In Dead Man’s Folly, Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov) and Hastings (Jonathan Cecil) head to a small island where Adrienne Oliver (Jean Stapleton) has set up a murder hunt game but fears a real murder is in the offing. Her fears are confirmed and Poirot investigates to solve this real-life crime.

This was a decent made-for-television film, carried as usual by the talents of Sir Peter Ustinov and the mystery as told by Agatha Christie. Jean Stapleton was kind of hard to believe as Oliver, but perhaps that’s because she’s been typecast in my mind as Edith Bunker. However, that doesn’t detract much from an enjoyable mystery.

It’ll be interesting to see David Suchet’s version of this story next year as it is one of few Poirot mysteries he hasn’t done. Filming is set to begin in May 2013.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5.00

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