Alicia I love this movie so much

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Robert J. Maxwell This rather long adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel (which I haven't read) is pretty highly stylized -- one or two steps removed from Monty Python's sketch, "Race of the Upper-Class Twits." Not that there's anything stupid about these characters, except a few eccentricities. It's just that it's so awfully easy to imagine that the twits came from the kind of milieu we see here.Nine young people, just past college age, are spending a weekend at a country estate belonging to John Gielgud, in a hilarious performance as a doddering and superior Feudal Lord. The murder of one of the guests upsets him. "A stranger! One expects family to die at one's home, but a complete STRANGER?" Another guest is later shot. "You don't just go about shooting people. They don't LIKE it." Before dying, the young man mutters something about the "seven dials" and one or two other clues. After this, the plot becomes a little tangled. The Seven Dials turns out to be some secret society, but I won't go into it because medical discretion and a lack of comprehension forbids it.The location shooting and photography are superb, reminiscent of series like Sherlock Holmes and David Suchet's Poirot. The cars are spiffy antiques and so is the garb. Cheryl Campbell, as "Bundle", becomes one of those recreational detectives impelled by arrogance and curiosity. She overacts triumphantly in a perky, pop-eyes, open-mouthed way that's not at all offensive once you get used to it. Gielgud and Harry Andrews, though present, don't have that much screen time.I want to note, somewhere along the line, the disdain with which the servants treat their masters. It's all delicately expressed -- an upturned nose, a question with the contours of total disbelief, a certain quiet joy in disturbing the master in some minor way while going about their business.

Lechuguilla A secret formula, an enigmatic society, and a murder steer the plot in this TV movie, based on Christie's whodunit novel, set in the English countryside during the 1920s.Most scenes take place indoors, using what looks like theatrical sets borrowed from some TV soap opera or Broadway play. As the actors move about, the production lighting casts annoying shadows on the walls. Further, the actors tend to overact, with accompanying facial mannerisms that are exaggerated. I found the Bundle Brent character to be particularly irritating, as she darts and flutters around, in a flippant sort of way.Especially in the film's first half, the stagy sets, the overacting, the absence, for the most part, of background music, and a very talky script, all contribute to the impression that we are watching a community playhouse production.The film improves in the second half, when plot suspense finally overpowers the production flaws, as a murderer tries to manipulate a mansion full of innocents. Near the film's end, flashbacks explain the story, reveal the clues, and show us once again how Agatha Christie cleverly leads her readers down the garden path.The book was better than this film, in my opinion. But, the film is not bad, if you can overlook the production weaknesses.

fkonidaris this was a good movie based on the novel. JamesWarrick once again plays a good role in trying to solve the murder of an old pal, in which gets him caught up in a trail of international intrigue. good acting and story keep this from being out of place. I like the way this was filmed in the english countryside outside of London.

Rosabel I found this movie to be quite an enjoyable mystery, and very true to the early Agatha Christie style in its plot device of British state secrets being stolen and sold to foreign enemies. Although some of the interior scenes, especially right at the beginning of the film, have that slightly claustrophobic "soundstage" feel, this is quickly forgotten as the characters become more familiar and the mystery gets underway. The acting is very good, and Cheryl Campbell brings a lot of energy to the part of the flapper-heroine, Lady Eileen Brent, and James Warwick, as Jimmy The singer, joins her in playing upper-class amateur sleuth with a great deal of humour. Sir John Gielgud, as usual, steals every scene he appears in, and Harry Andrews is terrific as the stolid, slow-spoken Inspector Battle. The story follows the usual pattern of complicated twists and red herrings, but the conclusion came as a complete surprise to me, which I take as the mark of a good mystery.