25 Best Agatha Christie Movie Adaptations Ranked

Agatha Christie movies have been in demand since the advent of Hollywood cinema. She published over 125 written works, including 74 novels, selling more than two billion copies, making her the second best-selling fiction author ever. The first Agatha Christie movie came in 1928 with the first non-English language adaptation coming a year later. Foreign filmmakers have taken a particular liking to Christie’s work. Of more than 30 film adaptations, 14 are non-English adaptations.

Even today, Christie’s mystery novels remain popular among readers worldwide. They are still being adapted into television series and movies, whether they’re stand-alone stories or part of the mysteries solved by Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. While miniseries and special presentations on television tend to be more common than movies, new Agatha Christie movies also continue to be released. However, the best Agatha Christie movies appeal to fans of the novels as much as they do those who have never read her works.

25 Alibi (1931)​​​

The Lost Agatha Christie Movie From The Earliest Decades Of Cinema

Alibi is one of the first Agatha Christie movies by Twickenham Studios. Alibi stars Austin Trevor as Hercule Poirot and is considered a lost film. Even if it is a lost film, it’s still notable for being the first Christie adaptation to feature Hercule Poirot. It’s based on the 1928 play of the same name, which itself was based on Christie’s 1926 novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

Alibi features a character named Caryll Sheppard (played by Mercia Swinburne), who became the inspiration for Miss Marple, Christie’s other great detective character. Director Leslie S. Hiscott was prolific, directing around 60 movies between 1925 and 1956. This was also the first of two Agatha Christie movies that Hiscott directed. He followed it up with Black Coffee, with Austin Trevor returning one more time as Hercule Poirot. He also made movies about Sherlock Holmes in his career.

24 Black Coffee (1931)

A Long-Lost Adaptation Of Christie’s Stage Play Movie Response

Black Coffee (1931)

Director

Leslie S. Hiscott

Release Date

August 24, 1931

Cast

Austin Trevor , Adrianne Allen , Richard Cooper , Elizabeth Allan , C.V. France

Runtime

78 Minutes

Black Coffee stars Austin Trevor as Hercule Poirot and is based on the 1929 stage play of the same name. Christie wrote the play in response to the film adaptations made up to that point. In the story, Poirot and a friend, Arthur Hastings, visit a physicist only to discover his dead body. The plot revolves around a secret formula the physicist was working on and each previous visitor’s motives for murdering him.

No known copies exist of either of Leslie S. Hiscott’s Agatha Christie movies, but both earned strong enough reviews that Black Coffee is still known about and discussed today. While the movie was not an adaptation of one of the author’s novels, in 1998 (22 years after her death), Australian-born writer and classical music critic Charles Osborne turned the play into a novel (with the blessing of Christie’s estate).

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23 Ten Little Indians (1989)

A Group Of Former Suspects Must Solve A Murder

Ten Little Indians (1989)

Director

Alan Birkinshaw

Release Date

November 1, 1989

Cast

Donald Pleasence , Brenda Vaccaro , Frank Stallone , Sarah Maur Thorp , Herbert Lom , Warren Berlinger , Yehuda Elfroni , Moira Lister

Runtime

98 Minutes

In 1989, Harry Alan Towers released his third version of the Agatha Christie story, And Then There Were None, which he renamed Ten Little Indians. The movie sees ten strangers, all accused of murders in the past, summoned to an African safari by a mysterious host. When they start dying one by one, the survivors have to figure out which of them is the murderer before they all die.

This was not a Christie story with her two major detectives (Hercule Poirot and Marla Maples). Instead, it featured ten regular people forced to sleuth their way through this intriguing whodunit. The cast included Donald Pleasence (Dr. Loomis from Halloween) and Frank Stallone (Sylvester Stallone’s brother). Producer Harry Alan Towers previously adapted this book into a movie in 1965 and 1974, and this was the lesser quality of the three movie versions.

22 Ordeal By Innocence (1984)

Donald Sutherland Strives To Clear A Dead Man’s Name

Ordeal By Innocence (1984)

Director

Desmond Davis

Release Date

June 22, 1984

Cast

Donald Sutherland , Sarah Miles , Christopher Plummer , Ian McShane , Diana Quick , Faye Dunaway

Runtime

90 Minutes

Ordeal by Innocence is a 1984 movie based on the book of the same name by Agatha Christie. The book follows Dr. Arthur Calgary, a witness to a murder, but he doesn’t realize the full extent of what he saw until two years later when Jack Argyle, an innocent man, was found guilty of the crime and died in prison. Dr. Calgary then reveals that Argyle is not guilty and that Calgary has an alibi for him, which proves it, meaning the killer is still out there.

