Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Death on the Nile

Day 174 - 6/23/09 -Movie #173

BEFORE: Having watched "Murder on the Orient Express" earlier this year (Movie #120), it's time for the other 2 films featuring Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie's famous Belgian (not French) detective. I'm sort of conducting an experiment, since I'll be attending a Belgian beer dinner Tues. night, in between the 2 Poirot films - not that consuming Belgian food + beer will lead to a better understanding of the character, but you never know. Peter Ustinov takes over the role of Poirot, replacing Albert Finney.

THE PLOT: 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 ?

AFTER: Before the age of "CSI", with DNA swabs and UV light, crimes had to be solved the old-fashioned way, through interviewing suspects, observation, logic and the process of elimination. And then apparently you had to gather all the subjects together in one room to reveal the identity of the murderer...those are the conventions of classic mysteries, anyway. Poirot suspects nearly everyone on the Nile River cruise of murder, except of course for the obviously-framed main suspect, played by Mia Farrow. Bette Davis, David Niven, Angela Lansbury, George Kennedy and Maggie Smith round out the all-star cast.

Unlike "Orient Express", I didn't know anything in advance about the plot or the identity of the murderer. Funny how mysteries seem to work a little better that way...

RATING: 7 out of 10 pyramids

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