Murder in Three Acts
Poirot investigates two poisonings at a party in Acapulco.
In 1986, Warner Bros. Television released the British-American TV movie Murder in Three Acts, starring Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot. Directed by Gary Nelson, it also featured Jonathan Cecil, Tony Curtis, and Emma Samms. This was Ustinov’s final television appearance as Poirot and his fifth overall. The film adapts Agatha Christie’s 1934 novel Three Act Tragedy, which was published in the US under the same title as the film.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Crime
- Drama
- Mystery
- Based on
- Three Act Tragedy, Agatha Christie
- Writer
- Scott Swanton
- Director
- Gary Nelson
- Theme music
- Alf Clausen
- Country
- United Kingdom; United States
- Language
- English
- Producer
- Paul Waigner
Facts from the source article.
Did You Know?
- The film's plot involves Poirot joining Hastings in Acapulco, where a clergyman named Babbington dies of poisoning, followed by Dr Bartholomew Strange.
- Other guests at the party include writer Janet Crisp, Daisy Eastman and her daughter Egg, and Ricardo Montoya.
Background
The film was part of a series of Poirot adaptations following the 1974 film Murder on the Orient Express, which starred Albert Finney. The story was relocated from London to Acapulco, and Arthur Hastings replaced the novel's Satterthwaite as Poirot's assistant. The character Sir Charles Cartwright, originally an English stage actor, became an American movie star played by Tony Curtis. A 2010 adaptation starring David Suchet restored the original title and setting, while Ustinov's final portrayal of Poirot was in the 1988 film Appointment with Death.
Elsewhere in Hercule Poirot
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