Search - Agatha Christie's Endless Night on DVD

A faithful interpretation of a sinister and powerful story

Sophie Masson | Armidale, New South Wales Australia | 05/09/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This 1970's movie is based on Agatha Christie's powerful and chilling novel of the same name--and apart from a few minor details, very little has been changed, which is pleasing as this is one of the Queen of Crime's most perfect stories and to monkey about with it would have been both unforgivable and unnecessary. The story is told in the engaging and direct voice of Mike, a young man who loves beauty but is too poor to realise his dreams--until the daty he meets beautiful, elfin Ellie who turns out to be an American heiress. The pair fall in love, marry and go to live on their lovely property, Gipsy's Acre, which Mike loves almost as much as he loves Ellie. For a time, it seems like Paradise--but the snake is already there, and soon, things begin to unravel. When death strikes suddenly, nothing will ever be the same again..

Born to sweet delight or endless night: that is at the heart of this haunting, frightening and extraordinary story, and the film faithfully recreates that atmosphere of foreboding and doom, as well as the sense of the fragility of beauty and happiness. Though at times it's a trifle hammily acted(i'd have given this film 4 and a half stars if I could--the half taken away for some rather leaden acting at times) the story is so powerful it overcomes that, and the result is a film that's not only watchable but quite haunting as well."