Death On The Nile (1978) ***

Death On The Nile (1978) is fun, but a pale comparison to/imitation of Murder On The Orient Express (1974) (even down to the US poster, pictured below). I had a bunch of issues with this film. Despite its length (and it feels long), it leaves out a lot of what's in Agatha Christie's 1937 book and adds in things I'm not crazy about—Poirot proposing theories out loud to passengers and also having him assemble the cast of characters to announce the murderer in the finale (something he does a lot in the Christie books, but not in this particular one).

Additionally, Peter Ustinov is good, but doesn't hold a candle to Albert Finney in my opinion. I realize that Ustinov portrayed the character of Hercule Poirot many times, as opposed to the lone outing with Finney, but something about the latter's more outrageous performance embodies the character (or how I picture him when reading the novels) more accurately in my mind. Ustinov’s Belgian accent feels a bit forced as well. Sidney Lumet is also a vastly superior director, though John Guillermin does good work here.

On the plus side, the score by Nino Rota is gorgeous and memorable, though not utilized enough. It was instantly familiar to me and I had never seen this film. I must have heard it somewhere. The cinematography and locations are impressive. And the cast is assembled is wonderful, though again I prefer the actors in Orient Express. A rewatch may garner some more love from me, but I watched this film minutes after finishing the novel and I have a lot of love for the book and film of Orient, so it was hard not to make comparisons to all three.