Review of the Video Death On The Nile

Death On The Nile is among Agatha Christies most well known books and it was the first of the author’s movies I saw. The 1978 classic saw Peter Ustinov take the leading role as the fictional, Belgium detective Hercule Poirot and his travelling friend Colonel Race who was played by David Niven.

As the title suggests, the video is set on the River Nile in Egypt. Once a young heiress is murdered, Poirot is called upon to address the crime. The movie is set aboard the Nile River boat the SS Cataract with visits at a number of Egypt’s best known historical places.

Immediately after Linnet Doyle (nee Ridgeway) is murdered it very quickly becomes obvious that there is more than one man or woman with a potential reason for murder. Linnet Doyle was on honeymoon in Egypt with her new husband Simon. The couple were being followed by Jacqueline, Simon’s former lover. She follows the pair from the Pyramids in Cairo down to the Nile and boards the SS Cataract.

Linnet Doyle was the first murder victim and as Poirot began to analyze, the various suspects motives started to be exposed. Her expensive necklace was coveted by Mrs van Schuyler, Salome Otterbourne faced a law suit from Doyle over a piece she had printed, Doyle had declined her maid the dowry she had promised and there were some others too.

As the vessel sailed down the river stopping off at sites including the Temple of Karnak, Aswan and the Temple of Abu Simbel, other travellers were also being killed. Eventually Poirot works out the observations and the murderers are unmasked. Simon Doyle had married Linnet to secure easy access to her financial wealth. With her out of the way, Simon would be free to wed his true love, Jacqueline.

The deaths don’t cease here as in desperation, Jacqueline first shoots Simon and then herself rather than face justice. Initially composed in the 1930s, the story is a Christie classic. Even if some of the trips are improbable (such as cruising from Karnak to Abu Simbel in an afternoon), this doesn’t take away from the film whatsoever. Thankfully, modern tourists don’t suffer from quite so much drama on their Nile Cruise holidays.