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.
Absalom1991
The change in production team and "vision" for the Poirot series achieved its most sterile and calculating ebb with "Death on the Nile." Once again, they worked very hard to create a little movie for people who never read Christie, wouldn't read Christie, wouldn't want to read Christie, and who lacked the stamina, education and taste to read Christie (who wrote, remember, for a very broad readership at the time - such is the ongoing trend from literacy now).What does that mean? Vapid performances, inept posing, contemporary mean-girl characters masquerading in costume, invocations of sex with lady-candles set to ignite the bedroom, drugs and dumbed-down scripts so that the venality of the actresses can match the vacancy of the target audience.On the Nile, I would have been satisfied to have seen Michele Buck, Delia Fine, Leila Kirkpatrick and Margaret Mitchell, Fiona McGuire and Kate Stannard - notice a trend? - served feet-first to the crocodiles. This production team took an ample budget and the talents of Suchet and de la Tour and spritzed stinky cologne at us as we tried to get by them, just as cosmetic sales staff do at department stores.Pfui.
tedg
This is one of Christie's most popular mysteries because it works with the "impossible murder." Its also an exotic way to manage the remote country house idea, where you know exactly how many suspects there are and can map their movements within the structure.If you aren't unhappy with the others in the Suchet series, you won't be unhappy with this. Generally, they've settled the stories into a simple BBC model, with the answer revealed at the end instead of displayed as a puzzle.This one is worse in that regard, because this story is more of a puzzle than the others. And they go much further in telling you who the villains are even before the story itself begins.But what'll be interesting to students of film is the way the space is used. Despite the flaws of the 1978 version, it understood that the structure of the space is a part of the puzzle. People coming and going, being seen, being heard. This version and that use the very same boat, but the difference in how things are photographed is radically different.Its partly a matter of cost. The TeeVee budget could pay for location shots, but when they use the boat, they have to work with the physical limits of where they can put the camera. The 78 version made a studio copy of much of the boat. It had a real cinematographer — we're talking "Red Shoes" and African Queen" — and knew something about how space constrains emotional vision.So quite apart from whatever problems you might have with BBC handle of an entire genre, and Suchet's sensibilities, there's this business about space that just might drive you crazy if you know how well it can be done.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.
