Safe Return Doubtful

This is the third in Kenneth Branagh’s Porto series, following Orient Express and Death on the Nile, and in which Branagh directs and plays the lead role.

Since I was a teenager I have throughly enjoyed Agatha Christie’s writing and adaptations, of which I think I have read, and seen, them all.

They are all entertaining, some more than others.

This, based on the book, A Halloween Party, belongs in the ‘satisfactory’ cabinet. I would have placed Branagh’s Orient Express in the ‘high’, and Death on the Nile, ‘low’.

But there are so many others; the 70 Suchets, the 12 Hickson, 12 McEwan, 11 McKenzie, 4 Rutherford Marples, to mention a few.

This is self indulgence for Branagh. I am left with the over-riding feeling at its conclusion, that Branagh, one of our greatest actors, could be doing so much else with his time.

IMDb rating 6.6 / 10 – My rating 6 / 10 – Released 2023