death on the nile

Director: john guillermin

Actor: peter ustinov,mia farrow,simon maccorkindale,jane birkin

Data Published: Fri Sep 29 1978

Genres: Crime,Drama,Mystery

Key Words: cruise,detective,giza egypt,pyramids of giza,riverboat

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077413/

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_on_the_Nile_(1978_film)

Description: Death on the Nile is a movie starring Peter Ustinov, Mia Farrow, and Simon MacCorkindale. As Hercule Poirot enjoys a luxurious cruise down the Nile, a newlywed heiress is found murdered on board. Can Poirot identify the killer...

Plot: The film begins with a meeting between wealthy heiress Linnet Ridgeway (Lois Chiles) and her close friend Jacqueline de Bellefort (Mia Farrow). Jackie wants her fiancé, Simon Doyle (Simon MacCorkindale), to work for Linnet, but he and Linnet have a whirlwind affair and end up marrying. While honeymooning in Egypt, they are continually hounded by the jilted Jackie. In an attempt to get away, the Doyles pretend to go to the Cairo Railway Station before backtracking to board their booked cruise on a Nile paddle steamer, the S.S. Karnak. When the passengers venture on-shore to examine a nearby temple, a large stone is pushed off a pillar and narrowly misses Simon and Linnet. They again encounter Jackie, who boards the ship having ignored the warnings of detective Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov) to stay away and having revealed that she carries a small automatic pistol. That night, Jackie confronts Simon in a drunken rage and shoots him in the leg. The next morning, Linnet is found dead from a gunshot wound to the head. A "J" written in blood on the wall above her bed appears to implicate Jackie, but she has a solid alibi as Miss Bowers sedated and stayed with her all night. Taking it upon themselves to investigate, Poirot and his friend Colonel Race discover that the other passengers had a reason for wanting to kill Linnet: Louise Bourget, Linnet's maid, was bitter due to her mistress' refusal to grant her a promised dowry; Andrew Pennington, Linnet's American trustee, was anxious to prevent her from discovering that he embezzled from the Ridgeway estate; Mrs. van Schuyler, an elderly American socialite suffering from kleptomania, displayed a great interest in Linnet's pearl necklace; Miss Bowers, Mrs. van Schuyler's nurse and traveling companion, blamed Linnet's family for forcing her father into financial ruin and condemning her to a life of servitude; Salome Otterbourne, a romance novelist, was being sued for libel due to a likeness between Linnet and one of her characters; Rosalie Otterbourne, Mrs. Otterbourne's daughter, was anxious to protect her mother from financial ruin; James Ferguson, an outspoken Communist traveller, resented Linnet's vast wealth and affluent lifestyle; Ludwig Bessner, a Swiss psychiatrist, faced exposure by Linnet concerning his unorthodox methods. Soon a bundle is found in the Nile. The missing pistol is wrapped in Mrs. van Schuyler's stole, which had a small bullet hole in it. A handkerchief was also included, stained with blood. Linnet's pearls are also discovered to be missing. When interrogated, Mrs. van Schuyler denies ever having touched them. Shortly after this, the pearls are found on Linnet's body, so Poirot deduces Mrs van Schuyler has put them there. While Poirot and Race conduct their investigation, the maid Louise is murdered. Her throat has been cut with one of Dr. Bessner's scalpels and a fragment of a banknote is found in her hand. Poirot realizes she probably saw the murderer coming out of Linnet's cabin and attempted to extort money in return for her silence. Salome Otterbourne claims to have seen Louise's murderer and is about to tell Poirot and Race when she is shot in the head through an open cabin door with Pennington's revolver, too large to have been used on Linnet. Poirot gathers everyone together in the saloon and reveals that Simon is responsible for Linnet's murder, with Jacqueline working as his accomplice. Jacqueline staged the shooting, leaving Simon free to kill Linnet while Ferguson and Rosalie attended to her. After running to Linnet's cabin and shooting her in the head, Simon shot himself in the leg, using Mrs. van Schuyler's stole as a silencer. He proceeded to reload the gun with two unused bullets, wrap it in the stole, and throw it out the open window into the Nile. Jackie, meanwhile, killed Louise, who was blackmailing Simon because she witnessed him enter Linnet's cabin, and Mrs. Otterbourne, who saw Jacqueline exit Louise's cabin after slitting her throat. When Simon points out that Poirot has no proof, he reveals that the police can determine whether or not he killed Linnet through a gunshot residue test. Realizing they are trapped, Jacqueline confesses before embracing Simon. At the last minute, Poirot realizes she has taken back her pistol but is unable to prevent her from shooting Simon in the head before killing herself.