that this one was all about "yielding product," and nothing about creating art. The entire film is like this -- a "has-been actors' struggle" I would call it. Fox plays the Scotland Yard Inspector, (and loyal nephew to Lansbury/Marple), and, again, he saves the film from being a complete fizzle. Poor Tony Curtis looked as if he'd been run through a tree shredder, with very bad, scruffy-looking, (and very little) hair. Christie fans will like this film okay but I can't recommend it to anyone else. Positive aspects include the letterbox format and very nice cinematography. To conclude this one, I give it a 3 on the low end.So there you have it.

good to watch the old movies

I bought this set as a gift for someone so I can only say what I was told, not personal experience. My recipient was very happy with this series and said it plays perfectly.

i love my item, thanks for everything

Love Agatha Christie's books and movies. Some movies are better than others and these are good. Enjoy them very much.