Film Review
Murder on the Orient Express
(1974) showed how an Agatha Christie murder mystery should be adapted
for the big screen and, when this film proved to be a colossal box
office hit it was inevitable that other Christie novels would be given
the same big budget, star studded treatment.
Death on the Nile came next, with
director John Guillermin having a good stab at matching the elegance,
grandeur and sheer fun of Sidney Lumet's inspired Christie
adaptation. Once again, a troupe of some of the biggest names in
filmland are wheeled in to test the resources and little grey cells of
one Hercule Poirot, this time played with whimsical charm by Peter
Ustinov, his first outing in the role.
Death on the Nile is easily
one of more enjoyable of the big screen Agatha Christies, benefiting
from its exotic location (sumptuously photographed by Jack Cardiff) and
a colourful cast, which includes Jane Birkin struggling hopelessly to
deliver a convincing French accent, in spite of the fact that she was
married to a Frenchman at the time (a certain Serge Gainsbourg). The score is an evocative
reworking of Prokofiev's
Romeo and
Juliet ballet by the great Nino Rota, and
Anthony Powell's Art Deco-inspired costume design
won the film its sole Oscar. The humour is perhaps taken a little too far, with
Angela Lansbury and Bette Davis going so far over the top that it is a
miracle they don't go shooting up into the stratosphere and end up
orbiting the planet Jupiter. Ustinov's Poirot may bear little, if
any, resemblance to Christie's creation, but his solid
presence provides a vestige of sanity to the proceedings that
prevents the film from sinking to the level of a threepenny bit
farce.
In true Agatha Christie vein, the plot is both ingenious and fantastic,
ensuring that the spectator is kept guessing right to the end, thanks
to the numerous digressions and sideshows. That the film still
manages to hold our attention on a second or even third viewing is
testament to the quality of Anthony Shaffer's screenplay, Guillermin's
confident direction and the delightfully hammy performances.
Death on the Nile may be a little
too comical for its own good, but it is a slick production that offers
superlative entertainment, just the thing to lighten up a dull bank
holiday weekend.
© James Travers 2010
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Jacqueline de Bellefort persuades her friend, the wealthy
heiress Linnet Ridgeway, to employ her fiancé Simon Doyle as her
estate manager. Within a year, Linnet and Simon are married and
happily honeymooning in Egypt. When the couple least expect it,
Jacqueline appears and begins to taunt them. She has yet to
forgive Simon's betrayal and is determined to ruin the honeymoon.
Simon thinks he has thwarted his former sweetheart when he books a
paddle-steamer cruise on the River Nile, but Jacqueline is not so
easily outmanoeuvred and soon boards the boat. During a fierce
argument one evening, a drunk Jacqueline shoots Simon in the leg with a
pistol. The overwrought Jacqueline is sedated, providing her with
the perfect alibi for the night's other big event. The next
morning, Linnet Doyle is found dead, shot in the head by a small
handgun. If Jacqueline did not murder the heiress who
did? As luck would have it, one of the passengers on board
the boat is the famous Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot. He soon
discovers that there is no shortage of people who had the motive, the
means and the opportunity to kill Mrs Doyle. In fact, Poirot
aside, there appears to be no one on board who does not benefit from
her demise...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.