History Literature / EvilUnderTheSun

The 1982 film adaptation has [[Film/DeathOnTheNile1978 its own work page,]] while tropes for the 2001 ITV adaptation are listed on [[Series/{{Poirot}} the page for the TV series]].

The 1982 film adaptation has [[#FilmAdaptation its own trope section,]] while tropes for the 2001 ITV adaptation are listed on [[Series/{{Poirot}} the page for the TV series]].

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!!The 1982 film provides examples of: [[#FilmAdaptation]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/evilunderthesun1982.jpg]]

* AdaptedOut: Reverend Stephen Lane and Major Barry do not appear.
* AdaptationNameChange: Changes Edward Corrigan's name to Felix Ruber, [[spoiler:Latin for "Red Fern", in order to introduce another linguistic clue to the killer's identity.]]
* AdaptationalHeroism:
** Mrs Castle, originally nothing more than the rather strict hotel owner, is given the name Daphne and combined with the character of Rosamund, becoming Kenneth's love interest and Poirot's main assistant during the investigation. [[spoiler:She also helps him trap the killer at the end by taking his signature.]]
** Sir Horace Blatt is generally more likeable in this version, and is not [[spoiler:a dope smuggler but simply a millionaire who had an affair with Arlena]].
** A minor one for Christine, who [[spoiler:does not try to convince Linda to commit suicide in this version (an act which definitely pushed her over the MoralEventHorizon in the novel.) She's still an active accomplice to multiple murders, though.]]
* AdaptationalJerkass: Unlike the original book, Arlena actively bullies and mistreats Linda, insulting her and shoving her out of the way, and her flirtation with Patrick becomes more shameless and disrespectful of her husband.
* AdaptationalVillainy: Linda lies in order to deny Rex Brewster his alibi because she wants to see him go down for murder so he can't publish his book about Arlena, and only admits the truth when her father questions her. Granted, she's still a child (younger than in the book) and her acting out is somewhat understandable, since she has been on the receiving end of a higher level of sustained psychological abuse from Arlena than her novel counterpart was.
* TheAlibi: In this adaptation, Odell Gardner seems rather proud of being the only guest without an alibi, having been reading quietly outside. However, unbeknownst to him, he does have one after all since he was seen through the window by Daphne Castle. [[spoiler:The killers, meanwhile, created a fraudulent and seemingly unshakable two-handed alibi involving ClockDiscrepancy.]]
* AssholeVictim: Slightly closer to being PlayedStraight with Arlena, in comparison to the book. However, Poirot still feels sad at the death of "poor, foolish, beautiful, gullible Arlena Marshall."
* BeneathSuspicion: Addresses this point of the novel by giving ''all'' the suspects alibis.
* {{Camp}}: Loads of it, with a Music/ColePorter soundtrack consisting of instrumentals of all his songs.
* CampGay: Rex Brewster, whose flamboyant mannerisms are reminiscent of Creator/NoelCoward. Daphne refers to him as a "fruit" at one point.
--> '''Daphne Castle:''' I was wrong about ''cherchez la femme''. Sorry about that. But it's just got to be ''cherchez le fruit''!
* CompositeCharacter: Combines Mrs Castle and Rosamund Darnley into one character, Daphne Castle.
* DeadpanSnarker: Daphne Castle. For example:
--> '''Arlena Marshall:''' ''(arriving at outdoor buffet luncheon in swimming attire)'' I'm so sorry, are we late? Patrick insisted upon rowing me right round the island, and [[{{double entendre}} it's much bigger than I thought]]. Poor darling, he's absolutely exhausted.
--> '''Daphne Castle:''' ''(dryly, knowing what they've actually been up to)'' I'm not in the least surprised.
** And after Poirot has signed his name in hotel register:
---> '''Daphne Castle:''' Oh, so you're the famous Hercule Poirot, eh?
---> '''Hercule Poirot:''' Ah, you are too amiable, madame.
---> '''Daphne:''' Perhaps. I hope you haven't come here to practice your sleuthing games on my guests; they've all got far too many skeletons in their cupboards to join in with enthusiasm.
* DistinguishedGentlemansPipe: Subverted. One of the murder suspects, Patrick Redfern, is seen with a pipe throughout the film, but it's only at the end that [[spoiler:Poirot realizes he's never actually been seen smoking it. The reason: he's hidden a stolen diamond in the bowl.]]
* EurekaMoment: Poirot immediately realizes that [[spoiler:Christine was lying about having vertigo]], when he goes to the cliff where [[spoiler:she waved at Linda]] and finds that in order to do so one would have to have stood at the ''very edge'', [[spoiler:which would give ''anyone'' a fear of heights.]] In the original novel, Poirot makes this discovery about [[spoiler:Christine not suffering from vertigo]] during a group outing for a picnic instead.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Daphne tells her old rival Arlena to "have a good, long, peaceful rest" after checking her and her husband in. Guess who ends up dead?
* FreezeFrameBonus: Just before Poirot signs the hotel register, the camera pans over the names of previous guests just long enough to read. One of those names is that of Music/ColePorter, who wrote the film's score.
* GenderFlip: The spinsterish-but-athletic Emily Brewster becomes the flamboyantly effeminate Rex Brewster.
* GrandStaircaseEntrance: Jane Birkin does a stylish one in the climax, as [[spoiler:Christine no longer has to pretend to be the meek, mousy housewife]].
* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler:Daphne pegs Patrick and Christine as the murderers, only for Poirot to tell her they have alibis. Turns out they ''were'' the murderers.]]
* IdiotBall: Poirot turns his back on Patrick to brag long enough for the latter to land a serious punch on him. When you consider that Patrick was about to go down for two murders, Poirot was rather lucky that all he got was a punch and not a knife through the ribs.
* InformedFlaw: ShrinkingViolet Christine claims she has serious vertigo and can't even go down steps without feeling a little dizzy. [[spoiler:That contradicts how she could possibly wave to Linda in the bay, when doing so would have forced her to ''stand at the very edge of a cliff'' a hundred feet high at the very least. It gives ''Poirot'' dizziness to replicate it.]]
