mckavitt
This ITV version of Death on the Nile is, in my opinion, right up there with Sad Cypress, Taken by the Flood, & Five Little Pigs, each one a masterpiece of televised Agatha Christie fiction, all w David Suchet, the best Poirot on film. First of all, this is a real film, nothing like a TV movie. As for the Ustinov version w its "star-studded cast", bah, humbug! That version has no heartbeat at all. One couldn't care less about the future of any of its characters, much less their pasts. Here, we have splendid British actors, some of them young & not yet famous, others well-established stars.In this version of Death on the Nile, the cast couldn't be better: the tragic couple, Emma Malin & JJ Field, as Jacqueline DeBelfort & Simon Doyle, respectively, are fabulous. Emily Blunt is marvelous as the spoiled but not completely hateful American heiress, Linnet Ridgeway. I will venture an opinion unvoiced thus far, that is, that the lovers' planning of Linnet's murder precedes Simon Doyle's marriage to her. In the very first scene, he bemoans being "broke", but Jackie's reassurance: "I'll think of something, I promise you, my darling, 'll think of something" elicits an immediate smile & revival of his sexual prowess.This is something, it is true, Poirot could not know, but we do, being witness to this seminal scene. And it turns out to be true. She does indeed think of something! As we see this in the v. next scene when she turns up at Linnet's palatial door w a suggestion that immediately places a v. sexy smiling Simon at Linnet's intimate disposal. Immediate shift to 3 months later & what has happened? Linnet has become Mrs Simon Doyle! How can we not believe this to be the plan of Jacqueline DeBelfort? As Poirot says: "She has the brains" & Simon Doyle is "the man of action to carry it (her plan) out."During the genesis of the shift to Egypt, we meet literally all the characters, one after the other, & get a pretty accurate glimpse of who they are... we are vastly amused, but also moved.It is here that Poirot's entrance is also made... & what an entrance it is! Commented as "... that dwarfish figure mincing down the stairs?" it sets the tone for the ironic or humorous scenes to follow. And a more true to life picture we could not hope for! Every character has a reason for being there... for existing!... from beginning to end. And all through this film, we get an even fuller picture of who Hercule Poirot is... a fine mind, but an unfulfilled life, lacking love ("Oh, Mademoiselle, how terrible it is, all that I have missed in life" to Jackie for whom love is everything) & one who is constantly buffeted by the willful ways of humanity... Performances by the rest of the cast are stellar! Nothing less than perfection. Each character is fleshed out, given depth, particularities, tics, overall personality, so that, unlike the prior Ustinov version, we are made to care about every one of them. Even the pathetic, heinous, not always PC characters. The interactions are so delightful, whether menacing or grotesque at times, that we are caught in Christie's net before we know it. That Judy Parfitt & Frances De la Tour play absolute but often comic horrors of the female species says something for the Thespian dedication we see at work here. But everyone is rich in character & worth every minute of the time devoted to them. Of particular note is the fact that the murdered Linnet Doyle elicits little or no sympathy from the other people present, the viewers &, most remarkably, from Poirot himself, from whom the wealthy heiress asked help & was uncharacteristically refused. Simon Doyle's cold-blooded murder is a chilling character study in itself, given what an amiable gent he seems to be... on every other occasion. The dramatic heart of the film, the murder, is the real climax of it all ~ handled w a suspenseful rhythm rarely surpassed, aided & abetted by the musical score, perfect throughout, though there are others to follow ~ such as the investigation itself, headed by Colonel Race, splendidly portrayed by James Fox. The brief exchange between him & Poirot: "Well don't be discouraged, Poirot, we'll get to the bottom of this", followed by Poirot's trenchant & hilarious response: "Oh, I know I will" is typical of the film's mood, though dark & ultimately tragic for several of its protagonists. And, of course, he does. And we are held by every moment of it, by the additional greased-lightning murders, after v. professional interrogations, cabin searches, more private face to face challenges by Poirot ~ The final climax & denouement are superb... w only Jacqueline DeBelfort's absence causing a little scratching of the head. Why on earth, since in all the other Poirots, everyone, including the guilty, is present? Followed by Poirot's also typically crystalline explanation of the crime. In his private interview w Jacqueline, she denies nothing & even manages to squeeze out a last few drops of compassion, not only from us the viewers, but also from Poirot, which explains his subsequent less than professional action in the ending scene. "Love makes you do many things, Monsieur Poirot" reveals some of the complexity here. The last glimpse of the lovers dancing in Jacqueline's poor but romantically candle-lit bedroom, before the drama, confirms the love & "life is unfair" themes reiterated throughout the film. So, speaking for myself, this is a top-notch Poirot episode, a thriller & romance, rarely if ever paralleled in a televised work of fiction & only by the 3 other Poirots, featuring David Suchet, mentioned at the beginning. Especially a whodunit. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
thirstyfriend :
First of all, this is an Agatha Christie must. Reading the book is the most effective thing you could do if you really want to take part in the story. Now about the movie, I must say I'm not exactly thrilled about it and here are the positive and negative features.POSITIVE: the script was well written (with only small flaws), the music was appropriate, the scenery was amazing (I have to say I was even taken away from the story by the wonderful views of Egypt), and there were some wonderful actors in this episode. Suchet is brilliant as always and I really enjoyed seeing the likes of James Fox and Frances de la Tour. I think Emily Blunt/Linett did OK and i loved the acting of JJ Feild as Simon Doyle as he gave the character a certain subtlety and substance unseen before.The ending was truly magnificent: with the departure from the boat and the flashback.There was also a lot of emphasis on Poirot's feelings, and i think this was amazing as we don't usually see this coming from him.NEGATIVE: I really, really didn't like the actress playing Jacqueline de Bellefort. She seemed way too cold and hard and in my opinion she tried to hard. Never have i felt that she could do what she did out of love, but out of pure sadistic pleasure.I just didn't think she was the Jacqueline Agatha Christie had in mind. Another negative aspect was that, unlike other episodes, it tried to make obvious from the beginning who the culprit was, so as to probably let the viewer to digest the information more easily, without finding it hocus-pocus, but that's the main point of Hercule Poirot' mysteries.All in all, it was pretty good, that's why I'm giving it an 8. But if you want the real Death on the Nile, then read the book.
