Death Waits (2008)

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Episode of the series Agatha Christie's Poirot
title Death is waiting
Original title Appointment with Death
Country of production United Kingdom
original language English
length 93 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
classification Season 11, episode 4
61st episode overall ( list )
First broadcast December 25, 2009 on ITV
September 22, 2008 in Sweden
Rod
Director Ashley Pearce
script Guy Andrews
production Karen Thrussell
music Stephen McKeon
camera Peter Greenhalgh
cut Paul Garrick
occupation
chronology

←  Predecessor
The forgetful murderess

Successor  →
On a double track

Death is waiting (Original title: Appointment with Death ) is a long episode from the eleventh season of the British television series Agatha Christie's Poirot from 2008 by Ashley Pearce . It is a film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Agatha Christie from 1938. The film was shot in Casablanca and El Jadida in Morocco .

It is already the second film adaptation, the first was released with Sir Peter Ustinov as Rendezvous with a corpse in 1988.

action

In the heat of the Syrian desert, the eccentric English archaeologist Lord Greville Boynton and his son Leonard seek the final resting place of John the Baptist . They are accompanied by Lord Boynton's second wife, a dominant and wealthy American, and their adopted children, Raymond, Carol and Jinny. Hercule Poirot is on vacation in Syria and, together with a few other guests, watches the excavations, which are suddenly overshadowed by Lady Boynton's death. Each of the suspects has a good reason to kill them, but only Poirot suspects who longed for her death so much that he took action. He also said this to a colonel : “You know, mon ami, it's the little gray cells, you're whispering something to Poirot.” However, even Poirot only becomes aware of the depths of the case when it is too late for a conciliatory outcome. The film adaptation differs greatly from the novel:

  • The central location has been moved from Petra to an excavation in Syria , where Lord Boynton is looking for the head of John the Baptist .
  • New people have been added: for example Lord Boynton, Nanny Taylor and Sister Agnieszka.
  • Some people have been left out: for example Nadine Boynton and Miss Pierce.
  • The background of the victim is also changed: In the book, Mrs. Boynton is a tyrannical sadist who worked as a prison guard. In the film, she is still a sadist who has made financial fortunes. However, because she could not have children of her own, she adopted orphans, all of whom tortured and abused her or the nanny commissioned them to do so.
  • This also completely changes the motive for the murder, so that the famous sentence “I've never forgotten anything - not an action, not a name, not a face.” (“I never forget anything, no action, no name and no face. ”) becomes irrelevant. In the novel, however, he has a key role.

literature

  • Agatha Christie: Death is waiting (Original title: Appointment with Death ). German by Ursula-Maria Mössner. Scherz, Frankfurt am Main 2004, 250 pages, ISBN 3-502-79374-3 .

Web links

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Release certificate for Death is waiting . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , June 2013 (PDF; test number: 139 355 V).