* JustOneLittleMistake: Drawn out. [[spoiler:It seems that the killers will get away - complete with a grand exit and a final taunt - when Poirot suddenly reveals that Patrick made several mistakes: paying his hotel bill with a signed cheque, giving linguistic clues to his alter-ego's identity, and conspicuously having his pipe in his mouth without smoking it.]]
* LargeHam: '''''Everyone'''''. Every single star of the film exaggerates their famed personalities just for this production, it seems.
* LighterAndSofter: This film is very light-hearted compared to the original novel, as well as to the previous Ustinov Poirot film, ''Literature/DeathOnTheNile''. Among other things, this version of the story removes [[spoiler:the drug-smuggling subplot and Linda's attempted suicide.]]
* LouisCypher: Patrick tells Poirot that as a music teacher, he enjoys telling his students that Guiseppe Verdi's name in English is a pedestrian Joe Green. [[spoiler: It's a mistake, because Hercule notes that Patrick's last name, Redfern, in Latin is "Felix Ruber", a suspect in a murder case involving Ruber's wife, making him realize Patrick's name is a pseudonym.]]
* MamaBear: A mild case with Daphne Castle, who doesn't take kindly to Arlena's abuse towards Linda. After Arlena cruelly (and against her father's wishes) banishes Linda from the cocktail party, Daphne retaliates by passive-aggressively sabotaging her song.
* MrFanservice: Nicholas Clay as Patrick Redfern. Only two or three of the male characters strip down to a bathing suit, despite everyone being guests on an island resort with several beaches. However, while all the other bathing suits seen are period-typical one-pieces (which look like a tank top attached to a pair of short-shorts), Patrick Redfern swaggers around in a pair of tiny (for the day) briefs (which can't entirely cover his ass) and nothing else.
** This may even be a bit of subtle {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler: Patrick's casual display of his good looks is a hint that instead of being "that poor, stupid man" falling for the charms of maneater Arlena, it's actually the other way around; he's a lethal [[TheCasanova Casanova]] who is an expert at using his good looks to seduce women.]]
* NamedByTheAdaptation: Mrs. Castle is called Daphne in this version.
* PassiveAggressiveKombat:
** Daphne Castle (Maggie Smith) and Arlena Marshall (Diana Rigg), to hilarious effect.
--> '''Daphne Castle:''' Arlena and I are old sparring partners.
--> '''Arlena Marshall:''' Hello, Daphne.
--> '''Daphne:''' Oh, it's been years.
--> '''Arlena:''' A little time, yes.
--> '''Daphne:''' Years. Arlena and I were in the chorus of a show together. Not that I could ever compete. Even in those days, she could always throw her legs up in the air higher than any of us. [[ReallyGetsAround And wider.]]
--> '''Arlena:''' Kenneth, this is such a surprise! When you told me of an island run by a quaint little landlady, I had no idea it was Daphne Castle.
--> '''Kenneth Marshall:''' ''(embarrassed)'' Er, yes, quite. Daphne, I wonder if we could go to our rooms. It's been a long journey.
--> '''Daphne:''' Oh, certainly. ''(rings the bell, and calls out)'' Andreas! ''(no response)''
--> '''Arlena:''' If you're short-staffed, Kenneth can easily carry the bags.
--> '''Daphne:''' They'll be brought up in a minute! Do have a [[DeadlyEuphemism good, long, peaceful rest, Arlena]].
** Later, during that evening's cocktail gathering:
--> '''Arlena:''' ''(making a grand entrance)'' Oh my, I'm the last to arrive!
--> '''Daphne:''' [[DoubleEntendre Have a sausage, dear.]] You must be famished, having to wait all that time in your room.
* PragmaticAdaptation: Took assorted liberties with the plot, such as giving all the suspects alibis (to [[spoiler: cover up the fact that in the original novel, [[BeneathSuspicion only the murderers had one]]]]), beefing up the character of the hotel owner, making the American tourists theater producers (and turning the husband into a Brit played by James Mason), and changing the dowdy spinster into a gay man played by Roddy [=McDowall=].
* {{Ruritania}}: Set in the Adriatic kingdom of "Tyrania" (apparently inspired by Albania). The book was set in Devon.
* SarcasticClapping: The killer does this in the climax, believing that Poirot has no physical evidence.
* SheCleansUpNicely: [[spoiler: After Christine gives up the ruse of being a hothouse orchid, she's absolutely ''stunning'', with haughtiness to match.]]
* ShrinkingViolet: Christine, who expresses her frustration at being cuckolded by Arlena and not able to do anything about it to Poirot. Poirot is entirely sympathetic. [[spoiler:Too bad it's all an act.]]
-->'''Christine:''' How I wish I could do that, just lie in the sun.\\
'''Poirot:''' ''Mais pourquoi, madame''? Look at them lying in rows, like corpses at the morgue! They are not men and women. Nothing personal about them. They're just bodies, butcher's meat, steaks grilling in the sun.
* SmugSnake: [[spoiler:Both Patrick and Christine]] become incredibly smug when they think they've gotten away scot free.
* SoreLoser: The killer punches Poirot to the floor.
* SpannerInTheWorks: From the killer's point of view, Poirot is the first obvious example, but another significant one is [[spoiler:Rex Brewster]] whose presence in Gull Bay at noon ultimately destroys [[spoiler:Christine's]] false alibi, and who furthermore witnesses the dumping of the bottle of sun-tan lotion into the sea.
* StylishSunhats: Alexis Rose wears a few of these over the series, including when the Roses go searching for David when he is hiding with the Amish.
* TitleDrop:
-->'''Poirot:''' The sky is blue, the sun is shining, and yet you forget that everywhere there is evil under the sun.
* VileVillainSaccharineShow: This trope comes into play somewhat as a result of the story being given LighterAndSofter treatment, while the main villain, [[spoiler:Patrick Redfern, remains the same cold-blooded serial seducer and killer of naïve women that he was in the novel. For her part, at least Christine's attempts to drive Linda to suicide are omitted.]]
* WickedStepmother: Arlena. She is insulting and abusive to Linda, takes every opportunity to shove her out of the way so she can have people's attention all to herself, and at one point actually calls her Cinderella. [[AdaptationalVillainy None of this occurs in the original book.]]

