Christie on Screen: Four films brilliantly restored to 4K Ultra HD.

StudioCanal's new box set of four Agatha Christie films have all been restored to an Ultra High Definition standard, often referred to as 4K. This higher standard than regular DVD or Blu-ray discs provides a number of benefits. 4K resolution is four times sharper than HD. It also features a High Dynamic Range (HDR), which results in brilliant brights and darker darks, and a wider colour spectrum, which provides more life-like colours. Collectively, the end result is an at-home film experience that aligns more closely with the director's original intent.

The four films that have been restored to this standard are Murder on the Orient Express (1974), Death on the Nile (1978), The Mirror Crack'd (1980) and Evil Under the Sun (1982). All four of these films feature acting royalty and are a pleasure to watch.

Sidney Lumet’s Murder on the Orient Express (1974) stars Albert Finney in his only portrayal of Poirot. The film received a total of 10 BAFTA nominations. John Gielgud and Ingrid Bergman both won Best Supporting Actor BAFTAs. Ingrid Bergman also won an Oscar® for Best Supporting Actress. In Death on the Nile (1978) and Evil Under the Sun (1982) Peter Ustinov portrays Poirot. The supporting casts across these two films included Jane Birkin, Maggie Smith, Bette Davis, Mia Farrow, David Niven, James Mason, Roddy McDowall and Diana Rigg. In The Mirror Crack’d (1980), Angela Lansbury played Miss Marple, while Elizabeth Taylor portrayed Marina Gregg.

There are plenty of other resources that can provide insights into the actual film productions. My review focuses on this new StudioCanal box set, the new restorations and the new bonus material. Books that offer good Christie film reviews and insights includes all the books by Dr. Mark Aldridge as well as Agatha Christie, She Watched by Teresa Peschel.

The Back Story.

In 2016 & 2017, StudioCanal first released these four Agatha Christie films under their “Vintage Classics” brand which seeks to reissue classic British films with updated content and improved quality in both the Blu-ray and DVD formats. These discs were individually issued and had plenty of extra content. They also featured new artwork that had been commissioned from James Park at Black Dragon Press. After the initial release of these discs, three further prints were designed that were not used on that film release packaging. These new designs were created by We Buy Your Kids (aka WBYK, or W$YK). While the previous artwork focused on the locations within the films, W$YK came at the series from the direction of costume design and the fashion of the era. Behind W$YK are Sonny Day & Biddy Maroney, a husband-and-wife illustration team from Australia. For more details on this original box set go to this link.

The New Box Set.

This new box set contains the same four films, each on their own disc supported by significant bonus material. Prior to the start of each film, a screen states that an original 35mm print was scanned and over 200 hours of restoration work per film was completed by Silver Salt Restoration - UK. While the box set is available in standard Blu-Ray or in the 4K Ultra-high definition (UHD) Blu-ray format, the latter is the reason to acquire them. As to the bonus material, much of it appeared on the original releases. However, each film has at least one new contribution to the supplemental material.

The box set also contains a 64-page informational booklet (discussed below). W$YK were commissioned again to create the designs for this new 2025 remastered set. Included with the set are four folded posters of their brand-new artwork, which also covers each disc’s holder and the box itself. Consistent with prior work, the art has a period correct art deco style that aligns with the costumes and art direction of the films.

The Booklet.

One of the gems of this box set is the informational booklet that accompanies it. In addition to a Foreword by James Prichard, Christie’s great grandson and CEO of Agatha Christie Limited, there are numerous articles by respected Christie experts about each of the films. Contributors include many who will be well known to Christie fans and attendees of the International Agatha Christie Festival. They include Doctors Mark Aldridge, John Curran and Michelle Kazmer. The booklet also includes numerous film stills and images of the original theatrical posters.

Murder on the Orient Express (1974).

This film is the only one of the four that also offers a remastered audio track in 5.1 DTS-HD MA. This is a digital theatre system format that preserves the original studio master sound quality, meaning no data is lost during compression. The new extra on this disc is an interview with Jacqueline Bisset titled Behind the Velvet Curtains: Jacqueline Bisset revisits The Orient Express. Of all the new content across the four discs this is the least insightful, but it still offers a few nuggets of interesting information (and it starts with the solution so don’t pre-watch it unless you know the outcome).

The other bonus material is as follows: Interview with Richard Goodwin, Audio Interview with Michael York, Audio commentary with Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson; Agatha Christie: A Portrait; Making Murder on the Orient Express: All Aboard / The Ride / The Passengers; The End of the Line; Behind the Scenes Stills Gallery; Original trailer.

Death on the Nile (1978).

The new extra on this disc is Sparkling Homicide: A Video Essay by David Cairns. This is a wonderful addition to the bonus material and well worth watching.

