Customer Reviews

Death on the Nile (Widescreen)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Really enjoyed this old classic "who dunnit" written originally by Agatha Christie. I was apprehensive about whether Peter Ustinov was the right type to play Poirot, but he was superb with just the right blend of arrogance, conceit and deductive ability.

The DVD arrived in good condition and on time.

The DVD and the service were both excellent!

Thank you

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I watched this 1978 movie of 140 minutes without first reading the 1937 Dame Agatha Christie novel (of the same name) that it was based on. I'm glad I did this! Why? Because it forced me to really watch the movie in order to try and deduce who the murderer was.

As a brief synopsis, the movie begins with "Jacquline ('Jackie') De Bellafort" (Mia Farrow) telling her very wealthy friend "Linnet Ridgeway" (Lois Chiles) about the man "Simon Doyle" (Simon MacCorkindale) she has fallen in love with. Linnet falls for Simon and they eventually marry. Their honeymoon is on a riverboat (technically called a 'paddle steamer') called the "S.S. Karnak" that takes then down the Nile River in Egypt. Aboard the boat, besides the three mentioned above, are "Hercule Poirot" (Sir Peter Ustinov) and his good friend "Colonel Johnny Race" (David Niven). There are other passengers on board who all dislike Linnet.

Linnet is murdered. Eventually two other passengers are also murdered. Poirot has to solve who the killer is. For both Poirot and the viewer, it's obvious that the killer is either male or female or, as Poirot might say, either a "beau" or a "belle." It's also obvious that the killer is no "Simple Simon."

Who are these passengers? Besides the five mentioned above, they are as follows:

(1) Louise Bourget, Linnet's Maid (Jane Birkin)
(2) Socialite Marie Van Schayler (Bette Davis)
(3) Miss Bowers (Maggie Smith), Aid to Marie
(4) Marxist James Ferguson (Jon Finch)
(5) Romance Novelist Salome Otterbourne (Angela Lansbury)
(6) Rosalie Otterbourne (Olivia Hussey), Salome's daughter
(7) Lawyer Andrew Pennington (George Kennedy), Linnet's uncle
(8) Dr. Ludwig Bessner (Jack Warden)
(9) Manager of the Karnak (I.S. Johar)

Of the fourteen actors mentioned above, Ustinov's performance stands out. This was his debut performance as Poirot and I feel he does a stellar job being both serious and comical at the same time. Other performances to look for are Mia Farrow as the ex-fiance and Angela Lansbury as the perpetually drunk novelist.

The cinematography of this movie is visually stunning. We especially get to see the Sphinx, the Pyramids, and the ancient ruins of Egypt. The costume design is elegant. The main background music adds to this movie as well.

Listen for gags that run throughout this movie. For example, Poirot is Belgian but is always confused as being French. One of my favorite pieces of dialogue is where a passenger gets angry at the great sleuth:

Van Schayler: You perfectly foul French upstart!
Poirot: Belgian upstart, please madam.

As Poirot attempts to solve the crime, we are shown what might have happened. Unfortunately, there is some unintended humor as Linnet continually gets shot (in the head) as Poirot goes through each possible scenario. I found this somewhat distracting.

Finally, the DVD (which has the movie in widescreen format) has five extras. I found that the only one that was interesting was about the making of this movie. It lasts about 25 minutes.

In conclusion, this is a fun movie, even if you have read the book. For those who haven't read the novel, I have left clues in the above review as to the possible identity of the killer. If you think you know who it is, then watch this movie to find out if you're right!

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It begins with a rich woman who gets EVERYTHING SHE WANTS and when her best friend Jackie's new fiance meets her. The rich woman immediatly steals Jackie's hunk and in a matter of weeks they are married and set off for their honeymoon in Egypt. Poor Jackie. Her only love has been stolen for her BY HER BEST FRIEND! But Jackie is determined and follows the new couple to Egypt. After meeting a host of new characters, the couple plus Jackie boards a little Nile tour thing. But suddenly the rich woman is dead (shot). Who could it be?

