Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		2.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 28, 2020

Agatha Christie's mysteries tend to be impeccably plotted, typically with a large cast of potential suspects from which the reader (and/or viewer) can choose, a choice often dependent upon Christie's also impeccably placed red herrings, which can mean that choices by said reader (and/or viewer) can often change with the circumstances. Death on the Nile fulfills all of those expected Christie tropes, but in this particular adaptation, there is also a perhaps infelicitous use of coincidence that isn't completely necessary and which may tend to slightly upend the proceedings. Death on the Nile was originally part of Poirot, and this particular adaptation perhaps finds the venerated series attempting to deliver a larger budget look without benefit of an actual larger budget. The mystery is still intact, and is thankfully only tinkered with slightly, but some of the production values here are inconsistent, and the outing suffers at times from things like inartful editing in both image and sound. Still, any chance to see David Suchet strut his inimitable stuff as the legendary Hercule Poirot will have much to offer mystery fans, and this version of Death on the Nile is no exception.

Christie mysteries often hinge on unknown or at least unrevealed relationships between characters, and to say that that's at play in Death on the Nile is really not that much of a spoiler, although the way this particular "hidden" relationship plays into the plot is absolutely central to the story (and of course won't be spoiled here). Suffice it to say that Poirot (David Suchet) is sucked into a situation almost against his will while he's ostensibly on holiday in Egypt. A wealthy heiress named Linnet Doyle (Emily Blunt) approaches Poirot to ask him to please intercede with her erstwhile best friend Jacqueline de Bellefort (Emma Malin), since Jacqueline has been more or less stalking Linnet and Linnet's new husband Simon (JJ Feild), for the understandable reason that Simon used to be Jacqueline's boyfriend, and in fact Jacqueline had introduced Simon to Linnet. Suffice it to say, all four of these characters, along with the traditional assortment of Christie eccentrics, all end up on the same Nile cruise boat Karnak, and (of course) not one but several murders ultimately ensue in relatively short order.

Among the group of fellow travelers (in both senses of that phrase, since one is a supposed Communist) is over the top romance novelist Salome Otterbourne (Frances De La Tour), who is being shepherded by her daughter Rosalie (Zoe Telford). Another odd pairing featuring an older woman and younger caretaker offers a harridan American named Miss Van Schuyler (Judy Parfitt), whose niece Cornelia Robson (Daisy Donovan) is tasked with putting up her Van Schuyler's officious behaviors. A third pair of relatives includes Mrs. Allerton (Barbara Flynn) and her fussy, smack talking son Tim (Daniel Lapaine). "Unmatched" passengers include Linnet's business manager Andrew Pennington (David Soul), who shows up supposedly coincidentally, in a plot point that even non-Christie fans will see through, and Mr. Ferguson (Alastair Mackenzie), the aforementioned suspected Communist agitator. Rounding out the passenger list are Dr. Bessner (Steve Pemberton), whose skills turn out to be more than needed along the way, and Colonel Race (James Fox), who just kind of shows up willy nilly partway through the journey, joining the cruise because his friend Poirot is on it already, in a change from the original novel that seems odd, especially since the investigation he undertakes in Christie's original formulation is completely missing from this already stuffed to its gills presentation.

Suffice it to say that virtually every one of these characters is (of course) hiding something, which (again of course) Poirot is able to discern as if by magic. The plotting here is a little too pat perhaps even by Christie standards, and a couple of the murders strain credulity, to say the least (some might say the last one is almost comical). The central misdirection is quite ably handled, and while probably not the best "long form" treatment of a Christie tale by the venerable Poirot series, it's enjoyable, if slightly goofy.

Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of ITV Studios and Acorn with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This release was part of Poirot: Series 9, which was reviewed by Michael Reuben who gave the entire series generally high marks while noting the prevalence of noise in darker scenes. I never owned the Series 9 release (and its entirely possible that perhaps the presentation on that release was markedly better than it is here), but I was so astounded by the noise I witnessed on this disc that I actually got out my Poirot: The Complete Cases Collection, which I do own and which also includes this outing, in order to compare, and there was not much difference (this in and of itself is kind of interesting, since The Complete Cases Collection offers Death on the Nile on the same disc as The Hollow , though on a BD-50, while this release is on a BD-25, which suggests that either compression was wonky to begin with, so that disc size is irrelevant, or that anomalies other than just compression are playing into things). One way or the other, noise absolutely overwhelms this presentation to the point that black surfaces in particular can be littered with what almost looks like static that used to afflict old broadcast television outings if the antenna wasn't properly connected. It does tend to abate in lighter moments, but even here, if there's even a touch of something dark in the frame, as in a shawl or even Poirot's suit, it's back with a vengeance. Otherwise, detail levels are very good throughout the presentation, and the palette is rather nicely suffused as well. Some of the special effects can be pretty shoddy looking, but the Egyptian locales are used to good advantage. There are also so moments, notably several of the establishing shots for some reason, where things look almost upscaled, or at least aggressively sharpened.

Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Death on the Nile features a nice sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track that offers good fidelity which is sometimes interrupted by less than effective editing and segues (as mentioned above). This can be particularly noticeable where underscore might suddenly stop or lurch into a new cue without traditional fading or mixing. Otherwise, though, the track offers clear and clean dialogue, and occasional sound effects, like the gunfire that seems to break out on board every few minutes, reverberate decently. Optional English subtitles are available.

Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

No supplements of any kind are included on this release.

Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Perhaps not entirely by chance, given the vagaries of home video competition, Kino Lorber just recently released Death on the Nile, the Peter Ustinov version of Christie's venerable tale. There's little doubt that the feature film version offers a starrier cast and better overall production values, but this version has the one unquestioned asset in David Suchet's typically wonderful performance as Poirot. (There's a "new, improved" (?) feature film version with Kenneth Branagh reprising his characterization from Murder on the Orient Express, though it's evidently been significantly delayed by the pandemic.) This release has intermittently shoddy looking video, but audio is fine, for those who are considering a purchase.