** This may even be a bit of subtle {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler: Patrick's casual display of his good looks is a hint that instead of being "that poor, stupid man" falling for the charms of maneater Arlena, it's actually the other way around; he's a lethal {{Casanova}} who is an expert at using his good looks to seduce women.]]

A novel by Creator/AgathaChristie published in 1941, featuring Literature/HerculePoirot.

** This [[FridgeBrilliance may even be a bit of]] subtle {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler: Patrick's casual display of his good looks is a hint that instead of being "that poor, stupid man" falling for the charms of maneater Arlena, it's actually the other way around; he's a lethal {{Casanova}} who is an expert at using his good looks to seduce women.]]

* MotorMouth: Mrs. Gardener.

** There's also a plot element from the Miss Marple story "The Bloodstained Pavement" [[spoiler: a man marries an 'insignificant-type' of young woman without many friends or relatives, takes out a large life insurance policy on her, then murders her with his real wife as his accomplice, focusing on making the wife's death look like it took place at a different time, location, and method than it actually did; this is exactly what Patrick does to Alice Corrigan before the book opens, only the man in this story has done it ''so many times'' with the exact same method that the insurance companies catch on and inform the police]] This isn't a coincidence, either; when Christie thought up a particularly clever or outrageous idea or plot twist, she would often try it out in a short story to make sure it worked before committing a full-length novel to it.

* TheAlibi: In this adaptation, Odell Gardner seems rather proud of being the only guest without an alibi, having been reading quietly outside. However, unbeknowst to him, he does have one after all since he was seen through the window by Daphne Castle. [[spoiler:The killers, meanwhile, created a fraudulent and seemingly unshakable two-handed alibi involving ClockDiscrepancy.]]

