Movie Diary 4/23/2024

Death on the Nile (John Guillerman, 1978). I’m doing an upcoming talk about why whodunits have come back, and wasn’t sure I ever watched this one. It’s not great. One thing: You would think, based on Peter Ustinov’s usual screen presence and overall puckish personality, that he would do more doodling with the role of Poirot – in fact, you want him to – but he comes across as generally tame. There are six Oscar-winning actors in the thing (if you count Angela Lansbury’s honorary prize), so the film doesn’t stint on that score, but the screenplay (Anthony Shaffer) is surprisingly flat, and Jack Cardiff’s photography is maddening – gorgeous in the location exteriors, appallingly over-lit in the studio interiors. Nice to see Jon Finch in something. Mia Farrow convincingly plays a woman who goes nuts when scorned.

The Witness for the Prosecution (Julian Jarrold, 2016). A British-TV adaptation of the Agatha Christie fooler, with Toby Jones as the barrister and Kim Cattrall as the murder victim. The material has been changed around considerably, and it basically plays as a gloomy TV movie, but Andrea Riseborough is in it (the Marlene Dietrich role, from Billy Wilder’s version), and that justifies sticking around.