Vitals

Colin Blakely as Sir Horace Blatt, bombastic millionaire yachtsman

Mediterranean Sea, Summer 1939

Film: Evil Under the Sun
Release Date: March 5, 1982
Director: Guy Hamilton
Costume Designer: Anthony Powell

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Born 95 years ago today on September 23, 1930 in Northern Ireland, Colin Blakely was an underrated actor who excelled both on stage and screen. He won acclaim for his Shakespearean performances, his portrayal of Dr. Watson in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970), and BAFTA-nominated turn in Equus (1977), while also standing out among the star-studded casts of two lavish Agatha Christie adaptations.

Following his small part as the quickly uncovered American private detective in Murder on the Orient Express (1974), Blakely returned to the Christie-verse for a juicier role in Evil Under the Sun (1982)—loosely adapted from the Queen of Crime’s 1941 novel of the same name, with many characters consolidated and the action transferred from the English coast to a fictional island in the Adriatic Sea.

Blakely appears as Horace Blatt, whose biography was altered for the screen from the novel, in which the “almost too blatantly ‘self-made’ man”‘s drug-smuggling operation made him a prominent suspect in a murder. The movie elevates him to Sir Horace Blatt, now merely another of the late victim’s jilted lovers.

Even before the murder occurs, Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov) enters the story through Sir Horace, employing his “little gray cells” in service to an insurance company rejecting Blatt’s attempt to insure a diamond that they evaluated to be fake. Poirot visits Blatt aboard his yacht—the Jolly Roger, moored off the south of France—to tell the now-furious millionaire in person. Learning that Blatt had originally given the jewel to diva actress Arlena Stuart (Diana Rigg) before her actress to another man, Poirot agrees to rejoin Blatt at the aforementioned island resort to confront her about the swap.

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What’d He Wear?

Sir Horace Blatt assumes the typical apparel of a playboy yachtsman, with his blue blazer contrasted with off-white slacks and topped with a peaked cap, though he also appoints his wardrobe with a few accessories to match the volume of his gregarious personality.

The navy wool serge blazer has a double-breasted cut with its six gilt crested shank buttons arranged in two neat columns of three buttons each, echoing naval reefer jackets, with three smaller buttons decorating each cuff. The cran necker (or Parisian) lapels are characterized by their fish-mouthed notches, which Blatt always dresses with a white carnation pulled through the left lapel’s buttonhole. A gold chain hanging from behind his left lapel into his welted breast pocket suggests that he keeps his pocket watch here, buried among the folds of that jaunty bright-red pocket square with its field of white pin-dots. The double-vented blazer also has straight flapped hip pockets, supplemented with an additional flapped ticket pocket on the right side.

Even after softer attached shirt collars had become de rigueur for many men, Sir Horace maintains a natty old-fashioned decorum with his stiff detachable white club collars. He attaches these to the neckbands of his plain white cotton shirts, styled with front plackets and single cuffs fastened with round gilt links. Like double (French) cuffs, single cuffs are designed to be worn with links, though they’re typically reserved for more formal attire than a blazer and tie.

Though seen in different blazers across multiple days, Sir Horace only wears one tie: a repp silk British regimental tie in an alternating navy-blue and scarlet-red stripe, bordered by a narrower yellow-gold stripe below the latter, and all running in the traditional English “uphill” direction. This handsome configuration has become emblematic of classic club ties, appropriated by brands like J. Crew, though it is the specific regimental stripe of the 1st The Royal Dragoons. This heavy cavalry regiment of the British Army traces its lineage to the Tangier Horse formed in 1661 and was continuously active for more than three hundred years until merging with the Royal Horse Guards to form The Blues and Royals in 1969. True 1st Royal Dragoons regimental ties can still be purchased from firms like Benson & Clegg, the long-time Royal Warrant holder who likely made Colin Blakely’s screen-worn neckwear.

Sir Horace’s pairing of his navy blazer with off-white trousers follows smart and sporty maritime conventions. The substantial coverage of his double-breasted blazer conceals how the trousers are styled above the waist, but they are cut straight through the legs and finished with turn-ups (cuffs) on the bottoms. Light ecru dress socks maintain low-contrasting tonal consistency through the leg line to his white leather cap-toe oxford shoes.

Sir Horace reminds everyone that he’s the captain in his typical mariner’s peaked cap with its soft white cotton crown, stiff black band detailed with a black patent leather chin-strap matching the short visor, and gold-wire nautical badge of an anchor flanked by laurels attached to the front.

Among his other affectations of boutonnière flower and bright silk pocket square, Sir Horace’s only visible jewelry is a gold ring that coils around his right ring finger like a snake.

When Sir Horace reaches the island on the same afternoon of Arlena’s death, he wears a beige blazer that’s identically cut and styled as his navy blazer. He appoints it similarly with his stiff white collar, regimental tie, and pocket square, though he swaps the white carnation for a red one instead.

The only time Sir Horace doesn’t wear a blazer is when joining his fellow guests in black tie for pre-dinner cocktails. His black wool tuxedo consists of a single-button dinner jacket with wide, silk-faced peak lapels, layered over a white double-breasted waistcoat styled with a shawl collar and a straight-cut bottom, with his pocket-watch’s gold chain draped across his abdomen. His black silk bow tie is sloppily framed by a wing collar with an uncharacteristically wide spread—suggesting a man who owns the right clothes but is uncomfortable wearing anything but his boating “uniform”.

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How to Get the Look

Sir Horace Blatt’s wardrobe shows how to inject rakish, warm-weather elegance into resort wear: anchored with the clean authority of a navy double-breasted blazer and regimental tie, then breezily balanced with all-white slacks and oxfords. Whether you’ve got a yacht in the Adriatic or merely want people to think you do, you can also crown it all with a peaked cap—and boutonnière for good measure.

• Navy wool serge double-breasted blazer with Parisian lapels, gilt 6×3-button front, welted breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets and flapped ticket pocket, 3-button cuffs, and double vents
  • White carnation
  • Red and white-pindotted silk pocket square
• White cotton shirt with detachable stiff club collar, front placket, and single cuffs
  • Round gold cuff links
• Navy, scarlet, and narrow gold uphill-striped repp silk 1st The Royal Dragoons regimental tie
• Cream trousers with turn-ups/cuffs
• White leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Light-ecru dress socks
• Mariner’s peaked cap with soft white cotton crown, gold-wire nautical badge, stiff black band, black leather chin-strap, and black patent leather visor
• Gold snake-coiled ring

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Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie and Agatha Christie’s novel.

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The Quote

Frankly, $100,000 is a bit much to pay for three days fondling on the high seas.