Donald Sutherland plays Dr. Calgary, and the supporting cast includes prominent names like Christopher Plummer, Faye Dunaway, and Ian McShane. There are some complaints about the music score, which is jazz and doesn’t fit the format of a mystery movie at all. However, the story itself is well told, and it is a great look at social conformity and the idea of killing just to maintain someone’s respectability. It pays like a throwback mystery movie with a great cast involved.

21 Ten Little Indians (1965)

An Early Adaptation That Inspired Many Horror Movies

Ten Little Indians (1965)

Director

George Pollock

Release Date

September 10, 1965

Cast

Hugh O’Brian , Shirley Eaton , Fabian , Leo Genn , Stanley Holloway , Wilfrid Hyde White , Dennis Price , Marianne Hoppe , Mario Adorf , Daliah Lavi

Runtime

91 Minutes

The 1965 version of Ten Little Indians is set in a mansion in the snowy Alps as a mysterious host invites ten people to a remote location. The host doesn’t appear and instead leaves a message claiming that each person is responsible for the death of another and will be killed during their stay at the mansion. The message comes to fruition as guests keep turning up dead in the mansion, and the remaining survivors have to figure out who the mysterious killer is before they reach the same fate.

This story is one of the most frequently adapted Christie novels. It has even provided the inspiration for a lot of horror movies that center on isolation as victims are picked off. Harry Alen Towers co-wrote the script for the movie, one of three times that he worked to adapt this Agatha Christie novel into a movie. Most critics praised the cast and the mystery, although many said that it wasn’t as good as other adaptations of this specific story that was adapted in the past.

20 Seven Dials Mystery (1981)

Conspiracy And Murder Among The London Aristocracy

Seven Dials Mystery (1981)

Director

Tony Wharmby

Release Date

March 8, 1981

Cast

John Gielgud , Harry Andrews , Cheryl Campbell , James Warwick

Runtime

132 Minutes

The Seven Dials Mystery is based on the Christie novel of the same name, although this novel was written in a different style than most of her earlier murder mystery work. The novel brought back characters from The Secret of Chimneys but didn’t pay as much attention to the detectives’ deduction work and instead focused on conspiracies and international spies. The 1981 movie follows Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent, who investigates the murder of Gerry Wade, with the mystery continuing to escalate after his death.

Bundle uncovers a larger conspiracy as another man is killed, and she learns of the existence of a secret society that is involved in both murders. One of several Agatha Christie adaptations for London Weekend Television, the TV movie worked so well for longtime fans because it rarely deviated from the source material. Cheryl Campbell (Chariots of Fire) starred as Lady Eileen ‘Bundle’ Brent in the movie.

19 Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? (1980)

The Adaptation That Brought Agatha Christie Stories To The Small Screen

Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? (1980)

Director

John Davies , Tony Wharmby

Release Date

May 21, 1981

Cast

Francesca Annis , John Gielgud , Bernard Miles , Eric Porter , Leigh Lawson , James Warwick , Madeline Smith , Connie Booth

Runtime

180 Minutes

Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? is a detective novel by Agatha Christie and the 1980 TV movie is based on the book of the same name. The movie follows Bobby Jones as he investigates the murder of a man he comes across while golfing whose last words are, “Why didn’t they ask Evans?” Jones starts to do a deep dive into the man’s life and tries to uncover the mystery of his fatal wounds on the golf course that day.

This is actually the first major Christie adaptation for television because, during her lifetime, the author disliked television. Following her death in 1976, her estate (and specifically her daughter Rosalind Hicks) allowed the broadcast rights for her stories to be sold. Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? became hugely popular, and is the reason there are so many TV adaptations today.

18 Death On The Nile (2022)

Kenneth Branagh’s Second Outing As Poirot

Death on the Nile

Release Date

February 11, 2022

Cast

Sophie Okonedo , Russell Brand , Emma Mackey , Ali Fazal , Armie Hammer , Annette Benning , Letitia Wright , Rose Leslie , Gal Gadot , Jennifer Saunders , Dawn French , Kenneth Branagh , Tom Bateman

Runtime

127 minutes

Kenneth Branagh returns as Poirot in this sequel to Murder On The Orient Express. In Death on the Nile, Agatha Christie’s most famous detective is just trying to take a vacation, but of course, his time of relaxation is interrupted by murder. Sadly for his plans of relaxation, he is swept into the murder mystery and has to figure out who the killer is before they strike again. Like its predecessor, Death On The Nile is full of twists, turns, and dramatic accusations.

