What I’ve Caught Up With, October 2024 Part 1:
Film: Dead Ringer (1964)
Bette Davis gets to try her hand at a dual role, playing estranged twin sisters. Frank Delorca dies, and his wife Maggie (Davis) and her sister Edith (also Davis) show up at the funeral after a 20-year estrangement. It turns out that Edith loved Frank first and Maggie stole him away, marrying him not for love but for his tremendous fortune. Edith, feeling that she has wasted her life in this respect, decides to take revenge by killing her sister and taking her place. It’s easier said than done, though, because looking like her identical twin is one thing, but figuring out her habits is quite another. Peter Lawford plays Maggie’s roguish boyfriend, and Karl Malden handles one of his better roles as a police detective who was involved with Edith and starts to piece things together.
Film: Evil Under the Sun (1982)
The Peter Ustinov/Hercule Poirot movies are fun because they fit a very specific pattern of narrative. We gather a bunch of people in the same place, someone who is disliked by everyone gets bumped off at the end of the first half of the film, and the second half consists of our hero Poirot (Ustinov) interrogating everyone and putting together how the crime was committed. It's impossible to figure out how the crimes were committed because the clues are tiny and we often see them in passing, and frequently, the things that seal the deal for us aren’t given until the reveal. Honestly, these films are all about the massive cast list and the exotic locations. In this case, we get a tropical island, the murder of a stage actress (Diana Rigg), and a cast that includes Roddy McDowell, James Mason, Maggie Smith, and Jane Birkin.
Film: Death on the Nile (1978)
I’m not sure why I watched these in reverse order, but I did. This is the traditional Agatha Christie-based film, with a cast of thousands all potential suspects in a murder in an exotic location. A wealthy socialite is murdered, and everyone has their own reason to make the attempt, from revenge to a desire for her prized pearls. As always, the murder is unsolvable for the audience, but we’re here for the cast—Bette Davis, Maggie Smith, Olivia Hussey, David Niven, Mia Farrow, Jack Warden and a wildly oversexed Angela Lansbury make up most of the cast of both victims (since there are a few) and suspects. The drawing room conclusion is fun, but frustrating because there’s no way you’re getting there without spoilers.
Film: Appointment with Death (1988)
Peter Ustinov played Hercule Poirot in six films, and Appointment with Death is the final, and probably the least of them. Once again we get exotic locales and a star-studded cast list. This time, a vicious, conniving mother (Piper Laurie) forces the family lawyer (David Soul) to destroy the will of her late husband, which would have given his children their freedom. Naturally, she’s going to be our target, and just as naturally, everyone has a motive. This time, our cast of potential murders include Lauren Bacall, Carrie Fisher, John Gielgud, and Hayley Mills. It’s fine, but hardly required viewing, and as expected, too many clues are hidden from the audience to allow the audience to solve things before the conclusion.
Film: Too Late for Tears (1949)
Jane Palmer (Lizabeth Scott) and her husband Alan (Arthur Kennedy) are driving at night when a satchel of cash—nearly $1 million in 1949 dollars—is tossed into their back seat. Now the guy who the payoff was intended for wants the money back and Alan wants to turn it in to the police. Jane, though, wants the money for herself, and convinces criminal Danny Fuller (Dan Duryea) to help her bump off her husband to keep the cash. The problem is Alan’s sister Kathy (Kristine Miller), who certainly isn’t going to take the sudden disappearance of her brother lightly. And what about Jane’s past and dead first husband? This is a dandy noir with a fun plot. Husky-voiced Lizabeth Scott is a fine femme fatale, and Dan Duryea made a career out of playing wise guys just a little too clever for their own good.