The second lavish all-star Agatha Christie adaptation. This is the first film with Peter Ustinov as the Belgian Detective, Hercule Poirot. If you love a who-done-it mystery, this one will keep you thinking and stimulate your brain to the very end. Please watch it to the very last second. What may be so one minute may be different the next second. This all-star cast is wonderful, especially Angela Lansbury. Olivia Hussey, Peter ustinov and Simon Corkindale had just finished the NBC tv-miniseries movie "Jesus Of Nazareth" (1977). Also in the cast is Bette Davis, David Niven, Mia Farrow, George Kennedy, Maggie Smith (California Suite [1978], Jack Warden, Lois Chiles (Moonraker [1979]), Jon Finch, Jane Birkin, Harry Andrews and I.S. Johar. Warning: This is not for children to watch. very Grusome and graphic violence. There are many Agatha Christie movies from film and television. Here are some worth watching. Those with an "*" include Peter Ustinov as "Detective Poirot". And Then There Were None (Ten Little Indians) (1974), Murder On The Orient Express (1974), The Mirror Crack'd (1980), *Evil Under The Sun (1982), *Thirteen At Dinner (1985-tv), *Dead Man's Folly (1986-tv), *Murder In Three Acts (1986-tv), *Appointment With Death (1988).
For a lighter comedy, may I suggest MURDER BY DEATH (1976).

I am obsessed with Poirot films. This is one of my favorites. My personal favorite is Murder on the orient express. I like Ustinov's Poirot better than Finney but it is not nearly as good as David Suchet's on BBC and public television. Death on the nile is a very well made mystery film directed by John Guillermin (the guy who did Towering Inferno and the King Kong remake). I particularly like David Niven and Mia Farrow in this one, and Maggie Smith who seems to always be good. If you're a Poirot fan then this is must see. I also recommend Evil Under The Sun and Appointment in Death.

This was one of the best movies you could ever see! I would rate it 5 stars even though I haven't seen the ending. I have read the book twice and am always shocked and wide eyed when I read the ending, like And Then There Were None. The book/movie is about Linnet Ridgeway, the beautiful brunette who has simply everything; a big house, suitors, money, good looks, friends, and enemies. Then her hot-blooded friend Jackie, who is bankrupt, asks Linnet to give her handsome, broke fiance a job. Linnet agrees but she falls in love with Simon Doyle and they get married and take a little trip on the Nile. They are followed by Bette Davis, Angela Lansbury, George Kennedy, David Niven, Peter Ustinov,Maggie Smith, and suprise, suprise Jackie. Jackie follows them like a bloodhound and one evening while she is tipsy, shoots Simon in the leg while Linnet is in her room. That night Linnet is murdered with the small pistol Jackie dropped under the sofa in the saloon and everyone forgot about. The only two people with an alibi are Simon with his broken leg and Jackie with her dose of morphine and nurse Maggie Smith. Everyone else had the motive and the opportunity, even her American lawyer, George Kennedy, and Linnet's maid. Peter Usinov (M. Poirot) and David Niven (Clnl Race) can't solve the mystery before the maid's throught is cut and the witness (sex and drinking addict author played by Angela Lansbury who plays her role with absoloute perfection) to the second murder is stopped dead in her revealing of the murderer with the lawyer's Colt. I think it has a good ending. Maybe not as good as the book. Read the book and see the movie. You won't ever forget it.

This big screen treatment of mystery author Agatha Christie's best-seller is dinstinguished by the first appearance of Peter Ustinov as the world famous sleuth, Hercule Periot. Though the film version of "Death on the Nile" doesn't rise to the quality of its immediate predecessor, "Murder on the Orient Express," it is still a worthy trip with a boatful of nouveau rich upper classers who all have a motive to kill a filthy rich heiresss (Lois Childs). When she actually come up with a bullet to her head while sleeping, suspicion falls on her husband's spurned ex-fiancee (Mia Farrow, in a slightly nerve-trying overacting job) and an all-star passenger list headed by Bette Davis, Maggie Smith, Angela Lansbury and Olivia Hussey. Enter Inspector Periot and David Niven as another sleuth aiding in the investigation. Though the "who did it" isn't a surpise, the "how they did it" is, and that solution makes the film an enjoyable watch. Additionally, there's some stunning scenary of Egypt and along the Nile, and Ustinov's personification of the fabled detective is worthy. He shows up again in subsequent film versions of some of Christie's other novels, and this is one of Ustinov's better efforts.

