Death on the Nile

Asalamu Alaykom,

According to www.imdb.com the cast and crew spent seven weeks filming at on location in Egypt.  Four weeks were on the steamer boat and three were at such places as Cairo (Giza), Luxor, Aswan and Abu Simbel.


Filming had to be stopped every day at noon for around two hours because temperatures reached around the 130 degrees Fahrenheit mark at that time. To accommodate this, make-up calls were scheduled for 4 am with filming starting at 6 am. On this, veteran actress Bette Davis once quipped: "In the older days, they'd have built the Nile for you. Nowadays, films have become travelogues and actors stunt men".


The whole movie can be found on the internet---though not on youtube.  Daily Motion has it with Korean subtitles (bonus to those readers who speak Korean).

Part 1

We meet all the characters.

There's great acting by such All-Stars as Peter Ustinov, Bette Davis, Maggie Smith, Mia Farrow, Angela Landsbury, David Niven, and Olivia Hussy.  The last one you might not recognize by name by she was the sensational "Juliet" in the 1968

By pass the opening credits which only show the waves of water.

The setting starts in England and end up in Egypt.  A horse ride and a climb up the Pyramids is a stunning visual.

It used to be that you could climb the Pyramids but now you are not allowed though some risk it.  You'll also see the Sphinx up close and (very) personal as there is a pause at the paws for a kiss.  Though the couple should ride off for Mena House, the famous old hotel mentioned in the book, we end up in Aswan.

It does occur to me that nothing shown in films with an Egyptian location help you to actually understand the logistics of traveling here.  Everything is patched together haphazardly because it's faraway and will be incomprehensible to the viewer anyway.  I hate that kind of thinking.  If movie makers would take some care about educating as well as entertaining the world would be a better place.

So somehow we are at the Cataracts Hotel in Aswan with its Oriental interior.  I always think of "Oriental" as meaning "Asian" but it means Arabesque as well. I did not visit the Cataracts this past Spring as the prices were ridiculous for even a cup of tea.  However, I did stand on the banks opposite for a photo op.  I love visiting places where famous writers were inspired.  It was during her stay at the Cataracts that Agatha Christie wrote, "Death on the Nile."

From the hotel, we are led out into the Aswan market and that is worth seeing.  You do get the feeling of the place.  There's a scene with the coppersmiths in which the heat seems unbearable.  The film could have done more to communicate the intense heat in Aswan.

The temperature, during filming, reached 130 Farenheit by midday.  Everyone had to stop for a couple of hours.  To accommodate this lose of time, they had to start earlier; make-up calls were for 4:00 AM with shooting beginning at 6 AM.  The make-up and costumes look great so the strategy worked.

The costume designs, by Anthony Powell, won an Academy Award in 1979.  He also costumed the last two Indiana Jones movies, Hook, and the live-action 101 Dalmatians.

The worst casting decision of the movie is for the Captain aboard their steamer "Karnak".  This man is INDIAN not EGYPTIAN.  I find this rather outrageous.  There would have been ample English-speaking comedic actors to pick from in Cairo but instead they cast the sing-song turban-wearing I.S. Johar.  

Continuing to ignore logic,

the boat heads for the Karnak Temple in Luxor before heading to Abu Simbel in one day.  That's impossible because the distance would be over days not hours.  You can't get too literal while watching this or you miss the fun.

It is fun to see the characters hoist themselves onto camels and donkeys to ride up to the ruins.  There's a great moment when Maggie Smith's donkey gets a jolly whack on the rump by Bette Davis' parasol.  I could have sworn that the troupe were headed to Philae, the temple on an island just south of the Cataracts, but it turns into Karnak in the next shot.  Might have been some movie magic.  Philae is mentioned in the book but not shown in the movie.


Part 2

The plot thickens.

The Karnak Temple, with all its columns, is like an extra member of the cast.  Even my husband sitting next to me had to say, "Great photography!" You do feel the sense of being inside this forest of huge pharaonic columns.

Later, that same day, the group disembarks at Abu Simbel.  Again, you feel the majesty of the place.  A strong wind whips sand about.  No one goes inside.

There is a mistake spoken by the German doctor, played by Jack Warden who will always remind me of, "The Bad News Bears."  Well, he erroneously says that one of Abu Simbel's statues whispers secrets.  It's not in the book that way.  Of course, it's screenwriter Anothy Shaffer who got that wrong.  I'll forgive him because the movie hums along nicely while keeping (mostly) faithful to the book.  That's a hard task!

Shaffer wrote the screenplay for one of my favorite Hitchcock movies, "Frenzy".  I hadn't known that.  I had thought he was the playwright of, "Equus," a notorious show about sex and horse stabbings.  Nope!  That was his identical twin brother Peter Shaffer.  The more successful of the two, Peter had been nominated for an Oscar in 1978 but won the following year for "Amadeus".  It makes me wonder if their rivalry might have been some of the inspiration for Charlie Kaufman's screenplay of "Adaptation." which features identical twin screenwriters.

Part 3

The murderous boat becomes the focus and not the location.

However, we do see an incredible overview of Karnak Temple from on top of the pillars.  You would never EVER be able to see this on a tour of Egypt so it's a real treat.

It would have been nice to hear authentic Egyptian musical instruments as their dinnertime entertainment.  The musicians are playing them but oddly the sound that comes out is dubbed.