It also has a more lush backdrop and a bigger budget for costumes to reflect the opulence of the trip. Visually, the movie is stunning, and a cast featuring Gal Gadot, Letitia Wright, Russell Brand, Armie Hammer, Annette Bening, and Rose Leslie certainly makes it as star-studded as the previous one. The movie earned a Saturn Award nomination for Best Action/Adventure Film and a nomination from the Visual Effects Society for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature.

17 Murder On The Orient Express (2017)

The First Movie In Branagh’s Blockbuster Poirot Trilogy

Murder On The Orient Express is one of the most often adapted (or alluded to) of Christie’s novels. This Agatha Christie story has been adapted into radio shows, TV specials, movies, and even video games. Despite those familiar with Christie’s work knowing the ending since it was initially published in 1934, many are still captivated by all the twists and turns, as literally everyone Poirot comes into contact with is a suspect.

Kenneth Branagh as Poirot in this version of the story is incredibly captivating to watch, and the huge cast of stars (Penelope Cruz, Johnny Depp, Daisy Ridley, Leslie Odom Jr., among others) lend gravitas to their roles. The movie sees a murder on the train known as the Orient Express, and everyone on board is a suspect. The movie earned a Saturn Awards nomination for Best Thriller Film and a nomination from the Costume Designers Guild for Excellence in a Period Film.

16 Gumnaam (1965)

Bollywood’s Take On A Classic Christie Tale

Gumnaam (1965)

Release Date

December 24, 1965

Director

Raja Nawathe

Cast

Manoj Kumar , Nanda Karnataki , Pran Krishan Sikand Ahluwalia , Helen Ann Richardson Khan , Madan Puri , Mehmood Ali , Tarun Bose , Anant Balwant Dhumal , Manmohan

Runtime

145 Minutes

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Indian adaptations of Agatha Christie’s works are incredibly popular. Gumnaam is only the second Indian adaptation and the first in Hindi. The story adapts Christie’s And Then There Were None. In this version, eight characters win a trip, but the prize actually sets them all up to be stalked and systematically murdered one by one. The surviving characters try to hunt down the killer, just as in Christie’s original novel.

Eventually, they discover their connections to one another, but only after most of them have already been killed. While the movie might not feature as many characters as the original novel, the themes and suspense remain the same. The movie is more of a thriller than a mystery movie, which helps differentiate it from other Agatha Christie movies. It ended up winning the Best Art Direction (Color) Award at the 13th Filmfare Awards, with two other nominations for the actiors.

15 Endless Night (1972)

An Incredibly Faithful Christie Adaptation

Endless Night (1972)

Release Date

October 5, 1972

Director

Sidney Gilliat

Cast

Hayley Mills , Hywel Bennett , Britt Ekland , George Sanders , Per Oscarsson

Runtime

95 Minutes

Endless Night adapts one of the last novels Agatha Christie wrote before she died in 1976. It follows the story of a young man who meets a wealthy heiress, and the two fall for one another quickly, making their dream of a small-town estate come true. However, as they achieve their dream, a murder in the small town occurs. In true Christie fashion, there’s a big twist for the viewer.

Upon its release, this wasn’t considered one of the best Agatha Christie movies, and the movie divided critics. However, it’s very true to the source material. It features Hayley Mills (Pollyanna) as the heiress, Ellie. The movie attempted to do something different, which is what likely drove away some critics. The production team wanted minimal dialogue and ambiguity for the movie, which plays against the idea of the mystery stories that Agatha Christie told in her books.

14 Crooked House (2017)

A Mystery With More Drama Than The Usual Christie Tale

Crooked House (2017)

Release Date

November 21, 2017

Director

Gilles Paquet-Brenner

Cast

Max Irons , Stefanie Martini , Glenn Close , Honor Kneafsey , Christina Hendricks , Terence Stamp

Runtime

115 Minutes

Christie is known for the twists and turns in her novels, and Crooked House is the epitome of that. It’s been adapted several times, but the 2017 adaptation features a star-studded cast including Glen Close, Gillian Anderson, Christina Hendricks, and Max Irons. Irons plays detective Charles Hayward, a former diplomat who returns to England when an old flame employs him to investigate a murder in her family.

