It's hard to believe that it's been exactly 50 years since Hercule Poirot first appeared on screen in a big budget, big cast form. That debut, 1973's "Murder On the Orient Express" was a massive hit, and was Albert Finney's only appearance in the role. Peter Ustinov took over the role, bringing his patented humor and quirk to the Belgian detective. Kenneth Branagh picked up the mustache in 2017 and has just delivered his third film showing off his little gray brain cells.

So how do the six big screen films rank?

This is a harder ranking to detect than most, as there's not a bad film in the bunch.

I've locked all the suspects in the drawing room and deducted my way to this finding.......

#6. Evil Under the Sun (1982)

1982's EVIL UNDER THE SUN was the great Peter Ustinov's second film as famed detective Hercule Poirot after the very successful "Death on the Nile" in 1978.

Ustinov is hilarious and clever as the particular and eccentric sleuth surrounded by an all star cast and a terrific director, Guy Hamilton (Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever).

Poirot stumbles into a murder scene while on vacation on an island resort that caters to the rich and famous.

Diana Rigg is a star of stage and screen that ends up dead on the beach, with every other person on the island owning a motive for killing her. James Mason and Sylvia Miles are Broadway producers she abandoned mid-production, Nicholas Clay and Jane Birkin are a playboy and his mousy wife involved in a nasty affair, Roddy McDowell is the author pushing to publish her autobiography....the suspects are all a lot of fun and well executed.

Maggie Smith steals every scene she's in as the owner of the island resort and her barbs aimed at Rigg are euro-wit at its finest, delivered by Smith with perfect timing.

The real reason the whole film works so well is an excellent screenplay by famed writer Anthony Shaffer (Sleuth, Hitchcock's "Frenzy") who keeps the dialogue smart and funny, the suspects viable and the solution clever.

Ustinov is the center of the movie and injects every line of dialogue, every physical movement with eccentricities, humor and wry observations. It's a great performance and very entertaining to watch.

Evil Under the Sun is killer fun for whodunit fans and it's no mystery we give it a solid B.

#5. Death on the Nile (1978)

Agatha Christie mysteries were always a lot of fun.

Throw a bunch of suspects with motives in a confined place and one of them turns up murdered. The first film to really do her hero Hercule Poirot justice was 1974’s “Murder On The Orient Express” starring Albert Finney as the Belgian sleuth.

As good as Finney was, the fun quotient was definitely raised when Peter Ustinov took over the role in 1978’s DEATH ON THE NILE.

Poirot finds himself on a river barge down the Nile with a who’s who of Hollywood stars, who conveniently all have a grudge against wealthy socialite Linnet Ridgeway, played by Lois Chiles (Moonraker).

There’s her Uncle, lawyer Andrew (George Kennedy) who wants to make sure his control over her fortune doesn’t waver now that Linnet has married Simon (Simon MacCorkindale, who could have used Poirot around when his Hollywood career was murdered by “Jaws 3”).

Meanwhile, Simon’s former fiancé and Linnet’s former best friend Jackie (Mia Farrow) follows the couple to ruin their Honeymoon, bitter that Linnet stole her man.

Bette Davis is a rich woman with a penchant for jewelry, Jane Birkin is a loyal maid with a grudge, Olivia Hussey is Rosalie, the loyal daughter of eccentric author Salome Otterbourne (Angela Lansbury) whose latest book is threatened by a lawsuit from Linnet.

David Niven is Colonel Race, an ally of Poirot’s who joins the detective in his quest to find a murderer when someone turns up shot in the head. Niven and Ustinov are obviously having a hell of a good time together and it’s contagious for the audience.

Maggie Smith and Jack Warden round out the cast, providing even more suspects to be considered along the journey.

Smith and Davis are in fine, nasty old woman form skewering each other with one-liners a plenty served up by Anthony Shaffer’s (Frenzy, Sleuth) script. Shaffer would come back to write the 1982 sequel “Evil Under The Sun” also starring Ustinov as Poirot.

