Evil Under the Sun it the title of a 1941 mystery novel by Agatha Christie, and a 1982 film based upon the novel.
The novel continued in the vein of Christie's earlier successes portraying the idle rich in a holiday setting. It was set on an island at an exclusive hotel, whose guests include a glamorous actress who is shortly murdered.
The film was directed by Guy Hamilton with a script adaptation by Anthony Shaffer that stayed fairly closely within the plotlines of Christie's work, but with scenes truncated for time constraints, the removal of minor characters, and the inclusion of some elements of humour that were not part of the original. Filmed in Mallorca, Spain, it made full use of its location to adequately convey the intricacies of Christie's plot, in which the hotel guests all appear to be at different parts of the island at the time of the murder.
It starred Peter Ustinov (making his second film appearance as Hercule Poirot), James Mason, Maggie Smith, Nicholas Clay, Jane Birkin, Sylvia Miles , Roddy McDowall and Diana Rigg. Several Cole Porter songs were used in the film's soundtrack and also provided the motif for the film score.
A television adaptation of the novel, which more closely followed the plot, was produced in 2001. It featured David Suchet as Poirot.
