Vier Begegnungen mit dem Tod

Sebastian Stoppe

Vier Begegnungen mit dem Tod

“Appointment With Death” in Literatur, Film, TV und Theater

The article discusses the adaptation of the Poirot novel Appointment with Death, comparing the original novel with the respective adaptations for television, the cinema, and the theatre.

While all adaptations share certain elements with the original source, it is shown that the motion picture starring Peter Ustinov remains most faithful to the novel despite changing some plot details and Ustinov’s performance that is unlike Christie’s original vision of the detective’s appearance. On the other hand, the television series – though retaining the general plot structure – deviates significantly from the novel in many ways, including adding new characters, altering the entire backstories, and altering the murderer’s motifs and approach. Eventually, the theatre version (adapted by Christie herself) is a radical rework of the novel by eliminating the Poirot character completely from the story as well as changing the murderer’s identity.