Of course, Hayward’s former lover, Sophia Leonides, hires someone she has a history with because she wants to make sure Scotland Yard isn’t able to expose her family’s secrets to the public. The story is as much a family drama as a mystery, making it so appealing even among Christie’s other works. It was a made-for-TV movie in the UK, and the movie received mixed to positive reviews for the great performances of the cast.

13 Murder Most Foul (1964)

Miss Marple Joins A Theater Group To Find A Killer

A Murder Most Foul (1964)

Release Date

March 1, 1964

Director

George Pollock

Cast

Margaret Rutherford , Stringer Davis , Ron Moody , Bud Tingwell

Runtime

90 Minutes

Margaret Rutherford stars as Miss Marple in this black-and-white murder mystery based on the Christie novel of the same name. Miss Marple believes that a man about to be convicted of murder is actually innocent, so she looks into the case herself to prove his innocence and find the real killer. Miss Marple’s investigation leads her to join a theater group where yet another actor is found dead after she starts her investigation.

The closer Miss Marple gets to the killer, the more danger she finds herself in as she uncovers the secrets of the characters’ past. It’s a pretty standard Christie adaptation, but Rutherford truly embodied Miss Marple, and for years, her performance would be synonymous with the Agatha Christie Detective. While the story is based on Christie’s novel, significant changes were made to the action and characters. This is a Hercule Poirot mystery in the book, not a Miss Marple one.

12 Murder At The Gallop (1963)

Poirot Is Swapped For Miss Marple In This Lighter Take On Agatha Christie

Murder At The Gallop (1963)

Release Date

June 24, 1963

Director

George Pollock

Cast

Margaret Rutherford , Stringer Davis , Robert Morley , Flora Robson , Bud Tingwell

Runtime

81 Minutes

Murder at the Gallop adapts Christie’s 1952 novel After the Funeral. Funeral is a suspense novel featuring Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, but Murder At The Gallop is a light comedy that replaces him with Dame Margaret Rutherford’s amateur detective Miss Marple. Gallop is also a sequel to Murder, She Said, Rutherford’s first outing as Marple. The story begins with the death of a wealthy recluse.

Marple investigates while at a riding school operated by the surviving heirs. The killer’s motive is revealed to be something that may not have required the recluse’s death at all. Rutherford’s Marple would appear in five different Christie adaptations, and her portrayal of the character informed the performances of many actors who took on the role after her.

11 Evil Under The Sun (1982)

Dame Maggie Smith Stars In This Classic Poirot Tale

Evil Under the Sun (1982)

Release Date

March 5, 1982

Director

Guy Hamilton

Cast

Peter Ustinov , Jane Birkin , Colin Blakely , Nicholas Clay , James Mason , Roddy McDowall , Sylvia Miles , Denis Quilley , Diana Rigg , Maggie Smith

Runtime

117 Minutes

Evil Under the Sun is a Hercule Poirot story based on the Agatha Christie novel of the same name. This Agatha Christie movie features a notably strong cast, including Peter Ustinov as Poirot and the legendary Dame Maggie Smith as Mrs. Castle, the hotel owner. The story follows Poirot as he tries to solve the case of the mysterious death of an unpopular actor.

Evil Under the Sun takes place at a resort hotel, where Poirot does his detective work by interviewing various patrons and guests to find out who committed a murder on vacation. This was the follow-up movie to Murder on the Orient Express (1974), using the same production team. It continued the success, as this team made five of six planned Agatha Christie movies (the only one they didn’t make was Evil Under the Sun). The movie received an Edgar Award nomination for Best Motion Picture.

10 Murder, She Said (1961)

The Debut Of Margaret Rutherford’s Iconic Miss Marple

Murder, She Said is Dame Margaret Rutherford’s first appearance as Miss Marple. Marple sees a woman strangled on a train. She embarks on her investigation after the police rebuff her due to a lack of evidence. Her investigation involves getting a job at the estate where she believes the woman’s body is and interviewing the various suspects inside the house. The police come around to her investigation when she finds the woman’s body in a horse stable.

