Some of the male co-stars are less appealing, with surprisingly wan and unengaged turns from David Niven as Poirot’s colonel assistant Colonel Race, Jon Finch’s socialist Mr Ferguson and Jack Warden’s doctor Dr Bessner. Angela Lansbury, Bette Davis and Maggie Smith provide wonderfully camp and engaging appearances as, respectively, a drunken romantic writer Mrs Salome Otterbourne, a bossy American matron socialite Mrs Van Schuyler and her mousey, though mannish companion Miss Bowers. Stylish star turns from a celebrity cast and a sleek 1930s period re-creation are the highlights of a ravishing production with gorgeous Egyptian travelogue backdrops.

Peter Ustinov takes over as series star from Albert Finney (who only played it just the once in Murder on the Orient Express in 1974) and makes the part his own in his début as a fussy and thoughtful Hercule Poirot investigating the murder of a selfish heiress, Linnet Ridgeway (Lois Chiles), on a Nile steamer, where the entire clientele of passengers and crew are suspects. John Guillermin won the Best Film award and Peter Ustinov won Best Actor at the Evening Standard British Film Awards. Anthony Powell won an Oscar and a Bafta film award for Best Costume Design, in some ways the star of the show. Death on the Nile **** (1978, Peter Ustinov, Angela Lansbury, Bette Davis, Maggie Smith, David Niven, Jon Finch, Jack Warden, George Kennedy, Simon MacCorkindale, Harry Andrews) – Classic Movie Review 1299Īngela Lansbury, Bette Davis and Maggie Smith provide wonderfully campy and engaging appearances as drunken romantic writer Mrs Salome Otterbourne, bossy American socialite Mrs Van Schuyler and her mousey, mannish companion Miss Bowers.ĭirector John Guillermin’s tasty, glorious-looking 1978 film soufflé of Agatha Christie’s classic whodunit Death on the Nile, published in 1937, is dressed to kill.

Maggie smith agatha christie