Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Death on the Nile Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 22, 2014

John Guillermin's "Death on the Nile" (1978) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of StudioCanal. There are no supplemental features on this Blu-ray release. In English, without optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

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Note: Death on the Nile is part of StudioCanal's upcoming The Poirot Collection Blu-ray box set.

In the film’s prologue, the wealthy heiress Linnet Ridgeway (Lois Chiles, Broadcast News) meets her good friend Jacqueline de Bellefort (Mia Farrow, Rosemary's Baby) and promptly steals her fiance, Simon Doyle (Simon MacCorkindale, The Riddle of the Sands). Before they marry, the lovers choose Egypt as their honeymoon destination.

On board of the paddle steamer S.S. Karnak, however, someone kills the wealthy heiress. Luckily, the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov, Lola Montes) happens to be there together with his good friend Colonel Race (David Niven, The Guns of Navarone). Armed with patience, the two begin searching for the killer.

The tone and atmosphere of John Guillermin’s Death on the Nile seem a lot more appropriate for a classic film about the extravagant Belgian detective. There is still plenty of the exotic flavor that is present in Sidney Lumet's Murder on the Orient Express, but the murder case is approached with a degree of seriousness that makes the different characters look a lot more credible.

While Poirot and his friend speculate about the identity of the killer, the murder case is examined from a variety of different angles and the viewer is led to believe that everyone on board of SS Karnak had a good reason to want the wealthy heiress dead. However, when Poirot begins studying these reasons, the viewer is forced to reevaluate various conflicts that are introduced earlier in the film. In other words, the ‘logical explanations’ are frequently adjusted as more and more information becomes available.

The case is solved without the pomposity from Murder on the Orient Express. Here Poirot’s reconstruction of the events leading to the murder is shorter and better balanced, making it easier to believe that he is a real human being. Only the seemingly mandatory fake French/Belgian accent remains quite distracting.

The supporting cast is very good. The legendary Bette Davis is the somewhat annoying Mrs. Van Schuyler, Maggie Smith is Miss Bowers, Jane Birkin plays the rather unusually elegant and madly in love maid Louise Bourget, the beautiful Olivia Hussey is Rosalie Otterbourne, Jon Finch is the anarchist Mr. Ferguson, Andrew Pennington is an American lawyer on a mission, Jack Warden is the German doctor Ludwig Bessner, and Angela Lansbury is the slightly mysterious novelist Mrs. Salome Otterbourne.

Death on the Nile was lensed by the legendary cinematographer Jack Cardiff (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Red Shoes, John Huston’s The African Queen). There are many notably beautiful panoramic sequences throughout the film, but the long sequence where Linnet and Simon climb the pyramid looks truly extraordinary. The terrific costumes seen in the film were designed by Anthony Powell (Roman Polanski’s Tess, Franklin J. Schaffner’s Papillon), who won an Oscar Award for his work in 1979.

The film’s lush soundtrack was created by the great Italian composer Nino Rota (Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, Federico Fellini’s Amarcord).

Death on the Nile Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.84:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, John Guillermin's Death on the Nile arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of StudioCanal.

There are some obvious traces of very light denoising corrections. While none of them dramatically affect definition and clarity, the effect of their presence is certainly felt. I should make it clear, however, that while viewing the film very few of them will be spotted by viewers. Because the high-definition transfer has been struck from a dated source, color saturation also isn't as pleasing as it should be. During the daylight footage some fading is easy to spot (see screencapture #12). Light halo effects are also present, but never become overly distracting (see screencapture #14). The best news here is that there are no traces of compromising sharpening adjustments. Also, image stability is excellent. Lastly, there are no large debris, cuts, damage marks, stains, or scratches to report in this review. All in all, the film looks decent in high-definition, but is obvious that there is plenty of room for important improvements. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Death on the Nile Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0. For the record, StudioCanal have not provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

The lossless track has a very good range of nuanced dynamics that provide the film with surprisingly good depth. From start to finish clarity is also excellent. Legendary composer Nino Rota's score is also well balanced with the dialog (there are no sudden spikes or drops in dynamic intensity). Lastly, the dialog is stable, free of problematic background hiss, and east to follow. As it was the case with the Blu-ray release of Murder on the Orient Express, however, optional English SDH subtitles should have been included.

Death on the Nile Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplemental features on this Blu-ray release.

Death on the Nile Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I find John Guillermin's Death on the Nile to be better balanced than Sidney Lumet's Murder on the Orient Express. Both films have the appropriate exotic flavor, but Peter Ustinov's Hercule Poirot looks far more convincing and as a result the supporting cast is also better. StudioCanal's technical presentation is far from perfect, but the Blu-ray release represents a decent upgrade in quality over Anchor Bay's R1 DVD release. RECOMMENDED.