7.3 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot has a set of murder suspects on a boat in the Nile after a rich heiress is killed. Can he find the culprit before they reach port?
Starring: Peter Ustinov, Jane Birkin, Lois Chiles, Bette Davis, Mia FarrowThriller | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.84:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: LPCM 2.0
None
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region B (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
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".
Already sensing something...
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).
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.
There are no supplemental features on this Blu-ray release.
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.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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