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Death on the Nile 2022: A Remake of a Sequel

posted 3 years ago by ecarle (14979)
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Back in 1998, director Gus Van Sant made a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's classic Psycho(1960.)

The remake flopped -- it was miscast and what was landmark in 1960 was passe in 1998.

But if Van Sant's Psycho remake HAD been a hit...would someone have had to make a remake of Psycho II?

We never found out, and that was good, because Psycho II as an ORIGINAL was far less good than the original Psycho.

The question is, nonetheless, raised: has anyone remade a SEQUEL to date?

We got the answer this week in one instance: Yes. Death on the Nile.

In that great movie year of 1974, Sidney Lumet gave us "Murder on the Orient Express," from an Agatha Christie novel, and with a pretty damn-near all star cast, anchored by one modern superstar(Sean Connery) surrounded by stars of an older age : Ingrid Bergman, Lauren Bacall, Richard Widmark. Plus a reunion for Anthony Perkins and Martin Balsam, stars of...Psycho.

"Orient Express" had some British stars to go with the Americans: Vanessa Redgrave(luminous as Connery's love interest); Wendy Hiller, John Gielgud(as a butler --he'd win an Oscar as such for Arthur in 1981) and the lead of the picture: Albert Finney as Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.

Hitchcock fans took note of the number of Hitchcock stars in the movie: Bergman(above all), Perkins, Balsam...Connery and Gielgud.

"Orient Express" came out the same 1974 Christmas season as The Towering Inferno and the two movies were compared: which had the more all-star cast? Well, Inferno had Steve McQueen and Paul Newman at the top of the cast(rather TWO Sean Connerys), Faye Dunaway, and Old Time stars William Holden, Fred Astaire and Jennifer Jones. Advantage Inferno if only for the historic McQueen/Newman pairing but still -- "Orient Express" was pretty starry.

1978 brought the sequel to "Orient Express": Death on the Nile. It felt then -- and it feels now -- like the sequel could not QUITE match the first one in starriness. Poirot was now played by the "less prestige" Peter Ustinov -- an Oscar-winning character star, more "fun" than Finney but somehow less "method impressive"(Finney had buried his face and head in jowls that made him unrecognizable.)

Ustinov was more entertaining and accessible than Finney as Poirot, and would play him at least one more time, but...it felt a bit "lesser."

Nor did Death on the Nile have a superstar on the order of Sean Connery in it.

Still, the film did manage to pull a good mix of "old time" and "new time" stars together for the new film. Bette Davis was certainly a classic star -- and was paired with fellow Best Actress winner Maggie Smith as her bickering assistant. David Niven had been something for decades -- right up to the "Guns of Navarone" and "The Pink Panther" in the 60s, and felt, in 1978, very nostalgic(no longer "big," but with gravitas.)

Personally, I liked how "Death on the Nile" threw in two All-American character greats -- Jack Warden and George Kennedy. They were like "lifelines to mainstream American films," and Warden played his part with a funny German accent(THAT accent is still allowed.)

The film also had Mia Farrow in a very interesting role --one of her best away from Woody(and after her peak in Rosemary's Baby.) And as real "kicker," the movie had Angela Lansbury -- two years ahead of playing Miss Marple and a few more ahead of the Christie-esque Murder She Wrote.

Hitchcock buffs got something rather specific in Death on the Nile: Jon Finch, 6 years after "starring"(as a non-star) in Hitchcock's Frenzy, and here reduced to support. Very handsome support, shorn of his "Frenzy" moustache and quite fragile looking (his Johnny Deppness was even more apparent.)

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

Frenzy loomed more importantly over Death on the Nile because of the selected screenwriter: Anthony Shaffer. Shaffer famously wrote the Frenzy script that "saved" Hitchocck in the same year that Shaffer's hit play "Sleuth" reached the screen. 1972 was Shaffer's year, and Anthony Sleuth Frenzy Shaffer" became his name.

A mere six years later, evidently the bloom was off Shaffer's rose; not much was made of his "Death on the Nile" script, but I sensed something of Frenzy to the whole affair: very witty , erudite dialogue and a surprisingly realistic brutality to the murders.

Agatha Christie's murders were always rather subdued, prim and proper on the page. But in Death on the Nile, one feels that murder can be most foul. There are point blank gunshots into faces and heads and a graphic throat slitting. The gun murders are frequent enough to create distress. The killer comes off as near-psychotic. The whole enterprise is a mix of the "quaint"(Bette Davis, David Niven) and the gory.

Bonus: Death on the Nile 1978 has a score by Nino Rota(The Godfather) that opens in Herrmanesque majesty as the river boat begins its journey much as the Orient Express began its -- the isolation of both modes of travel is nicely Hitchcockian to me.

Surprise: I liked Death on the Nile a lot better than Murder on the Orient Express. The sequel seemed faster on its feet than the original, the brutality of the murders fed my Psycho-gore appetite, and it was fun having Jack Warden and George Kennedy hanging around the affair like interlopers. Mia Farrow was QUITE good; I've always remembered her in this. And Bette Davis and Maggie Smith were quite the comedy team , throwing one-liner insults at each other ("Anthony Shaffer does Aaron Sorkin.")

Also, I think that the "explanation scene" in Murder on the Orient Express is MUCH more boring than the shrink scene in Psycho.

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

Some decades after "Murder on the Orient Express" hit big in 1974, Kenneth Branaugh brought forth a remake. He directed and starred himself as Poirot -- sporting a gigantic (in all directions) moustache that made his Poirot somewhat of a special effect. He TRIED to generate an "all star cast" but alas, we have so few of them today -- even going back in time.