If you can accept this adaption of Agatha Christie's "Death on the Nile" in the spirit it was intended, you'll have a good time. Die hard readers of her great books may find a lot of little details to nit-pick over but as a fun murder mystery this one is truly grand. The production is visually gorgeous and the star-studded cast are fun to watch. At the center is Peter Ustinov's fine portrayel of Christie's greatest creation, Hercule Poirot. His interpretation of the Belgian detective with the 'little gray cells' is both smart and humourous. The film is lighthearted fun for murder mystery fans.

On vacation in Egypt, Poirot overhears one conversation after another about the rich and selfish Lynette. It seems everyone has reasons for wanting her dead. She stole away her best friend's boyfriend, is suing a sexpot writer for slander, is on the verge of finding out her attorney is swindling her, is cruely keeping her servant girl from happiness with another, and on and on. When Poirot is told by Mia Farrow, the jilted lover of Lynette's husband, "If love can't live in your heart, evil will do just as well" he knows this trip to Egypt will be no vacation for 'the little gray cells.'

The period production is sumptuous in it's presentation of both Egypt and their excursion by boat down the beautiful Nile River. It is resplendent and elegant fun and the cast is allowed to play it out with gusto. Ustinov gives Poirot a droll humor even after nearly being killed by a cobra, planted in his cabin by one of the suspects, no doubt.

Angela Landsbury and Betty Davis both ham it up in appropriate fashion and Lois Chiles is good as the not so deep Lynette. Jack Warden, George Kennedy, Maggie Smith, Olivia Hussey, and John Finch join David Niven, as Poirot's old pal, to round out this great ensemble cast of Holywood legends.

If you have a couple of hours to kill and want an old-fashioned entertaining murder mystery to pass the time with, this one will definitely do the trick. This trip down the Nile is a lot of fun.

Although the "mystery" isn't that intriguing, the performances from this star-studded film, the magnificent locations, and the superb Rota score make up for any deficits in the movie.

Ustinov, though not the physical embodiment of Christie's Poirot, is quite good at his interpretation of the Belgian sleuth. His sharp twinkle of the eyes, though reminiscent of a beardless Santa, still resonates a mind at work. It is good to see David Niven, one of the most elegant actors ever to grace the silver screen, in a supporting yet significant part. Veterans George Kennedy and Jack Warden are also on hand as respective "suspects" in the death of heiress Lois Chiles.

But, the acting nods go to a quartet of heavyweight grand dames of film: Angela Lansbury is a delight in the role of an eccentric lush of an author seemingly obsessed with sex; Bette Davis as a kleptomaniac dowager with designs on Chiles' baubles again shows why she is at the top of the women of Hollywood; and Maggie Smith as Davis's assistant is a joy as she trades barbs with her employer. Even though Mia Farrow is younger than the aforementioned, she still shows that she can hold her own in the role of a scorned woman with plans of her own. These women know how to deliver an award-winning performance.

Death on the Nile takes the viewer on a genteel cruise aboard the paddle-steamer 'Karnak' as it, along with its motley collection of passengers, wends its way through the stunning scenery of historic Egypt. Unfortunately on this voyage the Nile proves to have disturbing currents, and a wealthy heiress with a propensity for making enemies is shot. Corpulent Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot is on hand, and, as the body-count rises, must tax his legendary 'little grey cells' to the limit in order to expose the assassin in their midst.

The charm of this film is that to most of the audience it will be foreign in both time and place. The Egyptian location provides a visual feast, with visits to the pyramids, the inscrutable sphinx, and the eerie wailing statue of Ramses II at Abu Simbel. Scenery like this makes it somewhat easier to forgive the movie its overlong running time of almost 2  hours. The story (originally penned by Agatha Christie) is set in the 1930s - the golden age of detective fiction - when murder investigations were much less clinical affairs than they are today. In an era before DNA sampling, Poirot uses the narratively more interesting approach of involving suspects in conversation, and reading between the lines.

The cast is certainly star-studded, but unfortunately several of the characters tend towards stereotypes. However, there are some wonderful performances by several of the silver screen's grandes dames - Bette Davis, Maggie Smith, and particularly Angela Lansbury as the inebriated author of appallingly bad romance novels.

Although a little slow initially, various techniques (such as dead silence being used as the ultimate suspense music) keep the viewer's interest piqued right through until Christie's trademark denouement.