Dead Man's Folly (TV 1986)

During a murder hunt game at a country house, to which Hercule Poirot is invited as an "expert", a real murder occurs.

Director:

Clive Donner

Writers:

Agatha Christie (novel), Rod Browning (teleplay),

Stars:

Peter Ustinov, Jean Stapleton, Constance Cummings

Cast

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

Storyline

Hercule Poirot is called in by his crime writer friend, Ariadne Oliver and discovers that she is troubled. She has been asked to create a "Murder Hunt" game for a fair at Nass House and she is puzzled with all the help she is getting. Poirot and his assistant, Captain Hastings arrive at the fair to see what is going on. They find a couple on the brink of divorce, a rich Lord and a dizzy Lady, an old lady, trapped in the horrors of the past and a womanizing architect. Things take a turn for the worse when during the "Murder Hunt" the girl playing the "dead" body is murdered for real, an old man's body is pulled from the local lake and the Lady of the manor goes missing when a face from her past shows up. It is clear to Poirot that someone is playing the game for real and he sets out to discover who it is...

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Plot Keywords:

murder | game | fair | hercule poirot | girl | 

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Genres:

Crime | Mystery | Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 January 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Agatha Christie's Dead Man's Folly

Filming Locations:

Cliveden, Taplow, Berkshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros. Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Joseph Blatchley, Paul Jeeson and Richard Morant were all in the running for Alec.

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Goofs

The title of Ariadne Oliver's latest novel, "Hatchets Blood and a Parakeet", is - dependent on how you read it - incorrect in either grammar or punctuation, something which would be picked up at the proof-reading editorial stage by her publishers.

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Quotes

Ariadne Oliver: Doesn't your intuition tell you anything?
Hercule Poirot: My intuition tells me... I haven't finished my breakfast!

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Connections

Referenced in Lukas: Hasch mich (1998)

User Reviews

Not brilliant but OK

This is not one of the best movies based on a Agatha Christie novel but i have seen worse. As for Ustinov as Poirot well...i'm getting tired of all those "fans" who claim that Suchett is the "definitive" Poirot, or that Ustinov is the better one. I enjoy both of them as i think both put their own stamp on the part and both have made Poirot movies that were either good or mediocre. This one is not as good as Evil under the sun or Death on the Nile but it still provides you with 90 minutes of entertainment. Most of the acting is so so. I did like Jean Stapleton as Ariadne Oliver but Ustinov has done better in the other Poirot movies i mentioned. Good for a rainy Sunday afternoon.