Evil Under the Sun is a murder mystery film from 1982 featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. It is based on the 1941 novel of the same name by Agatha Christie. This is the third film of the series; the first two were Murder on the Orient Express starring Albert Finney as Poirot and Death on the Nile, which starred Peter Ustinov, who also played Poirot in Death on the Nile.

After a murder occurs in North York Moors, Hercule Poirot is brought in to investigate. He discovers that the murder victim, Alice Ruber, was in possession of a mysterious diamond. After examining the diamond which belonged to millionaire Sir Horace Blatt (Colin Blakely, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes), it is concluded that the diamond is a fake. Poirot now must figure out how and why a millionaire wound up with a phony diamond! Blatt assures that the ring that was given to his former Arlena Stuart Marshall (Diana Rigg, Theater of Blood) would have been a real one. Poirot goes to confront Arlena where she and her husband Kenneth (Denis Quilley, Murder on the Orient Express) are on holiday at an exclusive island resort that often host the rich and famous.

Arlena is hated by everyone on the island for one reason or another. Even her stepdaughter Linda (Emily Hone) cannot stand her. Her pretentiousness gets into serious trouble as she is found dead on the beach. There are plenty of suspects starting with Patrick Redfern (Nicholas Clay, Excalibur) and his wife Christine (Jane Birkin, Death on the Nile). Arlena was flirting around with Patrick which caused Christine to feel jealousy and distain. Or could it be Odell (James Mason, North by Northwest) and/or wife Myra Gardener (Sylvia Miles, Midnight Cowboy) who Arlena caused financial hardship toward. Writer Rex Brewster (Roddy McDowall, Fright Night) is also a suspect because Arlena refuses to let him release her biography that he wrote. With all the suspects on the island, Poirot must solve a murder where everyone has an alibi. Once he discovers who the murderer is in this seemingly impossible to solve crime, it leads to many revelations about the fake diamond which was why Poirot was on the island in the first place.

I love Evil Under the Sun, just as much as Death on the Nile, Murder on the Orient Express and even the Sherlock Holmes movies all made around the same era. Evil Under the Sun has a wealth of outstanding veteran actors and actresses. The acting is top-notch which is what you would expect from this fine cast. Some of the cast members already had experience in performing in films with a famous sleuth in it.

Director Guy Hamilton captures the appropriate mood for the film and is directs the movie with style. The way he connected the beginning of this picture to the finale was brilliant. Everything just worked perfectly in this movie. Christopher Challis was the man responsible for the beautiful cinematography, capturing some beautiful landscapes. By 1982 he had close to forty years of experience, having done the cinematography for over seventy feature films.

Evil Under the Sun finally arrives on Blu-ray from popular US label Kino Lorber. The video quality is just spectacular with great bold, and vibrant colors of those beautifully shot landscapes. The outdoor scenery sparkles with great details and visuals under the blue skies. The outfits the characters are rich and bold, especially when Poirot is on a boat heading to the island, where both Poirot and the captain’s outfits are robust.

The English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. audio track is excellent with dialog, the superb soundtrack by Cole Porter and other action noises coming in clear and robust. No drop-offs or hissing sounds were detected. Optional English SDH subtitles are offered for the release as well.

There are several extras for Kino’s Evil Under the Sun release. To being with, an exclusive new audio commentary was recorded specifically for this release is by film critics Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thomson. They discuss the film, the locations, cast and crew. It is certainly well-worth listening to for the wealth of information that is shared.

Included in this release is a vintage featurette from previous DVD releases including from the one by Anchor Bay, called The Making of Evil Under the Sun shows film clips and interviews with director Guy Hamilton and cast members.

There are some cool radio spots and several trailers from Kino Lorber’s catalog. This time around the trailers include Death on the Nile, Evil Under the Sun, Witness for the Prosecution, Endless Night, Ordeal by Innocence and Ten Little Indians.

The release by Kino is a dream come true for fans of this film, like me for example! Between the superior image quality, the ported over extras from past DVD releases and a brand-new commentary make this Blu-ray of Evil Under the Sun a more than worthy release!

Evil Under the Sun

Director- Guy Hamilton

Cast- Peter Ustinov, Colin Blakely, Roddy McDowall

Country of Origin- US

Distributor – Kino Lorber

Number of Discs – 1

Reviewed by – David Steigman

Date-10/22/20