by Fiona Underhill, Contributor

Agatha Christie has a long history with film and TV adaptations, and they’ve certainly ridden waves of popularity and dips where they’ve pretty much ceased all together. It’s interesting to look at which decades loved Christie and which almost entirely ignored her, and we’ve certainly entered an era where the murder mystery is thankfully back – thanks to Kenneth Branagh and Rian Johnson.

On a personal level – I grew up watching the Miss Marple TV series in the 80s and 90s and the 70s Christie movies which were frequently shown on TV on Sunday afternoons. I love the era of the 1920s-1950s, which is a large part of why I love Christie so much, and any adaptation is likely to have wonderful production design and costumes. My mother lives in Dartmouth, Devon on the south coast of England, and you can take a boat trip from there up the river to Greenway – Christie’s holiday home and the setting of her book Dead Man’s Folly. I made this pilgrimage most recently in June 2023, and it was absolutely delightful. I am also the sponsor of the Agatha Christie adaptations shelf at the newly re-opened Vidiots video store in Los Angeles (where I now live).

So, with Branagh’s A Haunting in Venice now opening in theaters, let’s take a tour through the various decades of Christie adaptations and I’ll let you know which ones I strongly recommend, and which are not as good – but for fans of the genre, they’re all worth watching!

The 1940s and 1950s – Star Power

These two decades produced two significant Christie movies, one of which had a surprising amount of Hollywood heavyweights behind it. 1945’s And Then There Were None is the less starry of the two, but the better one in my humble opinion. Any movie featuring Rebecca’s Mrs. Danvers–Judith Anderson–is going to be a treat. Barry Fitzgerald also makes for a great Judge Quincannon, and it’s directed by Rene Clair (I Married a Witch). The plot is as quintessentially Christie as you can imagine, with ten strangers gathered together on an island and they start being picked off one by one. 1957’s Witness for the Prosecution is directed by the always impeccable Billy Wilder and stars Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester, Tyrone Power, and Marlene Dietrich. More of a courtroom drama than what we expect from the usual Christie plots and settings, this is enjoyably twisty and obviously has fantastic performances – from Laughton and Dietrich in particular.

The 1960s – The Margaret Rutherford Miss Marples

Margaret Rutherford starred in four Miss Marple movies in the early 60s, which are enjoyable, but have been criticized by aficionados for their portrayal of Marple as a dotty eccentric and for leaning into being farcical slapstick comedies more than sinister murder mysteries. I’ve seen the first and the last of the four – Murder, She Said (1961) in which Marple witnesses a murder on a passing train, and Murder Ahoy! (1964) which is largely set on a ship and is the more entertaining of the two. Rutherford’s real-life husband plays a gentleman who assists Marple in her various schemes in these movies. And if you’ve never read Rutherford’s ‘early life’ section on Wikipedia, I would strongly encourage you to do so.

The 1970s and 80s – The Pinnacle

These two decades produced four fantastic Christie movies starring the cream of British and American acting talent, and the two 70s movies in particular really cemented the Agatha Christie murder mystery in the public’s imagination. To this day (nearly 50 years later), Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile are the most iconic and famous Christie stories, and it’s thanks to their 1970s movie adaptations. Maybe the best of the four was the first (although they’re all great) – Sidney Lumet’s Murder on the Orient Express (1974) starring Albert Finney as Poirot. Firstly, there’s the absolutely stunning setting of the train itself, with its sumptuous Art Deco design. Then there’s the phenomenal cast, which includes Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Michael York, and Jacqueline Bisset. The plot is delicious – from the inciting incident based on the Lindbergh baby kidnapping to the denouement involving all 12 members of the main cast. 1978’s Death on the Nile introduces Peter Ustinov as Poirot, but the director and ensemble cast aren’t as strong as in Orient Express. There are some highlights, such as Bette Davis, Angela Lansbury, David Niven, and Maggie Smith and 1930s Egypt is another fantastic setting.

In the 80s, Guy Hamilton directed two Christie adaptations – 1980’s The Mirror Crack’d with Angela Lansbury as Miss Marple, and 1982’s Evil Under the Sun with Ustinov returning as Poirot. The Mirror Crack’d brings the staggering star power of Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and Tony Curtis – but it’s Kim Novak who steals the show as Taylor’s rival. It has a less glamorous setting than the other three, but it’s fun to see Taylor amongst the coconut shies and Victoria sponges of an English fete. Evil Under the Sun stars Maggie Smith and Jane Birkin (who were both in Nile), as well as a fabulous Diana Rigg, along with James Mason and Roddy McDowall. We’re back to an exotic location (an exclusive hotel on an island), and this has probably the best costumes of the four. Evil Under the Sun and The Last of Sheila were both major inspirations for Rian Johnson when making Glass Onion.

1982 – 2017 – Christie out of favor in Cinemas

Between 1982’s Evil Under the Sun and Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express (2017), you’d be hard-pressed to find a single English language Christie adaptation that was released theatrically. She was still popular in France, Russia and India – where they still made Christie movies during this time, but other than that – she almost entirely moved to television. That’s a whopping 35 years where Christie fell massively out of favor, and we struggled to get many murder mysteries in movie theaters at all (sob).

During this time, both Marple and Poirot thrived on television, appearing in episodes that were usually 90 minutes long – so very much like films. Firstly, there was the Joan Hickson Miss Marple series which ran from 1984-1992, then a revival which ran from 2004-2014 with firstly Geraldine McEwen then Julia McKenzie in the role. Many, many British actors who have gone onto bigger things appeared in these episodes, and that’s a good way to dip into them – if there’s an English actor you like, you will likely find an episode featuring them. Then there was David Suchet, who appeared in 70 episodes of Poirot between 1989-2013, which is almost a quarter of a century. Suchet clearly adored Christie and the character, and took the role very seriously, believing it was the honor of his lifetime to inhabit Hercule Poirot. “Dead Man’s Folly” was one of the last episodes he appeared in, and it was filmed at the real Greenway, so is a great one to watch.

We will pick up with part 2 tomorrow!