Robert J. Maxwell
A honeymooning couple, J. J. Field and Emily Blunt, take a cruise down the Nile. Among the usual variety of additional passengers is the insanely jealous ex girl friend of the groom, Emma Griffiths Malin, and the Stately, plump, mustachioed Hercule Poirot of David Suchet. Malin confides to Suchet that she has a little pistol that she dreams of putting against the head of the filthy rich and extravagantly beautiful blond who stole her fiancé, then gently pulling the trigger.One morning the ex beautiful blond is found dead in her room, a bullet hole in her head, and the initial of the jealous Malin drawn on the wall with her own blood. The blond's hair is scorched around the wound. Evidently some nameless person has put a pistol against that stunning skull and gently pulled the trigger.Things look bad for Malin. She had every reason to want the blond bimbo dead -- and a couple of other passengers might have had reasons too -- but, get this, Malin could NOT have killed the selfish slut. The night before, in the ship's saloon, Malin shot her ex boy friend in the leg and collapsed in hysteria. At Field's insistence, everyone rushes Malin to her stateroom and she is put under sedation by the doctor. (Christie's mysteries always have a doctor. They have to. He provides the time of death and other medical circumstances that the solution depends on.) A fellow passenger attends Malin all night long. When the other return to the saloon, they find Field writhing in agony, his tibia and composure both shot. Thereafter, Field is carried to the doctor's stateroom and is never left alone.It seems one of the other passengers must have killed Emily Blunt, but which one? The resentful Marxist? The personal maid that Blunt has offended? The American lawyer playing tricks with Blunt's investments and afraid of being found out? Medical discretion prevents a description of any further plot developments.I suspect that most people who see this will compare it to the much bigger, splashier, colorful, noisy 1978 production with Peter Ustinov as Poirot. At least that's what I did.I preferred the gargantuan version. Not because it's a work of art but because the production values are higher and this means it has virtues the more modest television production couldn't possibly equal.Here, the photography is a little dark. I mean, considering -- Egypt, the Nile, summertime. The score here consists of source music. A band plays contemporary tunes -- "Love's Old Sweet Story" -- but the movie has the kind of sweeping musical score by Ennio Morricone that's usually called "epic", and in this instance it's pretty good. In the movie, the honeymooners climb to the very top of a pyramid and we see them standing up there, radiantly happy, windblown, while in the TV movie they briefly visit a ground-level temple.The TV movie, being made for television rather than the wide screen, is full of stultifying close ups while the 1978 version gives us genuine vastness. And, while a supporting cast of name actors generally don't contribute much to a movie, other than the odd gasp of recognition, as in, "My God -- the piano player is FRANK SINATRA!", it really helps in the 1978 version. In the TV production I found myself confusing some of the characters' relationships to one another.More money also means more time spent on developing an entertaining and commercial script, with clearer plot threads. And, perhaps just as happenstance, the 1978 version has a superb performance by Angela Lansbury as the drunken, eccentric, erotomanic Salome Otterbourne.It takes nothing away from this above-average TV episode to say that you can simply DO more with a feature film, and you can take more time to do it. This is enjoyable on its own, though, and I prefer it to most of Agatha Christie's domestic mysteries that are part of this series. Even better than this is the episode "Murder in Mesopotamia."
tml_pohlak_13
Ah, "Death on the Nile". One of my favourite Agatha Christie novels. I did not like the Peter Ustinov version. It took too many liberties with the plot, and Ustinov, despite his great acting abilities, did not look or act like the Poirot from the novel. This version was acted out better, and took fewer liberties with the plot. Of course, it took some liberties, mainly: - making Timothy Allerton gay; his relationship with Rosalie Otterbourne fails at the end - Colonel Race comes onto the ship because he wants to be with his old friend Poirot, not to track down a spy - Richetti is absent, no one filling in his role, and Miss Bowers is absent, Cornelia filling in her role This version is amazing. It makes up for some of the dreary episodes we've had in the past.