Director John Guillermin (The Towering Inferno, The Blue Max) gets the whole cast off the boat into some stunning locations including the pyramids, and keeps everything moving nicely toward a satisfying resolution to our mystery.

Academy Award winner for best costumes and BAFTA nominated for Ustinov’s, Lansbury’s and Smith’s performances.

Ustinov is that rare combination of very smart and witty that makes him someone you’d love to hear telling stories for hours on end. He’s flawless, making every word count.

A lot of fun for Christie fans and non-fans alike, DEATH ON THE NILE gets a B.

#4. A Haunting in Venice

When the first trailers for a brand new Hercule Poirot mystery first emerged a couple months ago, I was surprised and excited for a couple reasons.

First, I had no idea that a new film was even in production and second, it looked to dip into the horror genre!

Lastly, as much as I enjoyed Kenneth Branagh's remakes of "Murder on the Orient Express" and "Death on the Nile", (and I loved them both) the original versions are all-time favorites, so there was no whodunit in the mix for me.

With Poirot's new film, A HAUNTING IN VENICE, he's dipping into a lesser known Agatha Christie book, "Hallowe'en Party" and the mysteries are all freshly presented to be unscrambled.

Branagh has comfortably settled into his portrayal of the famous Belgian detective his third time out, finding a bit more humor and a lot more self doubt as Poirot lives a solitary, self-exiled life, out of the limelight in Venice.

Branagh's constant man behind the camera, Haris Zambarloukos shoots Venice incredibly well, using old fashioned views of the city in brilliant combination with drone shots that give you ominous angles of the ancient town you've never seen before. The film LOOKS fantastic.

Poirot's only frequent companion is his bodyguard Vitale (Riccardo Scarmarcio) whose sole job is to keep the horde of folks away that are desperate to have the retired Poirot take on just one more case.

American author Ariadne Oliver (Tiny Fey giving off enjoyable 1940's Katherine Hepburn vibes) comes to Poirot's flat and tells him that he simply must attend a seance that evening at a former, supposedly haunted orphanage, now owned by faded opera star Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly from "Yellowstone").

Drake's daughter recently died in the orphanage and she's hired famed medium Mrs. Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh) to make contact with her.

Poirot is a non-believer of the highest order and reluctantly goes to the seance where an especially interesting group is gathering.

The housekeeper Olga Seminoff (Camille Cottin from "House of Gucci") is a staunchly religious woman who wants nothing to do with spirits of any kind.

Jamie Dornan (Belfast, Heart of Stone) is terrific as Dr. Ferrier, the man who treated Rowena's daughter to the end. He's so shattered by his recent WWII experiences that he's constantly pulled back into them. His young son Leopold (a brilliant little Jude Hill from "Belfast") is a precocious old soul, reading Edgar Allen Poe while the other children trick or treat. He's a mini-Poirot, making observations far beyond his years.

Kyle Allen (West Side Story) is the former fiance of Rowena's daughter, who seems to have been a gold digger that moved on to a bigger prize.

Emma Laird and Ali Khan are standouts as Mrs. Reynolds assistants, Desdamona and Nicholas Holland.

The seance is a doozy. It's everything you want in a murder mystery set up. Chairs spin, bodies convulse, guttural voices are spoken and windows fly open and thunder booms.

Poirot is intrigued but has explanations for all....and then......

I'll say no more.

A murder occurs.

Poirot locks the doors, keeping all his suspects inside as he delves into the crime.

But what happens if all the suspects don't seem to be human?

I loved the way Branagh digs deeper into Poirot, showing more of his weaknesses and blind spots than Ustinov or Finney ever dared on the big screen.

The international cast is excellent. The strange, mostly quiet music score by Hildur Guonadottir (Joker) creates a creepy atmosphere and the sound team are all pros, sticking you right in the middle of a constant thunderstorm, the water of Venice around your feet and the ghosts of children swirling around the Palazzo.

