Best movie ever!

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The idea behind this film seems to have been "how bad can we mess up an Agatha Christie mystery?" If that was the goal, it's been a runaway success. Otherwise, it's closer to Clouseau than anything Dame Agatha wrote. Tony Randall, usually an amusing second banana, can't seem to come up with an accent for Hercule Poirot, let alone a characterization. Robert Morley as Hastings is a buffoon. Worst of all, Ms.Christie's ingenious plot is totally lost in all of the comic conniptions. Through most of the film, Poirot comes off as a muddle-headed incompetent.It's no wonder that Dame Agatha was literally aghast when she saw "The Alphabet Murders" and gave up letting her work be filmed for a while. Okay, it wasn't dull. But if you enjoy Agatha Christie -- and quite a few of us do -- that's the best you can say for it.

I offer an odd review because I don't care much about the plot while awarding 8-Stars to this movie. I enjoyed Tony Randall and Robert Morley's interactions, as well as what I detected as ad libs each threw in that appeared to spontaneously amuse each other. I like to rewind and slo-mo through funny exchanges, not only watching the speaker but, more so, the recipient of the remark to see the surprised reaction that must be controlled as the camera continues to 'roll'. --I rewind and slo-mo through many, many TCM movies to critique scenes & players.Aside: (Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant often made each other lose control and laugh in scenes…sometimes using one's hand/hat to hide the face and sometimes backing out of camera frame to hide the spontaneous laughter from ad-libs. His Girl Friday movie has hilarious examples throughout. -- Also, watch background actors react to their ad-libs repeatedly.)Back to "ABC" -- Tony's comedic facial expressions and gestures throughout this film are FREE LESSONS on HOW TO for any young actor/actress who likely pays for such classes and improv. How clever he many times uses his eyes without moving his head….as well as using his eyes by closing them or looking up as he thinks etc….all kinds of smart, funny looks as he detects and deduces….sometimes w/o words and sometimes talking through. The thrown-in hand gestures and body language besides --- I'm telling you up and comers or just us folks who like to entertain when we're out goofing around, tips for 'acting' funny are right there to see. CAMERA DIRECTION AND ANGLES: Pay attention to how clever the Director used objects to make cool visuals…1) camera looks through jail cell window & other creative views to show characters .. 2) camera catches creative lighting shots of the character and his shadow on a wall or in a mirror, etc. .. 3) in the fancy club scene, the cameras are all over the place catching close-ups and characters from all sorts of directions and angles…even upside down.RECAP: I was amused throughout and the plot itself really had little to do with it. (Aside: Tony Randall was fabulously funny as sidekick in the DorisDay/RockHudson flick "Lover Come Back".

I think this is one of the worst versions of an Agatha Christies novel, bad actors, and a really stupid plot and presentation. The comic performances dosn't fit at all in the book I have read - there is no more to say, I'm very disappointed. Bad movie. Tony Randall make a terrible portrait of the superb detective Hercule Poirot - I have seen his version by David Suchet in the 90s - that a very good performance. And the Swedish Anita Ekberg, I almost put away my beer when I saw her presence. Okay, great body, blond and Scandinavian - but she can't act. What pleasure me most was the cameo of Margaret Rutherford, when I've seen her earlier as Miss Jane Marple, she is really great, so I gave one point for her too - nothing more to say...Leonard.

I don't know why the producers purchased the book rights; other than a few character names, there is NO resemblance to Agatha Christie's taut suspense story. Hercule Poirot, famous for exercising only his little grey cells, leaps about and crawls under barriers. His faithful sidekick Hastings has become an inept security agent, from whom Poirot continually escapes. Poirot actually meets the intended victims except for the first one. Tony Randall does a rather good job playing this miserable excuse for Poirot, which isn't necessarily a compliment. The story and resolution are completely changed, and not for the better. If you're an Agatha Christie fan, pass this one by.