Thoughts on the ending?

The first time I saw this was on HBO or Showtime or something when I was a kid. The whole family was watching and there was a storm out. Just as they were about to reveal the killer, the power went out!!!!

When it came back on, the movie was over. We couldn't wait for it to show again so that we could finally know the end.

I've always had a fond memory of this movie because we were all trying to figure out the ending in the dark!

I think that's how Agatha Christie's books and films ended, at least this one and Murder on the Orient Express. I loved them both.

The ending was as well-done as the standard Poirot ending can be, because a man gathering everyone together and lecturing them and having the killer confess on the spot isn't the most cinematic of setups but that's how all Poirot books end. So there they are.

Of course it's one of those endings that never entirely rang true for me, because SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER [spoiler] not just the improbability of the plan working at all, but the basic implausibility of the killer's motives. Sure, if two people with no money make arrangements for one of them to marry rich, kill the spouse, and then marry after the murder and live high... why does the spouse go through with it? Wouldn't they decide that maybe the wealthy spouse is a better person than their murderous ex, or that even if they don't like the spouse very much they're better off sticking where they are than becoming a murderer and spending the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders? Why don't more of these setups end like "Wings of the Dove"??? Okay, the filmmakers actually got around that with a nice little trick, when things got nasty the spouse actually didn't know what to do and turned to his fellow murderer, making it clear that she was the brains of the operation and he relied on her to do all his thinking. Nice touch, it helped to put an improbable set up over.[/spoiler]

I'm wondering how Jackie even had the derringer in her possession again in the final scene.
Poirot couldn't possibly have been that careless with that very vital piece of physical evidence after the considerable emphasis that had been displayed in finding it.