Fans clearly loved Rutherford in the role, and it’s easy to see why. However, the movies with Rutherford played things differently from Agatha Christie’s novels, as they switched out the dark mysteries for a more lighthearted and whimsical comedy of manners. Also, Miss Marples is more hands-on in the movies, as she goes undercover, whereas, in the novel, she sends someone else in for her to pose as a housekeeper. The movie has an 83% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

9 And Then There Were None (1945)

The First Adaptation Of The Infamous Agatha Christie Best-Seller

And Then There Were None (1945)

Release Date

October 30, 1945

Director

René Clair

Cast

Barry Fitzgerald , Walter Huston , Roland Young , June Duprez , Louis Hayward , Mischa Auer

Runtime

97 Minutes

This 1945 film is the first of several adaptations of Christie’s best-selling novel. The story focuses on ten people who have traveled to a hotel in the Iranian desert and are accused of murder. However, none of their actions can be legally defined as such, and so they cannot be held accountable for the deaths by the courts. The ten also find a framed copy of “Ten Little Indians” in each of their bedrooms and a sculpture of 10 people in a circle in the dining room.

Things escalate when one of them dies, and a figurine disappears. This classic Agatha Christie tale has been adapted many times, but the 1945 version remains one of the best retellings. The entire story is one where people who did bad things finally have to face the consequences of it, and it is best described as Saw, but without all the blood and gore, but instead holding a strong level of mystery. It won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival.

8 The Mirror Crack’d (1980)

A Murder Mystery In Miss Marple’s Hometown

The Mirror Crack’d (1980)

Release Date

December 19, 1980

Director

Guy Hamilton

Cast

Angela Lansbury , Geraldine Chaplin , Tony Curtis , Edward Fox , Rock Hudson , Kim Novak , Elizabeth Taylor

Runtime

105 Minutes

One of Christie’s Miss Marple mysteries, The Mirror Crack’d is stacked with an incredibly talented cast. Murder, She Wrote’s Angela Lansbury stars as Miss Marple, while Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, Liz Taylor, and Kim Novak make up the rest of the main cast. The story follows a production crew coming to Miss Marple’s small hometown to shoot a movie, and a fan ends up poisoned.

Taylor and Novak play the rival actresses at the center of the mystery, and their antagonistic relationship adds some levity to the mystery. As a bonus, Pierce Brosnan fans will see that this is actually his onscreen debut as he plays an actor in a small role. The movie arrived four years before Lansbury took on her role as Jessica Fletcher, an Agatha Christie-styled mystery novelist who also helps solve mysteries that happen in her small town.

7 Shubho Mahurat (2003)

The Bengali Reimagining Of A Classic Christie Tale

Shubho Mahurat (2003)

Release Date

July 25, 2003

Director

Rituparno Ghosh

Cast

Sharmila Tagore , Raakhee , Nandita Das , Tota Roy Chowdhury , Sumanta Mukherjee , Anindya Chatterjee

Runtime

150 Minutes

Shubho Mahurat is a Bengali-language adaptation of Christie’s 1962 novel The Mirror Cracked from Side to Side. In Mahurat, the main character, Padmini (Sharmila Tagore), is a film producer who has recently arrived in India. When an actress she casts dies, suspicion initially falls on that actress’s husband, who is accused of having an affair with another woman. Ranga Pishima (Raakhee).

The movie’s version of Miss Marple (Raakhee as Ranga Pishima, who is not the main character) is the aunt of a journalist who becomes heavily tied into the film’s production. It’s very different from the 1980 adaptation, but both movies offer some of the best drama in Agatha Christie’s adaptations. The movie won some awards, including the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for Rakhee and the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali.

6 Grandmaster (2012)

An Indian Malayam Retelling Of The A.B.C Murder

Grandmaster (2012)

Release Date

May 3, 2012

Director

B. Unnikrishnan

Cast

Mohanlal , Priyamani , Anoop Menon , Narain , Jagathy Sreekumar , Babu Antony , Arjun Nandhakumar

Runtime

130 Minutes

Released in 2012, the Indian Malayalam-language movie Grandmaster was based on the Agatha Christie book The A.B.C. Murders. The book was a Hercule Poirot novel in which a serial killer (known as A.B.C.) chooses victims whose first and last names begin with the same letter. Other than that, there seemed to be no motive. In the movie, a senior IPS officer begins investigating a series of murders after receiving an anonymous note from the killer himself.

There are some key differences between the stories, including the fact there is no Hercule Poirot in the movie, and it is all about the IPS officer, IG Chandrasekhar, to solve the mystery of the serial killer. Grandmaster received mostly positive reviews and was the first Malayalam film released on Netflix. It also took home honors from the Kerala State Film Awards, Asianet Film Awards, Asiavision Awards, and South Indian International Movie Awards.