The best Branaugh could do for a superstar anchor(ala Connery) was Johnny Depp....good as always but already "tainted" with his stardom about to collapse on him. The film had a "Psycho-esque" use for Depp -- he's killed before the movie is half over (Richard Widmark had his role -- as an American gangster -- in the original.)

The film had Daisy Ridley, star of the hugely seen, not terribly remembered "Star Wars" sequels. And Michelle Pfeiffer ably filling Lauren Bacalls shoes as a sharp-tongued rich American widow. Rail thin Anthony Perkins became corpulent young Josh Gad (with little star resonsance.) Quality casting included Judi Dench and Olivia Coleman.

The new "Orient Express" simply didn't seem as star-studded as the original and there's this -- the solution to the crime is much more predictable than the one in Death on the Nile, so it seemed "doubly" disappointing in a remake(one supposes that the solution was now as well known as the twist in Psycho?)

And Branaugh's Poirot was OK but -neither as "prestige" as Albert Finney nor as fun as Peter Ustinov. (Branaugh seemed to get devalued after playing the bad guy in "Wild Wild West" but has come back this year with Belfast.)

I have seen both "Murder on the Orient Express" films. I have only seen the original "Death on the Nile" (and liked it very much, I'll toss in kudos for the weirdly nostalgic vibe I got from David Niven in that movie.) I have not seen the new Death on the Nile, but elements intrigue me.

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

Death on the Nile isn't a "logical" sequel to Orient Express is it? Its simply the second Christie novel that the producers of the 1974 Orient Express chose to film -- and they didn't even use the same actor as Poirot.

But Branaugh is trying to duplicate a franchise rather than a story -- Orient Express first, Death on the Nile second. And with the same Poirot.

I will certainly not tell "whodunnit" in Death on the Nile, and I'm waiting to see if the remake has the same solution. I'll be curious to see if the violence of the murders retains the same brutality of the 1978 film.

Early reviews say a BIG problem with Branaugh's "Death on the Nile" is that the location exteriors of the original (on the Nile River, with stop off on land) have been replaced by CGI green screen shot. Yech but...we are in the 21st Century now.

The cast? One fairly new minted superstar -- Gal Gadot (based on Wonder Woman alone, it would seem, but this IS the comid book era.) Gadot has a role played by non-star Lois Chiles in the original. Hmm.

There's a problematic male lead - Armie Hammer -- who has gone the Johnny Depp route to career collapse much faster, they are trying to promote the movie without really mentioning Hammer at all. (I wonder if they reconsidered re-casting him in a new shoot as they did with Christopher Plummer in for Kevin Spacey in that movie that time?)

The British comedy team of Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French take over the Bette Davis/Maggie Smith insult team. I figure that Saunders and French will be a big draw for the British market and American PBS watchers -- and Saunders went on to team up with Joanna Lumley on Absolutely Fabulous, which Saunders an even bigger star. Still -- not quite Bette Davis and Maggie Smith.

CONT

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

Looking for other "names" in the cast of the new Death on the Nile, I find Annette Bening(prestige) and Russell Brand(once a wild man, here, evidently, subdued.) I'm not familiar with all modern stars, so I may be missing one or two.

I'll probably see the new "Death on the Nile" if only to complete the comparison of the new "one-two pair" of Christies to the ones from 1974 and 1978.

But I KNOW that the new Orient Express wasn't as exciting(in star casting) as the original, and I THINK that the new Death on the Nile feels lacking as well.

I exit where I opened: perhaps the most interesting thing about the new Death on the Nile is how an attempt is being made here to remake a pair of movies.

What IF they remade Psycho II?
What IF they remade Alien AND Aliens?
What IF they remade The Godfather AND Godfather II?

..I doubt it would work. I hope they never try

[–] Tomiggo (186) 3 years ago

Is it really a sequel? Never heard it called a sequel before.

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

Is it really a sequel? Never heard it called a sequel before

---

Well, admittedly, this is kind of a trick question.

Back in the 70's, the same producers who made "Murder on the Orient Express" put together "Death on the Nile" as a sequel to the PROJECT, if not the story. Albert Finney turned them down on returning as Poirot (he couldn't stand the make-up) so they lost the actor connection, but the producers were the same, and it was "the next Hecule Poirot mystery." They even wanted to change the title to "Murder on the Nile."

I suppose it would be as if someone decided to remake the James Bond films and the first two remakes were Dr. No and From Russia With Love, in that order.

Here's another example: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was seen as a sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark even though the story in the second movie takes place BEFORE the events in the FIRST movie. No matter; audiences viewed Temple of Doom as a sequel (and it would eventually form a trilogy, and then a fourth.)

I think by the standards of the Indy Jones movies and the original 70's versions of Murder on the Orient Express leading to Death on the Nile...yep...this IS a sequel.

Of a project, not a story.

Don't get me started on this one: is it part of a SERIES?

[–] bozo_500 (13105) 3 years ago

an interesting and informative analysis

[–] ecarle (14979) 3 years ago

Thank you!

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8707) 3 years ago

Interesting post and I can appreciate the work you put into it but I feel like we're dealing with a flawed premise from the start.

Death on the Nile is not a remake of a sequel. Rather it is a re-adaptation of the original source material, Agatha Christie's 1937 novel, which I believe was the 15th novel to feature Hercule Poirot.

If someone makes a new adaptation of A Christmas Carol do we call it a remake of all the films that came before it, or do we recognize it as a new adaptation of Dickens' novella?

The distinction is important, I think, because by calling it a remake you're giving credit to an earlier film as this film's foundation and inspiration rather than to the true literary source, Christie's novel. Furthermore, there have already been at least two adaptations of Death on the Nile that I am aware of, the first with Peter Ustinov as Poirot and the second with David Suchet.