Death on the Nile (1978)

An odd collection of people embark on a luxury cruise down the Nile river. Most have an antagonistic connection to the lovely Linnet Ridgeway. I hope she enjoys the cruise.

This follow-up production to Murder on the Orient Express swaps in Peter Ustinov for Albert Finney for the role of Hercule Poirot. Finney found the makeup uncomfortable and the train too hot, so filming in Egypt was out of the question. Ustinov went on to play the role five more times, three being in TV movies.

Like Orient Express, and the Kenneth Branagh versions, we have a star studded cast. David Niven, Bette Davis, Angela Lansbury, Maggie Smith, and Olivia Hussey are traveler suspects. Mia Farrow was delightfully hysterical. Davis was quoted as saying "In the older days, they'd have built the Nile for you. Nowadays, films have become travelogues, and actors stuntmen." I can’t help but hear that in her voice.

The wife an I seem to watch a lot of crime mysteries, and recently been going through the Miss Marple’s from the 1980s, so this fit in nicely. It's interesting that Marple is turned into TV shows and Poirot into feature films. Mostly. I'll keep an eye out for the Margaret Rutherford films.

Death on the Nile is an excellent mystery with fantastic performances. It's a bit long but well worth the time. It deserves a rewatch. AMRU 4.

"What the hell is going on?
We're going through your private papers, sir, isn't that obvious?"

Eye of the Devil (1966)

Wealthy mansion dweller (David Niven) is called back to the family estate because the grape harvest has mysteriously failed. He tells his wife (Deborah Kerr) not to visit him there, and behaves all mysterious. She visits him here anyhow and finds people acting very mysterious. The more she tries to find out what’s going on, the more mysterious things become. So mysterious!

A tremendously troubled production, starting with the fact that Kim Novak, originally cast in Deborah Kerr’s role, fell from a horse and fractured a vertebra. Principle filming was nearly complete but she was unable to finish. They were forced to hire Kerr and reshoot nearly everything. Rumors that Novak was fired are likely false. Then the studio shelved the project for over a year, motivated by equal parts lack of faith and concerns over the subject matter.

Although she appeared uncredited in a couple films and appeared in fifteen episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies, Sharon Tate makes her official debut here. She won praise for taking on a believable English accent, or maybe she was dubbed. David Hemmings received media buzz from Blow-Out, which became a surprise hit while Eye of the Devil sat on the shelf. Donald Pleasence is a creepy priest.

Eye of the Devil leans hard into the mystery, if I didn’t make that clear enough. The progression to reveal isn’t ineffective, but it was more than a little heavy handed. The attractive sets and creative cinematography are compromised by the thin, black and white film stock giving it a low budget feel. In the end it just didn’t work for me. AMRU 2.5.

Bachelor Mother (1939)

Lovely Polly (Ginger Rogers) is laid off after Christmas from a department store, when she is mistaken for the mother of an abandoned baby. After the store owner’s son (David Niven) becomes involved for some reason, she is coerced into accepting a stranger’s baby as her own. Will love bloom?

A rom-com requires conflict, some kind of predicament to motivate the story. This predicament is pretty irritating. Polly is literally blackmailed into accepting the baby despite her protests. This element simply doesn’t play well today.

Luckily things improve from there. The trope of the sassy out-upon young woman and the rich, irresponsible playboy is a successful one, if a bit well-worn. And who better than Rogers and Niven in the roles? Bachelor Mother features snappy dialog and some fairly amusing moments. AMRU 3.

This makes three for three this season for non-Christmas Christmas movies.

Dodsworth (1936)

Sam Dodsworth (Walter Huston) sells off his car company to do some traveling and reconnect with the wife. Her desire to shed her hayseed lifestyle and fear of middle age lead to her innocent flirtations becoming problematic.

The film features a very young David Niven as a wannabe suitor to the Mrs. Dodsworth. He didn’t think much of the role or experience, and director William Wyler didn’t think much of him. Ruth Chatterton plays the discontented wife. At 44, she was also facing a midlife crisis herself. She would appear in two more features in the next two years, then relegated to television.

But in many ways, this is Mary Astor’s film. Huston gets all the screen time but she’s always in the periphery. The good girl, or, the right choice. Not sexually aggressive or terribly beautiful, she is nevertheless appealing. Ironically enough she was going through a bitter custody battle during filming where her ex-husband was releasing excerpts of her stolen diary detailing affairs and sexual encounters. Mary wasn't staid and matronly in real life.

Dodsworth is an interesting and sometimes amusing drama, but I didn’t find much else there. Still, it was well written, well acted, and well paced. AMRU 3.5.

