The era 1920s plays in a country house where diplomats are staying. Soon, a mission to evaluate a new material that is vital to aviation will be launched.
Gerry Wade (Robert Longden) seems to be a late sleeper, which makes it one thing that he may be dead when the story starts. Well, his friends, with the help of an extraordinarily smart Rupert 'Pongo' Bateman (James Griffiths), bring in eight alarm clocks to help Gerry wake up. Looks like they may have been a tad late with their scheme.
People are starting to die. Marquis of Caterhan (John Gielgud) wants to know why his daughter Lady Eileen 'Bundle' Brent (Cheryl Campbell) ran over a man, Ronny Devereux (John Vine), and shot him. As the man is dying, he mentions “the seven Dials” and Jimmy Thesiger (James Warwick). She assumes that she is meant to tell Jimmy of the something or someone called the seven dials. From there, the plot thickens.
The seven dials theme plays throughout the whole story. We see it in clocks and clock towers; it turns up on paper and in dying breath. Is it a location or a cabal, and does it have something to do with the mystery?
As with many of Agatha Christie's stories, there are so many characters that you need a scorecard. Also, there seem to be plots inside plots. Everyone could have done it, and yet it is always the last person you suspect, or should I say, usually the last person you would suspect. The film was adapted from the Novel by Pat Sandys, and has the added benefit of the feeling that it is a play.
The film is packed with well-known British actors, and sometimes it is hard not to think, "Now where have I seen this person before?" Noticeably absent is Francesca Annis, yet the main female character player, Cheryl Campbell, is well remembered for her role in The Murder at the Vicarage (1986). John Gielgud excelled in his part as the Marquis of Caterhan.
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