Having bailed on the Kenneth Branagh 2017 redo, it’s nice to see Sidney Lumet’s original all-star whodunit looking, if anything, fresher & funnier than it did back in ‘74. A game changer for the genre (like 2001 in Sci-Fi and SUPERMAN for Super Heroes), you’d have to go back to Billy Wilder’s WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION in ‘57 to find similar posh treatment on an Agatha Christie project. Elegantly designed, shot & scored, the film really takes off post-murder (of loathsome businessman Richard Widmark) in a series of one-on-one interrogations by Albert Finney’s detective Hercule Poirot, presented as deliciously funny vaudeville turns by a true All-Star cast. Not has-been stars; almost stars; or up-and-comers; but by legitimate film & stage legends. It’s a staggering list, and most with something irresistible to do up there. (Or just to look gorgeous.) Ingrid Bergman is certainly the funniest, a humble missionary taking a break from helping little brown babies in Africa . . . or is it India? With Wendy Hiller’s grande dame and John Gielgud’s subservient valet not far behind her. Lux & relaxing, it’s one of the great entertainments from an era that ignored, even despised, such necessary pleasures. And, as a series of lesser follow-ups proved, harder to pull off than you think.
DOUBLE-BILL: Robert Altman’s GOSFORD PARK/’01 probably comes closer to the mark than any of the official Agatha Christie follow-ups.
No comments:
Post a Comment