--> '''Daphne Castle:''' I was wrong about ''cherchez la femme''. Sorry about that. But it's just got be ''cherchez le fruit''!

* SheCleansUpNicely: [[spoiler: After Christine gives up the ruse of being hothouse orchid, she's absolutely ''stunning'', with haughtiness to match.]]

* SpannerInTheWorks: From the killer's point of view, aside from Poirot, a another major one is [[spoiler:Rex Brewster]] whose presence in Gull Bay at noon ultimately destroys the false alibi that [[spoiler:Christine has created using Linda]], and who furthermore witnesses the dumping of the bottle of sun-tan lotion into the sea.

* SmugSnake: [[spoiler:Both Patrick and Christine,]] when they think they've gotten away scot free.

* SmugSnake: [[spoiler: Patrick,]] when he thinks he's gotten away with murder.

* AdaptationalVillainy: Linda lies in order to deny Rex Brewster his alibi because she wants to see him go down for murder so he can't publish his book about Arlena, and only admits the truth when Poirot presses her. Granted, she's still a child (younger than in the book) and her acting out is somewhat understandable, since she has been on the receiving end of a higher level of sustained psychological abuse from Arlena than her novel counterpart was.

* AdaptationalVillainy: Linda lies in order to deny Rex Brewster his alibi because she wants to see him go down for murder so he can't publish his book about Arlena, and only admits the truth when Poirot presses her. Granted, she's still a child and her acting out is somewhat understandable, since she has been on the receiving end of far worse sustained psychological abuse from Arlena than she was in the novel.

* InformedFlaw: ShrinkingViolet Christine claims she has serious vertigo and can't even go down steps without feeling a little dizzy. [[spoiler:That contradicts how she could possible wave to Linda in the bay, when doing so would have forced her to ''stand at the very edge of a cliff'' a hundred feet high at the very least. It gives ''Poirot'' dizziness to replicate it.]]

--> '''Daphne:''' They'll be brought up in a minute! Do have a [[ImpliedDeathThreat good, long, peaceful rest, Arlena]].

* InformedFlaw: Christine Redfern and Emily Brewster both claim to have a bad head for heights. Poirot tests them both with a group outing to a picnic, involving crossing a narrow plank bridge over running water.[[spoiler:Only Emily has trouble getting over while Christine crosses easily, showing that she is lying.]]

* InformedFlaw: ShrinkingViolet Christine claims she has serious vertigo and can't even go down steps without feeling a little dizzy. [[spoiler:That contradicts how she could possible wave to Linda in the bay, when doing so would have forced her to ''stand at the very edge of a cliff'' a hundred feet high at the very least. It gives ''Poirot'' dizziness to replicate it.]]

* EurekaMoment: Poirot immediately realizes that [[spoiler:Christine was lying about having vertigo]], when he goes to the cliff [[spoiler:she was spotted at]] and finds there's no way to see anything except stand at the ''very edge'', [[spoiler:which would give ''anyone'' a fear of heights.]]

* LifeOfTheParty: Mr. Blatt is an intolerably cheerful man always striving to be the life and soul of a party, and is always put out that people flee him at the first opportunity. He also cheerfully tells Poirot he has no alibi at all.[[note]]Poirot discovers that Mr. Blatt actually did have one that he was unaware of.[[/note]]

* AdaptationalVillainy: Linda gets a minor case of this. She lies in order to deny Rex Brewster his alibi because she wants to see him go down for murder so he can't publish his book about Arlena, and only admits the truth when Poirot presses her. Granted, her acting out is somewhat understandable since she has been on the receiving end of far worse sustained psychological abuse from Arlena than she was in the novel.

[[#FilmAdaptation The 1982 film adaptation has its own trope section,]] while tropes for the 2001 ITV adaptation are listed on [[Series/{{Poirot}} the page for the TV series]].

* TriangRelations: Three apparent Type 7s: A = Patrick, B = Arlena, C = Christine; A = Arlena, B = Kenneth, C = Patrick; A = Kenneth, B = Arlena, C = Rosamund (or Daphne in the 1982 film). [[spoiler:Patrick doesn't love Arlena; this is just a ruse to kill her for her money. The first triangle therefore becomes Type 4 (A = Arlena, B = Patrick, C = Christine), and the second becomes Type 10 (A = Kenneth, B = Arlena, C = Patrick).]]

* NoPronunciationGuide: Horace pronounces Poirot (pwah-ROW) as POY-row. It's easy to imagine this as a jab at people with this issue in real life.

* AssholeVictim: Subverted. While Arlena is disruptive in the community and has personality issues, the worst of her actions are being [[spoiler:carefully staged by the killer and his accomplice. Poirot has already realised that her addiction to sex/romance/drama makes her vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation, not liable to perform it on others - she's not intelligent enough.]]