Dead Man's Folly (1986 film)

Dead Man's Folly is a 1986 British-American television film featuring Agatha Christie's Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. It is based on Christie's novel Dead Man's Folly. The film was directed by Clive Donner and starred Peter Ustinov as Poirot.

The cast included Jean Stapleton, Jonathan Cecil, Constance Cummings and Nicollette Sheridan. It was shot largely on location at West Wycombe Park in Buckinghamshire, England.

Synopsis
Hercule Poirot and his associate, Captain Hastings, are called in by his eccentric mystery author friend, Ariadne Oliver, to a manor house in Devon. Oliver is organizing a "Murder Hunt" game for a local fair to be held at Nass House, but she is troubled by something she cannot quite put her foot on.

Things take a turn for the worse when during the "Murder Hunt" the girl playing the "dead" body is murdered for real. Soon afterwards, the lady of the manor mysteriously disappears and an old man's body is pulled from the river. Poirot must discover who and what are behind these seemingly unconnected events.

Comparison with original story
(may contain spoilers - click on expand to read)

Cast

 * Peter Ustinov - Hercule Poirot
 * Jean Stapleton - Ariadne Oliver
 * Constance Cummings - Amy Folliat
 * Tim Pigott-Smith - Sir George Stubbs
 * Jonathan Cecil - Captain Arthur Hastings
 * Kenneth Cranham - Detective Inspector Bland
 * Susan Wooldridge - Amanda Brewis
 * Christopher Guard - Alec Legge
 * Jeff Yagher - Eddie South
 * Nicollette Sheridan - Hattie Stubbs | Italian Student (as Nicolette Sheridan)
 * Ralph Arliss - Michael Weyman
 * Caroline Langrishe - Sally Legge

Uncredited appearances

 * Siv Borg - Blond Hostel Girl
 * Fanny Carby - 2nd Woman
 * Cyril Conway - 2nd Man
 * Simon Cowell-Parker - Forensic Man
 * Joanna Dickens - 3rd Woman
 * Sandra Dickinson - Marylin Gale
 * Jack Ellis - Police Constable by Riverbank
 * Harry Fielder - Tombola Man
 * James Gaddas - Young Foreign Man
 * Jimmy Gardner - Old Merdell
 * Gerard Hely - 1st Man
 * Pippa Hinchley - Marlene Tucker
 * Vicky Murdock - Marilyn Tucker
 * Alan Parnaby - The Boatman
 * Dorothea Phillips - 1st Woman
 * Leslie Schofield - Mr Tucker
 * Marjorie Yates - Mrs Tucker

Filming Locations

 * Harrods - opening scene where Poirot encounters Ariadne
 * West Wycombe Park - Nasse House and grounds, the folly
 * Temple of the Winds, West Wycombe - Weyman's place
 * Spring Cottage, Cliveden Estate - Amy Folliat's cottage
 * Cliveden Boathouse - the boathouse