Branagh has said that he worked with the crew during many sequences to surprise his actors with gusts of wind, lights going out or sudden noises. Many of their jumps and screams are not acting. He's got more than a couple great jump scares in store for the audience as well.

Released on what would have been Agatha Christie's 133rd birthday, I think she'd be pretty proud of A HAUNTING IN VENICE. The fact that her books can still create moody, enjoyable period thrillers more than a century later is incredible.

I'm hoping Branagh keeps surprising me by turning one of these out every couple years.

Poirot's latest case earns a solid A-.

Listening......listening......listening..............

#3. Death on the Nile (2022)

Kenneth Branagh’s second time behind the camera and in the starring role of Hercule Poirot is the lavish, all-star murder mystery DEATH ON THE NILE, that’s as great to look at as it is to solve.

As a fan of the 1978 film version starring Peter Ustinov, I went into this version thinking “well I already know who did it, so this could be boring”.

Branagh’s got plenty of surprises up his sleeve, including an opening sequence with Poirot as a young man in the 1914 trenches of WWI, devising a plan to take an enemy bridge. It’s clever, unexpected and serves as a nice amuse bouche to the main story.

Poirot is on vacation in Egypt, soaking up the atmosphere at a Jazz Club and observing many of the clubgoers with all of his Poirot attentiveness.

They include beautiful young Jacqueline de Bellefort (Emma Mackey) dancing seductively with her new fiancé Simon Doyle (Armie Hammer). When her stunning and wealthy friend Linnet Ridgeway (Gal Gadot) arrives at the club, she and Simon seem to hit it off a bit too well.

Poirot is pulled into their circle and several weeks later he meets up with their travel group, which includes Ridgeway’s Godmother (Jennifer Saunders) her loyal assistant Bowers (Dawn French), Linnet’s former fiancé Dr. Windlesham (Russel Brand in a rare but fine dramatic role), Ridgeway’s attorney Kathadourian (Ali Fazal).

Poirot also connects with his old friend Bouc (Tom Bateman) and Bouc’s mother (Annette Bening).

Soon, they’re all on a beautiful river boat down the Nile to celebrate the recent wedding of Simon and Linnet Ridgeway! Of course, Jacqueline is jilted, angry and predatory, threatening harm to Linnet or herself.

With Poirot and this cast all together in one place, it’s not long before murders are attempted at superbly shot exotic locations. Then the actual murders start piling up, as do the suspects.

Letitia Wright (Black Panther) is another enjoyable piece of the puzzle as she and her mother, Jazz singer Salome Otterbourne (Sophie Okonedo) join the river trip and offer up additional clues.

This is one of the most beautiful films I’ve seen in recent memory. Haris Zambarloukos (Belfast. Thor) fills every corner of the screen with jaw dropping detail as his camera swoops in and around the action. Half the thrills are riding along with his camera from beginning to end.

Patrick Doyle’s music score is old fashioned perfection, but never intrusive to the action like Richard Rodney Bennett’s score so often was in the 1974 Poirot classic “Murder On the Orient Express”.

The entire cast is great and it’s a lot of fun to see Saunders & French riffing off each other again.

Branagh clearly has a passion for telling these tales and after his first two forays into Poirot, I’m hoping he’s got plenty more in him. He makes the film’s $90 million budget look like twice that on screen. Branagh brings much more humanity to Poirot than portrayals by other actors. It serves this story of love and loss very well.

Is there any better moment in a murder mystery than that scene when you realize all the players are enclosed in one room and Hercule announces that he is about to solve the riddle of whodunit? As Branagh says powerfully, shutting the doors behind him, “The murderer is here…and will stay here.”

DEATH ON THE NILE gets an A.

#2 Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

If you're going to take on a modern reboot of a movie classic, 2017's MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS is a prime example of how to do it right.

With an all-star cast, plenty of terrific CGI to immerse you in the 1930's lavish train and scenery, Director Kenneth Branagh finds the right tone for the entire film, while picking up the pace of the 1974 original for more modern tastes.

