Summer is among us, and, as a treat, I thought it would be a hoot to recommend the murder mystery film Death on the Nile (1978).
With the success of Murder on the Orient Express in 1974, it was inevitable that EMI and Paramount would find another Agatha Christie whodunit to adapt. Four years later, they gave audiences another all-star mystery, another exotic locale, and another corpse, or five, in a stateroom. With EMI looking to go in a different director from Murder, they turned to John Guillermin to director, fresh off King Kong and The Towering Inferno.
Albert Finney respectfully declined to portray Poirot again, citing the make up and the grueling heat, so EMI turned to the stage and film actor/director Peter Ustinov. Ustinov would go on to play Poirot five more times.
To round out the who's who in the whodunit, Guillermin found an almost equally powerhouse cast as Murder- Mia Farrow, David Niven, Angela Lansbury, Simon MacCorkindale, Maggie Smith, George Kennedy, Olivia Hussey, Jack Warden, Lois Chiles, Jon Finch, Jae Birkin, and Bette Davis.
With a script by Anthony Shaffer, score by Nino Rota, and costumes by Anthony Powell, Death on the Nile is a perfect summer holiday film to enjoy.