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Appointment With Death | 
| Director: Michael Winner
Actors: Peter Ustinov, Lauren Bacall, Carrie Fisher, John Gielgud, Piper Laurie
Studio: Warner
Category: Video
Buy Used: CDN$ 57.68
Used (3) from CDN$ 57.68
Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 722
Format: Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: VHS Tape
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0790741318
UPC: 085391723134
EAN: 9780790741314
ASIN: 0790741318
Theatrical Release Date: 1988
Release Date: April 27, 1999
Availability: Usually ships within 1 - 2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Peter Ustinov's last as "Poirot". April 21, 2004
James McDonald (Lancaster, California)
After the success of Death On The Nile (1978) and Evil Under The Sun (1982) and three tv-movies Thirteen At Dinner (1985-tv), Dead Man's Folly (1986-tv), Murder In Three Acts (1986-tv), Peter Ustinov returns as Belgian Detective, Hercule Poirot for the sixth and final time in this motion picture, Appointment With Death (1988). Piper Laurie is a wealthy, well-to-do woman at the reading of a will by her attourney (David Soul, original "Starsky & Hutch" tv series) of her dead husband. There are two wills. One will means less money to the widow and the step-children get an amount. In an act of blackmail, the attourney is forced to destroy one of the wills. Why does this woman put her "medicine" in a poison glass bottle. David Soul, the attourney, is having a romance with one of the widow's adult step-children. Cast also includes: Lauren Bacall, Carrie Fisher, John Gielgud, Hayley Mills (The Moonspinners), Jenny Seagrove, Nicholas Guest. Filmed in Israel, London and Italy.
 He's bacccccccccck February 19, 2003
I really enjoyed "Evil Under the Sun" and "Death on the Nile". However, this one was a very big disappointment. Not much of a story, not a good cast, poorly written with a horrible sound track. There was no suspense and no characters I really care about (except the doctor and Gielgud who would be interesting if he just stood there). It was hard to stay with it but I did. Ustinov looks tired and the rest look bored. Sorry to say, unless you are a collector who wants all of the film Ustinov endeavors (as I did), you will not be missing anything if you dont buy it.
The Murder of a Matronly Matriarch July 27, 2002
George R Dekle (Lake City, FL United States)
The matriarch of a brood of ineffectual children lords it over them and bullies them almost beyond enduring. They put up with their stepmother because their father's will left everything to her (or did it?) and the children are such wimps they cannot support themselves. Did I mention that the matriarch was once a matron in a women's prison? By the time ...gets bumped off, the viewer will be ready to cheer. But every child has a motive (the money), the means (access to mom's medicine for the overdose), and the opportunity (nobody has an alibi). There are even a few bystanders with ample motive. Not to fear, the redoubtable Hercule Poirot is on the scene to untie this whodunnit's Gordian Knot. He eavesdrops on everyone's conversations, rakes everyone over the coals with his scathing interrogations, and handily exposes the killer.This all happens in the Middle East, as Poirot vacations in the Holy Land. The environs of Jerusalem provide some beautiful background, and the viewer visits the dusty digs at Qumran, the site of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The movie follows the book pretty well, but I was disappointed that the producer moved the scene of the murder from Petra to Qumran. The beautiful architecture of Petra would have made for more satisfying visuals than the excavation holes of Qumran. Remember the fabulous building in the side of the mountain from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?" That's Petra. Peter Ustinov serves as a passable Poirot, but he's too big and too unkempt to capture the charm of Christie's Poirot. David Suchet, star of the A&E Poirot series, sets the standard against which all other video Poirots must suffer. Lauren Bacall almost stole the show with her rendition of an American-born M.P. who tried to out-English the native born English.
poorly acted adaptation July 2, 2002
Ustinov doesn't look remotely like Christie's Poirot, but never mind that. It is the ensemble cast that trashes this film, a group of summer actors who read their lines like they are reading graffiti on the rocks. The figure that should provide the menace of the book -- the evil Mrs. Boynton -- is laughable. Skip it. Wait for a more modern adaptation or just reread one of the classic Christies.
Great Adaptation January 1, 2002
I think Michael Winner made a great adaptation of "Appointment With Death". They picked just the right actors to fit the parts. The story is about the Boynton family on a 30's Holy Land tour. Mrs. Boynton (Piper Laurie) and her long suffering children Lennox (Nicholas Guest), Nadine (Carrie Fisher), Carol (Valerie Richards), Raymond (John Terlesky) and Ginevera visit Europe and the Holy Land. But their lawyer, Jefferson Cope (David Soul), secretly joins them. Mrs. Boynton makes enemies with everyone she meets. Including Lady Westholme (Lauren Bacall), Miss Quinton (Hayley Mills) and Dr. Sarah King (Jenny Seagrove). John Gielgud makes an appearance as Colonel Carbury. I hope you enjoy this movie as much as I do!
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