I Watched Three Versions of Death on the Nile so You Don't Have to!

 

I’m going to do some comparisons between the three different adaptations of Death on the Nile. I will assume you’ve seen at least one or read the book, otherwise this is meaningless and spoiler alter - filled with spoilers.

Characters and key plot:	1978 Version	2004 Version	2022 Version
Hercule Poirot	Peter Ustinov	David Suchet	Kenneth Branagh
Colonel Race	David Niven	James Fox	Omitted
Linnet Doyle née Ridgeway	Lois Chiles	Emily Blunt, playing American	Gal Gadot, no longer American
Jacqueline de Bellefort	Mia Farrow	Emma Griffiths Malin	Emma Mackey, no longer American
Simon Doyle	Simon MacCorkindale	JJ Feild	Armie Hammer, playing English
Linnet's maid Louise Bourget	Jane Birkin	Félicité Du Jeu	Rose Leslie
trustee Andrew Pennington	George Kennedy	David Soul	Ali Fazal swapped in as  Andrew Katchadourian
Salome Otterbourne, romance novelist	Angela Lansbury	Frances de la Tour	Sophie Okonedo, now an American jazz singer
Rosalie, Salome’s daughter	Olivia Hussey, becomes engaged to Mr. Ferguson	Zoe Telford, propositions Tim, but he is a homosexual and turns her down	Letitia Wright, Salome’s daughter and business manager, in a secret relationship with Bouc
Tim Allerton	Omitted, so the pearls are not counterfeited	Daniel Lapaine	Tom Bateman swapped in as Bouc, he steals the necklace and hides it in Euphemia’s luggage where it is found
Tim’s Mother	Omitted	Barbara Flynn	Annette Bening swapped in as Euphemia
Marie Van Schuyler, socialite kleptomaniac	Bette Davis, steals and returns the pearls	Judy Parfitt, steals the fake pearls and Cornelia returns them (I think - I’ve forgotten already)	Jennifer Saunders, no longer a socialite or kleptomaniac, now a closeted lesbian with her “nurse.”
Cornelia Robson, cousin of Marie	Omitted	Daisy Donovan, agrees to marry Dr. Bressner after turning down Mr. Ferguson	Omitted
Miss Bowers, nurse to Marie	Maggie Smith	Omitted	Dawn French, closeted lesbian companion of Marie.
Mr. Ferguson, communist, witnesses first shot	Jon Finch	Alastair Mackenzie	Combined with below.
Dr. Bessner, Austrian	Jack Warden	Steve Pemberton	Russell Brand swapped in to replace Dr. Bessner and Mr. Ferguson as Linus Windlesham
Guido Richetti, archeologist	Omitted	Omitted	Omitted
Jim Fanthorp, lawyer/solicitor	Omitted	Omitted	Omitted
			Susannah Fielding, Poirot’s former fiancée, not a character from the source material
1st murder victim	Linnet	Linnet	Linnet
2nd murder victim	Louise	Louise	Louise
3rd murder victim	Salome	Salome	Bouc* New character in this version.
4th murder victim	Simon	Simon	Simon
5th body	Jacqueline	Jacqueline	Jacqueline
Pearl Necklace	Still pearls, stolen by Marie	Still pearls, stolen by Marie, counterfeited by Tim	Changed to diamond necklace
Nail Polish Bottle	Filled with unexplained paint	Filled with unexplained paint	Filled with red paint from new character Euphemia’s paint supplies.

 

This proves what? Nothing. Just noting the differences to keep track of them. One difference in the 2022 movie which I think was a problem was Linnet saying she rented out the entire riverboat for her guests. All of the characters, including Poirot, are on the cruise by Linnet’s invitation and yet Jacqueline still manages to get a room despite Linnet renting the whole boat. Doesn’t make sense. And why change it? It was fine that Poirot just happened to book himself onto the cruise. And that the other people had some connection with Linnet. She was rich and owned a lot of properties or companies or something. Everyone didn’t need to be on the boat at her request.

I also didn’t think the changing of Salome and Rosalie’s characters in the 2022 version worked. Salome was such a great character in the other 2 versions that the changes just didn’t work in 2022.

2022 wide shots of the Nile looked like CGI and did nothing to entice me to want to visit Egypt. 1978’s shots of the Nile and Egypt were better. Which is good because it was filmed on location.

Anyway, what are my thoughts? 1978 was the best as a movie. 2004 seems most faithful to the book and is the shortest one, so that’s a bonus. 2022 was embarrassing and cringe in so many ways. Just search on YouTube for the opening dances between Simon and Jacqueline and Simon and Linnet and see if it doesn’t make you incredibly uncomfortable.