Branagh is excellent as famed Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, all eccentricities, impatience and elocution, complimented by a mustache that deserves its own credit in the titles. Branaugh is by turns humorous, clever, intimidating and wise and plays all those notes perfectly.

Poirot has just wrapped up a case and finds himself on a wintry journey back to London, surrounded by 13 first class passengers.

When one of them turns up murdered and our train becomes snowbound, Poirot dives into the mystery and starts to divine the facts from this very interesting lot.

Johnny Depp is very good as a rough Chicago businessman with plenty of enemies, Penelope Cruz is a religious woman with deep passions, Willem Dafoe is a racist German professor, Judi Dench is a stuffy Countess, Josh Gad is Depp's accountant, Leslie Odom, Jr is a doctor, Daisy Ridley is a teacher and Michelle Pfieffer is a chatty American widow hunting for a husband.

But who is killed and who is the killer?

That's best for you to unwrap under Branagh's deft hand.

Visually its a fantastic film to look at, recreating Istanbul in the 1930's and plenty of snow covered European landscapes. Composer Patrick Doyle has been working with Branagh since 1991's "Dead Again" and Doyle fills the film with a terrific score.

As a fan of the 1974 film version, I always felt that the denouncement of the murder was smart and clever, but that the film's closing moments felt like an unfinished afterthought.

Branagh flushes out the emotions of the resolution with a lot more style and clarity in the new film, concluding things in style, with a strong hint of a sequel that should make Poirot fans happy.

Great to look at, filled with plenty of clever dialogue, humor and a train car stuffed with interesting suspects, MURDER slays and gets an A, very nearly equaling the superb original film that started it all.

(Sharp eyed fans may notice that the pic of Poirot's one true love Katherine is actually a pic of Branagh's real life ex-wife Emma Thompson, his co-star in "Dead Again").

#1 Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

With a new version ready to hit theaters, I wanted to go back and visit the 1974 big budget, all-star cast version of Agatha Christie's MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS.

A big box office hit and loaded with talent in front of and behind the cameras, it's an old fashioned mystery at its best, told at a slow pace unfamiliar to today's audiences.

Albert Finney is almost unrecognizable as famed detective Hercule Poirot, aboard the Orient Express first class car and conveniently located in the next cabin to a murder.

Richard Widmark is a rich businessman, Sean Connery is a Colonel in love with Vanessa Redgrave, Michael York and Jacqueline Bisset are aristocratic royalty, John Gielgud is the perfect butler, Lauren Bacall is a brash American widow and Ingrid Bergman won an Oscar for her performance as a pious passenger. Watch for her interrogation scene with Poirot that was filmed in one five minute take with great sparring between the two.

Oh wait, there's more. Anthony Perkins is a stuttering assistant, Wendy Hiller is an elderly countess with a selective memory and Rachel Roberts is a German assistant.....well you get the idea.

The fun is watching Finney as Poirot, all Ken-doll shiny hair, twirly mustache and detailed observation as he weeds through the suspects toward the truth.

Screenwriter Paul Dehn (Goldfinger, Escape from the Planet of the Apes) packs the dialogue with clues and humor, giving each passenger their own voice and style. Watching John Gielgud (Arthur) wrap his delivery around Dehn's cutting words is a lot of fun.

Director Sidney Lumet (Serpico, Network, Dog Day Afternoon) is in great form, introducing you to the characters methodically and dropping many clues throughout without tipping his hand.

For a train-bound mystery, there is plenty of great photography of Turkey and Europe and our snowbound train by Geoffrey Unsworth (2001, Superman) and half the budget seems to have been spent on costumes by Tony Walton (The Wiz, Equus).

The music score by Richard Rodney Bennett is old school and perfect throughout, full on 1930's wealth mixed with moody sequences during the death & mayhem.

By the time Finney asks the entire cast to join him in the dining car and then walks them and us through a complete recreation (or two..) of the murder, you know you're in the hands of many masters. His denouncement is 27 minutes long and perfectly executed.

THE ORIENT EXPRESS is a first class ticket that unwraps an A.