The Greatest Agatha Christie Movie Adaptations of All Time

The legacy of Dame Agatha Christie endures more strongly than ever as her most famous books and stories have transcended the screen. Recently, Netflix announced the cast of an upcoming series based on her 1929 novel, The Seven Dials Mystery. Keeping that in view, we thought this would be a fine occasion to explore some of the best films based on her stories. So here is a list of some of the best Agatha Christie movie adaptations.

Often referred to as the Queen of Crime (a moniker patented by her estate), Christie wrote 66 novels and 15 short story collections — dizzying output for a single person. But she was not only copious; she was also a master of her craft. Her ability to weave complex plots, develop lavishly detailed characters and maintain a sense of suspense until the final reveal was, and remains, without equal. Her detective novels and murder mysteries have transcended the page and many of her works have been adapted to film or TV, multiple times in some cases (as you will notice later).

The murder mystery movies and TV shows have introduced Christie and her rich body of work to newer generations of fans. This scribe, in fact, discovered her books through a movie based on one of her best-known works, And Then There Were None (1939), which is incidentally also the best-selling mystery of all time, with over 100 million copies sold. The movie, released in 1945 and directed by René Clair, still, somehow, remains one of the best you will see based on Christie’s books. FilMMAkers like Rian Johnson have paid homage to Christie by crafting similarly complex and intricately structured murder mysteries. His Knives Out (2019) and Glass Onion (2022) are not direct adaptations but evoke the spirit of her stories.

Recently, newer generations have also found a growing interest in her novels, spurred primarily by Kenneth Branagh-directed pretty decent old-school-style movies: Murder on the Orient Express (2017), Death on the Nile (2022) and my personal favourite, A Haunting in Venice (2023).

So, all aboard the mystery train. Let’s unravel the enigmatic world of Agatha Christie’s captivating tales brought to life on the silver screen.

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