The Bishop’s Wife (1947)

A young bishop (David Niven) is struggling to get his cathedral built and it’s affecting his marriage. He prays for guidance and in walks Dudley (Cary Grant) claiming to be an angel. But instead of focusing on the cathedral, he concentrates on what really matters.

The movie began production with Grant in the bishop role and Niven as the angel. When the director was replaced, the new director reversed the roles and recast the part of the Wife. Also, the Bishop’s daughter was the daughter in It’s a Wonderful Life. You know the one: “TeaCHER says, evRY time A belLL rings …” But I want to talk about Loretta Young.

Amazingly adorable in her early roles, here she is quite charming. The story of her illegitimate child with Clark Gable frequently comes up. He was married, and she hid the pregnancy from the media. She put the girl into an orphanage for a year, then “adopted” her. I thought this was heartless for quite a while but a few details had escaped me. One, both of their contracts likely would have been terminated had this gotten out, and Loretta would not recover as she traded on her good girl image. Also, she was only 22 when Judy Lewis was born. Gable was 34, the pig! I’ll remember to cut her a little slack from now on.

The Bishop’s Wife is a film likely saved by studio interference. First by changing directors and the role reversal, but also by bringing in Robert Sherwood and Billy Wilder to fix a few scenes after initial filming had wrapped. That couldn’t have hurt. The end result may have gone way over budget, and released two months too late for Christmas, but it is quality Holiday fare. It has humor and heart. Elsa Lanchester was, again, wonderful in a supporting role. Also look for the obvious stunt doubles in the ice skating scene. AMRU 3.5.

“For some time now, every time I pass the cemetery, I feel as though I'm apartment hunting.”

The Moon is Blue (1953)

Donald (William Holden) pursues a chaste and unusually honest young woman. His ex-girlfriend and her father (David Niven) interfere with the evening.

I know this film, as most people do, from the 11th season episode of M*A*S*H. where Hawkeye and Hunnicut are trying to get a copy of this movie, believing it to be a "blue movie". They are disappointed by this RomCom, but I wasn't.

As many movies based on a play, it is rather wordy. The story is focused on the relationships between the characters. Accepting it for what it is, I was quite charmed. Very sharp, witty, clever dialog. Good acting and better photography than you normally get from a play conversion. Controversial in it's time, it's rather tame by today's standards. Patty asks frank questions, discusses her virginity, and the men are left to question their own motivations.

By the time of the M*A*S*H episode, the film was just under 30 years old. The two leads had passed by then, and in four more years every actor with a speaking role, and the director, would be gone. Our virginal lead took her own life. It's been almost 32 years since the episode, and the M*A*S*H cast is doing quite a bit better. Maybe they learned of the dangers of the whiskey and cigarette diet, what with them being doctors and all.

Don't watch this if you expect overt sexuality. Or hate movies with a lot of talking. If what I wrote appeals to you, make a point to find it (won't be easy). I left it on my DVR in hopes of convincing the wife to give it a try. No dice, and it expired. AMRU 4. There was a lot of wonderful dialog in this movie. I can't pick one quote, so I will go with ...

"You talk too much."

The Pink Panther (1963)

Hot Princess Dahla (Claudia Cardinale) owns one heck of a jewel. She is on vacation and brings it along. Famed jewel thief Charles Lytton (David Niven) takes an interest. Charles' playboy nephew (Robert Wagner) arrives to complicate matters. Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) is on the case.

A while ago I got my boys interested in Clouseau. We watched the 1970's slapstick movies and even dabbled in the crappy 1980's versions before Netflix saw fit to take them away. They became fans. I thought I might be able to convince my boys to see the somewhat drier original. Two out of three, not bad.

Here are some funny facts: Clouseau had a wife (Capucine), there was no Cato, no Dreyfus, no silly accent. Or at least, not over the top. Much of that came with A Shot in the Dark, which came out three months later and wasn't supposed to be a Clouseau movie to begin with. More on that after I see it.

Actually, The Pink Panther wasn't supposed to be a Clouseau movie. The story centered around Lytton, but Sellers, quite literally, stole the show. Niven thought this could turn into a series of movies for him, much like The Thin Man. Interestingly, Niven played a Nick Charles parody in Murder by Death, also starring Peter Sellers.

Well made and slapstick in it's day, but in a time when a pie in the face is considered understated, it can be a little slow to the younger viewers. That said, A Shot in the Dark won't be too hard of a sell to the boys. For two of them, anyways. AMRU 3.5. Mmmmm, Elke Sommer ....