The other bonus material is as follows: Audio commentary with Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson; Making Of; Interview with Angela Lansbury; Interview with costume designer Anthony Powell; Interview with Producer Richard Goodwin; Interview with Peter Ustinov; Interview with Jane Birkin; Behind the Scenes stills gallery; Costume Designs Gallery; Original Trailer.

The Mirror Crack’d (1980).

The new extra on this disc is Reflections on Miss Marple: featuring Jean Kwok, Rian Johnson, Matthew Sweet and Mark Aldridge. The knowledge Dr. Mark Aldridge brings really enhances this bonus video making it a must-watch.

The other bonus material is as follows: Audio Commentary by Film Historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson; Interview with screenwriter Barry Sandler; Interview with Angela Lansbury; Interview with Producer Richard Goodwin; Behind the Scenes Stills Gallery; Storyboards Gallery.

Evil Under the Sun (1982).

There are two new extras on this disc. The first is Back to the Island: Emily Hone remembers Evil Under the Sun. Emily Hone was the young actor who played the role of Linda Marshall. The other extra is Excessive Creatures: A Video Essay by David Cairns. As with his extra for Death on the Nile, his insights are well worth watching. I wish he had provided similar content for other two films.

The other bonus material is as follows: Making Of featurette; Audio commentary with Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson; Interview with costume designer Anthony Powell; Interview with screenwriter Barry Sandler; Interview with producer Richard Godwin; Behind the Scenes stills gallery; Costume Designs gallery; Original Trailer; Radio Spots; The Royal Film Performance 1982: In the Gracious Presence of H. M. the Queen & H. R. H. the Duke of Edinburgh at the Odeon Leicester Square [Note: no audio, overlayed with a musical track].

Summary.

I highly recommend this box set, whether for yourself or as a gift for the film fan in your life.

The picture quality and sound on each of these restored films is exceptional. The bonus content is excellent and well worth watching. The overall packaging with the informational booklet, posters and artwork combine to make this a worthwhile set for any Christie fan, or cinephile in general, to own.

That said, there are various considerations to be aware of. While the films are restored, most of the bonus material is not. This is a minor item as the extra time and cost to restore these items would be hard to justify. None of the extra material states whether they include spoilers, which many do. So my advice if you don't know the whole story is to only watch extras after viewing the film. It's also worth noting that surprisingly the upgraded audio format available for Murder on the Orient Express is not the default selection. You will need to change to this format within the Setup menu every time you watch the film. Last but not least, the menu interfaces on each disc are poorly executed. Most submenus do not have a return or back icon to return you to the prior menu. Pushing various return buttons on my remote sometimes just rebooted the disc. Trial and error led me to discover that if I used the down or forward arrow key on my remote to move below the bottom entry on any submenu, then I was returned to the prior menu. Hopefully this will save you some frustration and maybe this will be fixed on any future versions.

Where to Buy.

Always check with your local independent video store to see if they can obtain them for you. Otherwise, the box set can be purchased on Amazon.co.uk (link) and shipped globally from there. I expect other distribution channels will exist after the official release date of November 24, 2025. At the time of this article the box set had a retail price of £49.99 (UK).

General Considerations.

Buyers of 4K UHD Blu-ray discs should know that they will need a 4K Blu-ray disc player. Regular Blu-ray machines generally will not play 4K discs nor have the ability to leverage their quality. With more content being released in UHD quality, the upgrade to a 4K player will be appreciated by any home film fan. 4K players also play non-4K discs. The 4K UHD Blu-ray discs released by StudioCanal are playable across all regions. My set clearly indicated it was playable in regions A, B and C. While the discs were shipped from the UK (Region A), I tested it while in North America on a Region B player. If you do not have a 4K player, then purchase the standard Blu-ray set. In addition, most newer televisions can display 4K images though the ability to offer Dolby Vision or HDR resolution is not on all televisions. These features are not necessary to enjoy the films but will enhance the experience.

An Addition.

A very minor correction worth noting relates to the new bonus feature for The Mirror Crack’d. In it, Matthew Sweet states that Agatha Christie suggested that Joan Hickson one day play Miss Marple after seeing her perform a small role in the film Murder, She Said (1961). It is highly likely the performance reminded Christie of Joan Hickson, but I believe the correct reference should have been Hickson’s stage performance in the production of Appointment with Death (1945). After seeing it, Christie wrote to Hickson stating that she hoped one day she would play Miss Marple. If I'm in error or there's more to add, do let me know.

Disclosure.

I received this box set as a gift from StudioCanal. However, no compensation or incentives were provided in exchange for this review. All my reviews are independent and without bias.

Input.

Comments and corrections are always most welcome - either by adding them at the foot of this article or by email at: collectchristie@gmail.com .

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