Death on the Nile [VHS]

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 ½ 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.

One of the best Agatha Christie adaptations ever and the first to feature Peter Ustinov as Poirot. It looks fantastic, and the period detail is superb. Ustinov is quirky as Poirot and whilst he brings a mischevous touch of humour to the role he`s often very touching. Humour is in great supply generally in this film. It`s hard to pick out individuals in such a star studded cast, but special mentions to Bette Davis, Maggie Smith and Angela Lansbury as they shine in a largely comic fashion. Mia Farrow is also excellent in a more serious role, and Lois Chiles I feel was perfectly cast as Linnet. David Niven does have a more thankless role as Colonel Race but does what he can with it. On the dvd is some interesting behind the scenes footage. Well recommended.

This is a GREAT film with beautiful music, wonderful locations, amazing costumes, brilliant cast, and a terrific story!!! It is now on my personal list of top ten greatest films!

Generally David Suchet's TV series wipes the board with film versions of Poirot - the exception being this film. Although David Suchet is an arguably superior Poirot, this film has you gripped from the first notes of the brilliant theme music. A strong cast - including Mia Farrow, Maggie Smith & David Niven - complemented by the fantastic scenery. One I've watched many times even though I know it off by heart now.

It's the Agatha Christie movie at its best: it's camp and grand and thoroughly good and entertaining with a plethora of fabulous actors!
A great DVD to keep.

This blockbusting film adapted from Agatha Christie's novel is the very archetype and acme of her detective stories, at least those using the services of the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot from Brussels. She builds up a closed set of people who are all concerned by the murder that is committed in a closed environment. They all have some personal interest to commit this crime, hence a motive, and none of them have an alibi, at least a real alibi. They can all have done it and Poirot is going to use his Belgian brain to sort out the facts and bring out the truth, as a reconstruction that is intended to trap or trick the culprit. And it works. That's how the mystery is resolved. One shady corner can be found though: the cobra in Poirot's bathroom will remain unexplained. It must have been overlooked at some moment in the making of the film because Agatha Christie would never do such a mistake.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Paris Dauphine & University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne

This was probably the first Poirot that I ever saw and I must say that I have loved it ever since. The mixture of the ruins of Ancient Egypt, which is an obsession of mine, along with the 1930's fashion and style leads to some excellent imagery and a great story. Although I have never read any of the Poirot books, it was this film that set me got me to avidly watch all the other TV and film adaptations. Although there are some liberties taken with the geography of Egypt and the layout of some of the sights visited, this dose nothing to detract from the film itself. Angela Lansbury is brilliant as an alcoholic writer and gives one of the best performances in the entire film. Peter Ustinov is great as the Belgian sleuth and I must say is probably better than any of the other actors who have played the part. Because of all this film is also far superior to the more recent ITV Drama adaptation.