BlazeLime
Strong and Moving!
Exoticalot
People are voting emotionally.
Rosie Searle
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Juana
what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
blanche-2
This is a 1997 version of "The Pale Horse," based on the 1961 novel of the same name by Agatha Christie.Ariadne Oliver is in the book, but she's not in this production.The story concerns a sculptor, Mark Easterbrook, who finds a priest dying in an alley. The priest has a list of names. When the police arrive, they take the list away from Easterbrook and accuse him of murder.He and an art restorer, Kate Mercer, work to prove his innocence, using whatever Mark remembers of the list. He's shocked to learn that everyone on the list is dead, save one, and all from natural causes.Mark and Kate are led to a house called "The Pale Horse," where three women who claim to be witches live. Can their spells actually kill people? What about the booking agent Mark meets? Can he think someone dead, or does he set it up? This could have been a more interesting story, but it isn't, due to the fact that it's somewhat confusing. Also, while some of the women's clothing appears to be from the '60s, nothing else seemed very '60s to me with Easterbrook walking around wearing a leather jacket. The era is amorphous.The acting was okay. I enjoyed seeing Hermoine Norris in a different kind of role from the one she played on MI-5 and her character on Wire in the Blood. She was very good. Also, Michael Byrne and Leslie Phillips give outstanding performances. The rest of the acting was so-so, as were the production values.After watching the Hercule Poirot series, it's hard to go back to anything less than the characterizations, production values, and costumes found in them.
mannyboy0823
I bought this boxset of Agatha Christie thinking that Hercule Poirot is in all of the movies of Agatha Christie. I kept waiting until halfway through the movie, I gave up. But watching Jayne Ashbourne still made it worth watching. Her character here is so lovable. Anyone knows about a fan club of Jayne Ashbourne? I fell in love with her in this movie.... Anyway let me know where can I find any other details about Jayne ashbourne. I was only able to get a handful of her photos in the web and I don't think he has a facebook or twitter account...Anyone who can help me out will be much appreciated. I will be watching the second disc in the boxset tonight and I'm pretty sure I won't be disappointed.
[email protected] Myers
We rented this expecting to have a cozy evening at home. I came away very disappointed. Most Agatha Christie adaptations are very good, and I was not familiar with this particular story. The first 15 minutes promise an entertaining experience, but then it more or less runs off the tracks.The writing is pretty poor and should have provided additional exposition. Watching this was like reading a novel and skipping the even numbered chapters. I had only a faint clue as what was going on and could not figure out why the characters were doing or why they were doing it, mostly the latter.In the future, I will stick to the Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple stories. With them, you know what you are getting and won't be disappointed.
Lechuguilla
Agatha Christie's "The Pale Horse" is not one of my favorite Christie books. There is no Poirot or Miss Marple to liven things up, and the witchcraft motif seems contrived.The film of the same name is a 1997 British TV production, loosely based on Christie's novel. I wasn't expecting much from this film, and not much was what I got. The film's confusing plot meanders around, seemingly without direction. There are too few suspects. And the ending is a letdown, and potentially unclear for anyone not familiar with the book.On the other hand, the acting is OK, though a bit hammy at times. And the film has good production design.Overall, this film is not terribly bad. But it's not particularly good either. There are other Agatha Christie movies out there that are so much better. If these films were in competition with each other, most of them would leave "The Pale Horse" at the starting gate.