Monday, March 19, 2012

Death on the Nile

A socialite is murdered aboard a Nile cruise ship where seemingly every member of the passenger roster is a known enemy with personal motives, including her jilted sister. Fortunately, one of the traveler's is world renowned Belgian detective Hercule Poirot who now must sort through the colorful characters and use his masterful powers of deduction to determine the culprit. Following the success of Sidney Lumet's "Murder on the Orient Express", "Death on the Nile", another Agatha Christie murder mystery, was adapted for the screen. Although it contains virtually the same plot, it still provides the same high level of entertainment. This was the first film where Peter Ustinov played the famed detective whom he would revisit several times over, and his portrayal is delightfully awkward. In a truly all-star cast, we are given fun performances from Mia Farrow, George Kennedy, David Niven, Jack Warden, and especially Bettie Davis and Maggie Smith who play a spinster and her indignant servant, respectively. "Death on the Nile" features a silly and incredible story, but is thoroughly entertaining throughout.