“Death on the Nile” is a good example of old-fashioned textbook filmmaking by director John Guillermin (“The Towering Inferno” 1974) as he brought Agatha Christie’s famous 1937 novel to the big screen. It has a good screenplay by Anthony Shaffer, picturesque location filming in Egypt by acclaimed cinematographer Jack Cardiff, an all-star cast, and great period costumes by Anthony Powell (which earned him an Academy Award for Best Costume Design), making the 140 minute picture go by quickly.
At the head of the A-list actors are Peter Ustinov as detective Hercule Poirot. Ustinov so personified the sly sleuth that he went on to play Poirot several more times in movies. Other luminaries on the barge on the Nile include Bette Davis, Mia Farrow, Angela Lansbury, George Kennedy, David Niven, Maggie Smith, Olivia Hussey, Lois Chiles, Jane Birkin, Jon Finch, Simon MacCorkindale, Jack Warden, Sam Wanamaker, I. S. Johar, and Harry Andrews.
“Do not allow evil in your heart – it will make a home there,” Peter Ustinov said to Mia Farrow. Good advise for anyone at anytime. “Death on the Nile” was modestly successful at the box office for EMI Films and Mersham Productions. A remake of the film with the same name directed by Kenneth Branagh was released in 2022.
Death on the Nile (1978)
cinema
My Review
“Death on the Nile” is a good example of old-fashioned textbook filmmaking by director John Guillermin (“The Towering Inferno” 1974) as he brought Agatha Christie’s famous 1937 novel to the big screen. It has a good screenplay by Anthony Shaffer, picturesque location filming in Egypt by acclaimed cinematographer Jack Cardiff, an all-star cast, and great period costumes by Anthony Powell (which earned him an Academy Award for Best Costume Design), making the 140 minute picture go by quickly.
At the head of the A-list actors are Peter Ustinov as detective Hercule Poirot. Ustinov so personified the sly sleuth that he went on to play Poirot several more times in movies. Other luminaries on the barge on the Nile include Bette Davis, Mia Farrow, Angela Lansbury, George Kennedy, David Niven, Maggie Smith, Olivia Hussey, Lois Chiles, Jane Birkin, Jon Finch, Simon MacCorkindale, Jack Warden, Sam Wanamaker, I. S. Johar, and Harry Andrews.
“Do not allow evil in your heart – it will make a home there,” Peter Ustinov said to Mia Farrow. Good advise for anyone at anytime. “Death on the Nile” was modestly successful at the box office for EMI Films and Mersham Productions. A remake of the film with the same name directed by Kenneth Branagh was released in 2022.