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“Murder On the Orient Express” had been a massive hit during the holidays in 1974 and ended up one of the top 10 box office films of the year. Naturally, EMI films wanted a sequel. “Death On the Nile” was chosen as the novel to adapt and was released to coincide with the opening of the “Treasures of Tutankhamun” exhibition in New York and other U.S. cities that became one of the most popular museum exhibitions of all time. Though a few of the novel’s characters were eliminated so there would not be too many to keep track of on the screen, the screenplay by Anthony Shaffer (“Sleuth”, “The Wicker Man”) was pretty faithful to the plot. Sidney Lumet was unavailable to direct, so the filmmakers hired John Gullermin (“The Blue Max”, “The Bridge At Remagen”). He was a controversial choice as he had a bad reputation among actors for being temperamental and having regular blow ups and being difficult to work with in every way. In spite of that, this was a friendly shoot without blow ups where the actors got along very well.
The film followed the outline of “Orient Express” as much as possible, beginning by hiring an experienced and well-known international cast. Instead of Lauren Bacall, here we have Bette Davis in the role of Marie Van Schuyler, an older woman of wealth. Maggie Smith is her nurse and traveling companion, Miss Bowers, who must put up with Schuyler’s moods. More importantly, Albert Finney is replaced by Peter Ustinov in the all-important role of Hercule Poirot. Finney begged out because he felt the enormous amounts of makeup and prosthetics required to turn him into Poirot would be unbearable in the heat of Egypt. Both interpretations of Poirot are excellent and the character is open to different takes. Finney’s Poirot was colder, darker and more serious, given to bursts of anger and drama when interrogating suspects. Ustinov’s Poirot is warmer and gentler, seeming to see it all as a game or a riddle, calmly announcing his various theories of possible guilt. I found Ustinov, who could create wildly eccentric characterizations such as his Nero in “Quo Vadis” nicely restrained here, keeping Poirot serious enough and not over the top.
He is joined here by David Niven as Colonel Race, an old friend of Poirot who happens to be taking the same boat trip down the Nile. The two old friends join forces to catch the murderer. This nice bit of casting happened to duplicate reality. Niven and Ustinov had been good friends since World War II service, sharing a love of theater and acting. Niven had dropped his Hollywood career and rejoined the British Army at the outbreak of the war. Niven, a Lieutenant Colonel and Ustinov, a private, were not allowed to fraternize by British Army rules and Niven arranged for Ustinov to be appointed his batman, so they could be together. You can tell the two are having a great deal of fun in their roles here. The central romantic characters are Mia Farrow as the jilted Jacqueline de Bellefort, who makes the character intense and vindictive. Her romantic rival is beautiful, wealthy heiress Linnet Ridgeway (Lois Chiles - Bond girl Holly Goodhead in “Moonraker”) about whom Poirot comments, “She makes enemies easily”. The last member of this triangle is Simon Doyle, the young man with whom both women are in love. This was the breakout role for Simon McCorkindale who, after an 80s career as an actor, went on as a producer and director. The members of the supporting cast include Angela Lansbury, Olivia Hussey. Jon Finch, Jane Birkin, George Kennedy and Jack Warden, all of whom, of course, have a murder motive.
The film is lushly set from the English countryside to the glamorous hotel ballroom with its tango scene, probably the best known scene from the film. Much of it was actually shot on the Nile, with stops that allow the film to have more exciting travel scenes than the snowbound train in “Orient Express”. They basically did everything right in making this film and it is very entertaining, which is all these films are meant to be. Somehow, it didn’t go over nearly as well with the audiences of 1978 as “Orient Express” did four years earlier, making only half its box office. Perhaps the first film was more of a novelty and the audience felt this would be a retread. I remember distinctly that many people did not like the ending, but it’s Agatha Christie’s ending and woe to the producers had they changed it. The cast of familiar actors is good, but there aren’t as many heavy-hitters as “Orient Express” which had Bacall, plus Ingrid Bergman, Vanessa Redgrave and Sean Connery. Overall the film is quite enjoyable but it does not quite have the sparkle of the earlier film, but then you rarely get as esteemed a director as Sidney Lumet to direct a picture like this. It’s still a very enjoyable film and I wouldn’t hesitate to see it.
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Kino Lorber Studio Classics is dedicated to bringing you the best of Hollywood’s successes, critical and commercial. All from best available sources, many on DVD or Blu-ray for the very first time.
A brilliant hoot!
I originally saw this movie when it came out in the 70s. I loved it then, and am happy to see that it has not lost any of its timely humor. It is brilliantly acted and wonderful to see so many stars from that era. Bette Davis is divine as usual, David Niven, Peter Ustinov, Maggie Smith...It is brilliant and hilarious. It was wonderful to see the very young and very hot, Simon MacCorkindale as the romantic lead! I highly recommend this movie!
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Rafael LópezReviewed in Spain on April 17, 2017
Muy buena película, buenos actores y actrices. Disfruté volver a verla.
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