Regular Price $9.98

Starring: Peter Ustinov,  Jane Birkin,  Lois Chiles,  Bette Davis,  Mia Farrow, 
Directed By: John Guillermin, 
Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Release Date: 1978-10-06
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
Format: Anamorphic,  Color,  DVD-Video,  Widescreen,  NTSC, 

Editorial Reviews and DVD Information about Death on the Nile

Product Description
Inspector Hercule Poirot must solve the murder of a beautiful young heiress.
Genre: Mystery
Rating: PG
Release Date: 8-JUN-2004
Media Type: DVD

Amazon.com
Following Albert Finney's quirky and compelling performance as Agatha Christie's Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, in 1974's Murder on the Orient Express, Peter Ustinov capably took over the role in this 1978 adaptation of Christie's river-bound whodunit. While on a pleasure cruise along the Nile with a taciturn companion (David Niven), Poirot slips into action following the murder of a much-despised heiress (Lois Chiles). There's no shortage of suspects... until, that is, they also start dying off, obfuscating the investigation by suggesting that several killers may be at work. With a disciplined screenplay by Anthony Shaffer, the film is solid enough (certainly better than its 1981 follow-up, Evil Under the Sun) and is graced immeasurably by a glittery cast including Bette Davis, Maggie Smith, Mia Farrow, Olivia Hussey, Jack Warden, and Angela Lansbury. Directed with customary efficiency by John Guillermin (King Kong, The Towering Inferno). --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews for Death on the Nile

Death on the Nile - the movie
Movie came quickly and was as good as advertised. Would order from this seller again.Death on the Nile

Riddle of the Sphynx
Wow! What better backdrop for a story than the pyramids and ancient ruins of Egypt. Set mainly along the Nile, I sometimes found the story second to the scenery! Not that the story didn't fully engage - it did! The varied characters in Death on the Nile, are quite a bunch - there is an element of humor underneath all the intrigue. We know someone is going to get it as the movie unwinds, but who? and by whom? Many seem to have their reasons...

I loved the first half of this movie. It starts off with the craziest scenario. Niece wants fiance to get a managerial position at her very rich auntie's estate. She asks auntie and auntie says, well, let's meet him. Did I mention that besides being filthy rich, auntie is also quite young and attractive? When auntie meets fiance, sparks suddenly fly and then -

Cut to Egypt. Suddenly riding horses amongst the pyramids - rich auntie, and niece's fiance - they're married! And trailing around in their dust is the poor niece, bent on making a nuissance of herself during the honeymoon that should have been hers! There's a certain humour. And the scenery of the Nile, the ancient ruins, the Sphynx - it's stunning, and yet very much a part of the story.

For the second half of the movie though, I started to find myself less engaged. It became more of what I think of when I think of a cliche mystery. Less shots of Egypt. Less humorous situations. More tedious regurgitation of the murder as the Ustinov tries to solve the case.

The second half I give 3 stars as a noticeable lull seems to set in with the latter part of the cruise. It becomes more "in the head", and I wasn't terribly convinced when the murder was finally solved. A bit far-fetched.. While I don't mind far-fetched if it entertains simultaneously, I was becoming less and less entertained as the movie wound it's way toward the conclusion. Not terrible. Just not what the first half of the movie was - gorgeous, clever, witty and interesting. One reason for this may have been that for the second half of the movie less attention is paid to the myriad of interesting characters interacting with each other, and all things focus on Ustinov, who's rather stuffy and dry most of the time, although he's not awful. Just not as interesting as other characters which get more attention in the better half of this movie - the first. Fortunately, the story ends on a powerful note.

This movie is worth seeing. There are some jaw-droppingly beautiful scenes, which, at the same time, tie in so perfectly with the story. The tying together of such a dramatic backdrop (Egypt) with the riviting story this begins as, and the satisfactory final scenes, make this movie more than well-worth seeing.

Death on the Nile

Solid Cast and Great Locations
Set in Egypt, aboard a cruise ship on the Nile. The passengers?

Mia Farrow
Bette Davis
Maggie Smith
Angela Lansbury
Jane Birkin (yes, Birkin bag by Hermes is named after her)
David Niven
Peter Ustinov
George Kennedy
Jack Warden

The music is haunting, the story is great and this movie took the Oscar for best costume design and for once I agree with the choice.

As an ensemble, I don't think you get any better than this and Dame Agatha writes mysteries like no one else. This will definitely keep you guessing.

Favorite Line "Do not let evil into your heart madamoisielle, it will make a home there."Death on the Nile

"This certainly takes the camel's hump, oh yes, and no mistake!"
Meant to match the success of the 1974 MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, this all-star 1978 film is much more mobile but doesn't quite carry the haunting sense of evil of the other film (thanks to that film's famously disturbing pre-credit sequence). Here the only thing that matches the majesty of the great Nino Rota score (which brilliantly evokes a Nile steamboat, the location for much of this film's action is Mia Farrow's performance as Jackie. This was probably the best role Farrow got in the Seventies, and while it allows her to do her specialty in evoking hysteria it also allows her the rare opportunity to play a really intelligent character. Her scenes menacing her ex-lover and best friend (who have married one another behind her back) by turning up at Egyptian tourist sites and reciting statistics about the sites to them are memorably strange. Peter Ustinov makes a fine Poirot, and Angela Lansbury is a lot of fun as a Marie Corelli-like hack novelist, and Simon MacCorkindale is suitably dreamy as Farrow's ex-lover, but no one else is up to the scale the production seems to demand. Several actors seem terribly underused (particular Olivia Hussey and Maggie Smith), and Bette Davis as a Washington grande dame looks like a walking mummy (which should be suitable to the theme but instead is rather creepy). Very few of the characters have plausible motives for murder, so the time spent discussing whether or not they committed the central crime seems pretty tedious.Death on the Nile

Great!
One of the greatest movies ever made with outstanding cast... Even though Peter Ustinov is not my favorite Poirot, he is wonderful...Death on the Nile

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