Being huge fan of Agatha Christie's books and mystery movies in general, my attention was peaked when I was made aware of this movie's existence. Well it's alright ....nothing groundbreaking , just solid mystery movie and I daresay a pretty faithful adaptation. Perhaps too faithful! Some of the plot structures haven't aged well. It does feel a little artificial when Poirot rounds up the suspect and pinpoints the culprit. But it is solidly acted and wildly entertaining thanks to it's colorful cast. Peter Ustinov is probably my favorite Poirot!

Just. It's hard to agree with everyone calling it a "masterpiece", even rating it 9 or 10 stars. I rate this movie based on only the movie. Not having read the book, nor watched many of the other movies inspired by Agatha Christies books.So. Short review: Jackie is crazy (and has no eyebrows). Her guy is a douche. The victim is boring. Poirot is kinda sassy and gives no f#!ks. Snake guy professionally disposes of the snake (no doubt). I wouldn't really want to watch the whole thing again. The first... Hour? Is incredibly boring and honestly, focusing so much time on these characters made it painfully obvious who was going to die and pretty much gave away the killers. The welcome and "fun" surprises were the additional murders, and getting to know the (all of them) very weird and eccentric characters. Basically, the movie was fun after they finally get on the boat.Still, a mystery movie that is not really a mystery. Everyone testifying "He couldn't have done it! Neither could she!" doesn't make it true. It just makes these people stupid. Still, 6/10 for crazy people, snake-throwing and lots of sudden deaths.

The sets, the clothes, the paddle wheeler, the cars all help date this to exactly the mid 1930's as Dame Agatha Christie had written it. Unlike earlier and later Poirot outings, Peter Ustinov is less uptight. He truly seems to be having a good time with the role. As do the star studded cast who suffered weeks of filming in period costumes. In particular Bette Davis, David Niven, Angela Lansbury and of course Maggie Smith all have their moments to add mirth to the murder scene. This truly is a wonderful picture with a great murder mystery to tell. All the while transporting you back to a world 80+ years ago when people dressed smartly, spoke intelligently and traveled to exotic lands in luxury.

This is such fun. Starting with a cast of some of the best actors of the day to a murder for which there are about a dozen suspects. It is classic falling dominoes. One person is killed and that death causes another assailant to surface. It isn't long before another one goes down. The charm is that Hercule Poirot is on the trip and he must sort out all these deaths and figure out motives. Every character has a reason for killing Linette. But once she is dead, why do others keep falling by the wayside? There is a wonderful scene in the saloon where Poirot sorts it all out. See this. It's like a game where everyone needs to carefully eliminate people until they get down to a single murderer.