Muerte en el Nilo

An heiress is murdered while honeymooning on a Nile cruise. Fortunately, the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is holidaying on the same paddle steamer, and begins an investigation. However, it would seem that all of the other passengers on board have clear motives for committing the murder.

This was the second of Agatha Christie's novels featuring Hercule Poirot to be filmed, after the success of 'Murder On The Orient Express' a few years earlier. The great Peter Ustinov, who so recently passed away, took on the role this time, and injected it with his own droll humour. Indeed the whole film seems rather tongue in cheek, with the all star cast having fun with their roles. Bette Davis, Maggie Smith and Jack Warden all enjoyably ham it up, but Angela Lansbury manages to outdo them all with a delightfully over the top performance as the perpetually drunk author of erotic novels. David Niven, ever the archetypal British gent, proves a good foil as Poirot's partner in the investigation.

Where the film really scores is in the locations and photography. Egypt proves a stately backdrop to proceedings and veteran Cinematographer Jack Cardiff makes the most of it. The 1930's setting also gives an air of genteel opulence to the surroundings. While the film couldn't claim to be a classic tension filled mystery, it is a pleasant, laid back and enjoyable entertainment, that's clever enough to keep you guessing until the end.

Having just watched the mess of a 2022 film of the same name I thought I would go back and see what this 1978 version was like.

It is much better and follows more closely the original plot.

Holds up well, even after multiple viewings. The violence for a PG rated movie is affectively brutal. A slew of great actors fleshing out memorable characters; what more do you need? One of the better movie adaptions of Christie's extensive library, even with a few of its more detailed threads reduced in film form. (It rarely hurts the story)

This contains one of Mia Farrow's best performances.

Jack Cardiff was the director of photography, Anthony Powell, the costume designer, Nino Rota composed the score, Anthony Shaffer signed the screenplay and the list goes on and on and I haven't even mention the cast yet. Agatha Christie's novels have a structure that is a sort of cardinal rule. Murders, a set of suspects, all of them with a motive for the killing and then the unmasking of the killer or killers. Anthony Shaffer, the author of "Sleuth" milks it for all its worth. Snippets of wit trying not to obstruct the implausible plot. Tough gig. Dressed in a fantastic Nino Rota score, Jack Cardiff does his marvelous thing and Anthony Powell envelopes the stars in costumes that are not only stunning but character revealing in the most entertaining way. Peter Ustinov's Poirot is great fun and the cast moves through the carefully plotted story with disarming precision. Mia Farrow is the only one who plays it for real. Her jealousy is so believable that in a way we're guided by her pain and dismiss the obvious. Bette Davis does a Bette Davis impersonation for our benefit, I guess, and she gets away with it. Maggie Smith, Davis's long suffering lady in waiting, is always fun to watch and I imagine she had a lot of fun herself pushing around Bette Davis. My favorite? Angela Lansbury's Salome Ottobourne. Her alcoholic pulp fiction writer is a complex, compassionate, realistic caricature. David Niven,Jack Warden, Jon Finch, Olivia Houssey, Lois Chiles, Jane Birkin etc complete the who's who of this whodunit. I haven't mention the director: John Guillermin, from "The Towering Inferno" fame.

Murder aboard a Nile steamer in the 1930s is deftly handled here thanks to a good script and some excellent performances.

There can be no question about it--if you're a mystery fan of the sort of crime novels Agatha Christie wrote during her prolific writing career--this is for you. The script fashioned from one of her best works gives a number of interesting actors roles they can chew the scenery with--and most of them do. I can't praise Angela Lansbury enough for her deft and daffy portrayal of a tipsy authoress--so good, she deserved at least an Oscar nomination. The only real flaw is the film's tendency to move at a rather slow pace before things get more intense.

Other acting kudos among the suspects aboard a Nile steamer belong to Bette Davis as an elderly dowager with a penchant for stealing jewelry; her servant, Maggie Smith, with whom she exchanges some priceless barbs; Simon MacCorkindale and Lois Chiles as lovers; Mia Farrow as a vengeful ex-sweetheart; and of course Peter Ustinov as Poirot. David Niven has the least colorful role and can do little with it as he endeavors to help Poirot solve the mystery. The plot has all the ingenious twists we come to expect of Christie and is a very clever one--if slightly improbable when you stop to think about it--depending heavily on luck and coincidence.

But it's all delivered as entertainment and wrapped up in a package designed to stir the senses with an excellent musical score, some fine scenery and Oscar-winning costumes. It's a relief that the writer decided to keep the period of the novel in the 1930s rather than update it as has been done with other Christie stories--notably, MURDER IS EASY ('82) which was updated to include computer technology as part of the plotline. The period flavor here is an added pleasure.

Flavorful, and highly amusing whenever Bette Davis and Maggie Smith have a go at some wisecracks, with an ending that will surprise you if you fail to catch some of the clues. Superior entertainment.