Death on the Nile (1978)

Riddle of the Sphynx

Wow! What better backdrop for a story than the pyramids and ancient ruins of Egypt. Set mainly along the Nile, I sometimes found the story second to the scenery! Not that the story didn't fully engage - it did! The varied characters in Death on the Nile, are quite a bunch - there is an element of humor underneath all the intrigue. We know someone is going to get it as the movie unwinds, but who? and by whom? Many seem to have their reasons...

I loved the first half of this movie. It starts off with the craziest scenario. Niece wants fiance to get a managerial position at her very rich auntie's estate. She asks auntie and auntie says, well, let's meet him. Did I mention that besides being filthy rich, auntie is also quite young and attractive? When auntie meets fiance, sparks suddenly fly and then -

Cut to Egypt. Suddenly riding horses amongst the pyramids - rich auntie, and niece's fiance - they're married! And trailing around in their dust is the poor niece, bent on making a nuissance of herself during the honeymoon that should have been hers! There's a certain humour. And the scenery of the Nile, the ancient ruins, the Sphynx - it's stunning, and yet very much a part of the story.

For the second half of the movie though, I started to find myself less engaged. It became more of what I think of when I think of a cliche mystery. Less shots of Egypt. Less humorous situations. More tedious regurgitation of the murder as the Ustinov tries to solve the case.

The second half I give 3 stars as a noticeable lull seems to set in with the latter part of the cruise. It becomes more "in the head", and I wasn't terribly convinced when the murder was finally solved. A bit far-fetched.. While I don't mind far-fetched if it entertains simultaneously, I was becoming less and less entertained as the movie wound it's way toward the conclusion. Not terrible. Just not what the first half of the movie was - gorgeous, clever, witty and interesting. One reason for this may have been that for the second half of the movie less attention is paid to the myriad of interesting characters interacting with each other, and all things focus on Ustinov, who's rather stuffy and dry most of the time, although he's not awful. Just not as interesting as other characters which get more attention in the better half of this movie - the first. Fortunately, the story ends on a powerful note.

This movie is worth seeing. There are some jaw-droppingly beautiful scenes, which, at the same time, tie in so perfectly with the story. The tying together of such a dramatic backdrop (Egypt) with the riviting story this begins as, and the satisfactory final scenes, make this movie more than well-worth seeing.

April 7, 2008

Solid Cast and Great Locations

Set in Egypt, aboard a cruise ship on the Nile. The passengers?

Mia Farrow
Bette Davis
Maggie Smith
Angela Lansbury
Jane Birkin (yes, Birkin bag by Hermes is named after her)
David Niven
Peter Ustinov
George Kennedy
Jack Warden

The music is haunting, the story is great and this movie took the Oscar for best costume design and for once I agree with the choice.

As an ensemble, I don't think you get any better than this and Dame Agatha writes mysteries like no one else. This will definitely keep you guessing.

Favorite Line "Do not let evil into your heart madamoisielle, it will make a home there." March 28, 2008

"This certainly takes the camel's hump, oh yes, and no mistake!"

Meant to match the success of the 1974 MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, this all-star 1978 film is much more mobile but doesn't quite carry the haunting sense of evil of the other film (thanks to that film's famously disturbing pre-credit sequence). Here the only thing that matches the majesty of the great Nino Rota score (which brilliantly evokes a Nile steamboat, the location for much of this film's action is Mia Farrow's performance as Jackie. This was probably the best role Farrow got in the Seventies, and while it allows her to do her specialty in evoking hysteria it also allows her the rare opportunity to play a really intelligent character. Her scenes menacing her ex-lover and best friend (who have married one another behind her back) by turning up at Egyptian tourist sites and reciting statistics about the sites to them are memorably strange. Peter Ustinov makes a fine Poirot, and Angela Lansbury is a lot of fun as a Marie Corelli-like hack novelist, and Simon MacCorkindale is suitably dreamy as Farrow's ex-lover, but no one else is up to the scale the production seems to demand. Several actors seem terribly underused (particular Olivia Hussey and Maggie Smith), and Bette Davis as a Washington grande dame looks like a walking mummy (which should be suitable to the theme but instead is rather creepy). Very few of the characters have plausible motives for murder, so the time spent discussing whether or not they committed the central crime seems pretty tedious. January 27, 2008

Great!

One of the greatest movies ever made with outstanding cast... Even though Peter Ustinov is not my favorite Poirot, he is wonderful... January 12, 2008

For sheer pleasurable escapism, what can beat sailing down the Nile with Hercule Poirot?

For some reason, I always thought that "Death on the Nile" was a marginal Agatha Christie adaptation, one that certainly paled in comparison to the great "Murder on the Orient Express", which was produced some five years earlier. So I never bothered to see it. Well, I finally caught up with the movie on DVD, and, boy, was I wrong. "Death on the Nile" is a really good movie.

You get so much here: exotic scenery; a great set where most of the story takes place (an early 20th century steamer); about a dozen famous actors giving top-notch performances (some understated, some slightly scenery-chewing, but all entertaining); solid direction by John Guillerman; a polished screenplay by Anthony Shaffer (Hitchcock's "Frenzy"); and, to top it all off, a wonderful, memorable score by Nino Rota ("The Godfather").

And the film features the best kind of Agatha Christie murder plot and solution: one that is sufficiently complex, but understandable and believable (at least in the world of the movie) once the great Hercule Poirot explains it all to us. It also helps that the solution is genuinely clever.

Is "Death on the Nile" as great as "Murder on the Orient Express"? In the end, probably not. But the worst one can really say is that "Murder" is a lush, epic, beautiful film that just happens to be a murder mystery, while "Death" is clearly part of the murder mystery genre from the outset. But there's nothing wrong with a really great murder mystery, and this film is one of them.

The DVD features an excellent widescreen print that's sharp and bright, and a handful of interesting extras, including a 24-minute behind-the-scenes featurette produced at the time of the film's release (probably for the emerging cable market) and a couple of interviews conducted by a Spanish journalist, where we get to see Peter Ustinov answer questions quite well with his servicable Spanish (conveniently subtitled in English).

By the way, I finally saw this movie not because I'm an Agatha Christie fan (though I am such a fan, as many of my Amazon reviews readily demonstrate), but because I'm doing a favor for my wife and watching with her all the movies available on DVD that feature the great Bette Davis, in their original release order. It's been fun. However, by the time the late 1970's rolled around, there weren't any true "Bette Davis movies" anymore, only movies that offered small or moderate character roles for the once top box office draw. So, in addition to everything else that's good about the film, one gets to see Bette Davis in one of her last five or six roles here. It's not a huge, memorable role (apparently Ms. Davis was disappointed that this movie wasn't able to do for her what "Murder on the Orient Express" did for Ingrid Bergmann, namely earn her another late-career Academy Award), but seeing her is one more pleasure in a film rich with pleasures great and small.

December 18, 2007

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