Death on the Nile: Again.

[Hafiz]

I’d forgotten, until I saw it again recently, what an over-the top and thoroughly camp bit of melodrama Death on the Nile is. It also contains very little that is Egyptian which is something everyone forgets after having seen it. Its not about Egypt at all: its about people on a boat that just happens to be on the Nile. Given the promotional value of film for tourism you would think that any Egyptian government would be offering everything they could to attract European films looking for exotic scenery. For example some of the star wars scenes were filmed in Tunisia- I think. Some tax incentives for films might produce a better result than the waste of money which is Ministry of Tourism overseas promotion.

Death on the Nile my aunt’s bunions: it’s a lot of scheming and malevolent Europeans in Egypt, some of them drinking too much, quite a few with a grievance or major grumble, several unhinged, some desperately looking for love, all maintaining European dress and comforts, none of them showing the slightest interest in Egypt and all of them addicted to melodrama and hysterics. Remind you of anyone you know in Egypt? Oh, and there is a lot of gossip and people taking too much interest in other's business.

Nino Rota, the greatest composer of film music, obviously had a bad day with this one.

It did win an Academy Award for costume which is odd given Landsbury, Smith and Davis were dressed in the Edwardian style not the 30’s where the film was set: but why bother about authenticity.

A de luxe cast, which no producer today could afford, with Davis cruising at 5 knots playing a parody of her screen persona with the leaden enthusiasm of an actor who knows that no performance will save the film. Anyone who thinks she was past her prime in this film should see her remarkable performance in Whales of August 12 years later when she knew the film was good. Landsbury was wasted (in both senses of the word) and, unlike most in the film her best years were ahead of her. Niven looks like he is on life support whilst Ustinov is hard to evaluate because, for many, he defined the role.

Now for the garbage and toss out time. Mac Corkindale, who has disappeared will little trace, gives a rather mincing interpretation of a stud-leading-man cum toff. His thighs have a major acting role which is all for the good because there are two of them. Acting is more than a posh accent and a well-tailored jacket although, given he now moves in elevated royal circles, tailoring is probably very important. Sympathy is always the due of Mia Farrow given her relationship with the execrable Woody Allen but maybe the hysteria of her performance in this film might have been an early warning of bad decisions and bad acting roles to come. An odd career: early promise and then nothing.The female lead, Chiles, gives a performance which must have been a calling card with career suicide on it. The major problem with her character is that it didn’t die in the first minute and give some space to Davis, Smith et al. Sadly Jane Birkin wasn’t also killed off early because this film launched her on a stellar French career of bad acting and worse tone-deaf recordings only given credibility by her glamorous illegitimate parentage. These films have a lot to answer for: whilst they deservedly kill off some careers they give fuel to worthless others.

The odd bits are the communist, won over by love, staying at The Cataract and travelling on a luxury steamer and the comedic lesbian character played by Smith. I haven’t read the book so I don’t know whether these characters are Christie originals. The other bit, which is more about acting, is the boat dragoman who looks like an Indian and speaks like Peter Sellars on Madras curry. The Egyptian boat band playing jazz: was this a lost sophisticated past? Egyptian not.

The cobra scene was a stand out with its apparent killing in the days before animal liberation and when authenticity was king.Who put the snake in Poirot's cabin and where did they get it from? Neither explained.

The Karnak temple, as filmed in 1978, was barely recognizable compared to the temple of today with its major cement ‘renovations/restorations”. You can see why the cement industry in Egypt is both large and profitable when you consider the hundreds of tons poured over 36 years into formerly distressed temples including Karnak.

The final scene is both improbable and funny. Bette Davis and Maggie Smith get off at Wadi Haifa. Where were they going? Going forward just leads into the heart of darkness. Would Davis and Smith survive Khartoum? Would they lick the unruly Sudanese into shape? How would they get back to Cairo? Maybe there was a Wadi-Cairo train line?

Carping about sailing the cataracts and the low dam are just that.

[Glyphdoctor]

If you haven't seen this one before, it's well worth a watch. A lot filmed in Egypt:

[Bullet Magnet]

But Glyph, it has that Awful Lesley Ann Down from "Upstairs Downstairs" .
Couldn't act her way out of a Paper Bag, and was never seen on our TV's afterwards.

Had we taken the good elements out of this film, and added them to Death on the Nile, we may have had a half decent film..

I like Hafiz brutal honesty.. He is right...

[Who2]

Sphinx is a brilliant movie especially if one likes locations, bet none of you can figure out where the dude's house is located…
Ps: It is still there today having been renovated since falling into decay after that film was made.

[Bombay]

Well whether you like them or not Death on the Nile was a hit and and Sphinx was not which is a shame.

Film companies were always here filming before from all countries they even made a Bollywood film here

Its more likely easier to attract tourists here than film companies at the moment.

I think I will watch it again now as its been a couple of weeks and Dame Angela Lansbury is a hoot