APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH AND LAUREN BACALL'S YOUTHFUL LOOKS

Well aside from The Colbys, I got rather drunk at the weekend - it was a shameful experience as my friend, Roz and I went on the lash. What started as a few drinks to celebrate our bonuses ended up with both of us staggering about the streets of Glasgow and getting knocked back from a bar for being too drunk. I somehow got home and woke up the following day and my flat was completely trashed - well not completely but there was a loaf of bread in the hall, a bottle of Pepsi sitting about and what looked like a full wardrobe of clothes strewn all over the place. I immediately thought that a friend had stayed so checked the spare room but alas it had all been my own doing! Sometimes, I think these are the best nights although I'm sure my liver would heartily disagree.

I went on a small scourge of DVD's and various other items with my bonus including a new iPod. What I did find was Agatha Christie's Appointment With Death. Peter Ustinov reprises his role as Hercule Poirot with an all star cast. I think it tries to hark back to the days of Murder On The Orient Express and Death On The Nile which were Oscar winning. Plenty of familiar faces appear and it's all so camp. Lauren Bacall is a haughty American who becomes a British MP, John Gielgud is a campy Colenel. Carrie Fisher is a slut, Hayley Mills is a daffy secretary and Pier Laurie is a cunt. It's all a bit Grand Guignol in that sense except 20 years after the heyday and 10 years after Death On The Nile which is superior both in casting and storytelling - Bette Davis and Maggie Smith steal every scene possible in "Nile"

Piper Laurie is Emily Boynton. She's a tough socialite stepmother who blackmails the family lawyer into giving her all the family assets after her husband's death. As a treat, she takes the family to Europe and onto the Holy Land for a vacation. Needless to say, Poirot is there with some other random Brits and a murder occurs and everyone is a suspect. It plays out rather well to be honest although the ending could have been a touch more thrilling with the killer's reveal having more time. However, nothing beats the flashbacks to the murder and everyone's part that was played in it.

For a bit of costume drama and famous faces, Appointment With Death is a good way spend an hour or two and see how much Lauren Bacall has aged in this movie from her appearance on Murder On The Orient Express but yet in the past twenty years, she's looking younger and younger - Carrie Fisher hasn't changed a bit. God Bless Botox!