Bonjour, Medames et Monsieurs.
You are probably wondering why I’ve called you all together, n’est-ce pas? Is it possible I’m here to announce tomorrow night’s Death on the Nile Live Tweet event? Mais non; that job has already been fulfilled by Monsieur @007Hertzrumble. He simply asked if I might throw up something about the film, as he has not seen it. So it falls to me, Mesdames et Monsieurs, to illuminate how this film came to be a #Bond_age_Choice.
Its appearance on our schedule is due mostly to the fact that some of us on Twitter had a conversation about wanting to livetweet it, and #Bond_age_ seemed the best fit for it. Hercule Poirot is, in his own inimitable way, as much a spy as James Bond. Indeed, he has acted for numerous governments in his long and remarkable career. However, unlike the blunt instrument that is James Bond, Hercule Poirot prided himself on using his “little grey cells” to solve the problems placed before him. In Death on the Nile, Poirot is brought to life by the wonderful actor Peter Ustinov, a man whom I grew up watching on TV in his travel shows, as well as the old cartoon Doctor Snuggles (Oi, you! Stop giggling!).
Ustinov alone makes anything worth watching, but Death on the Nile offers a stellar cast, including David Niven (Casino Royale ’67), Angela Lansbury (Murder She Wrote), Olivia Hussey (Black Christmas), George Kennedy (Airport), and Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey). Of particular interest to the #Bond_age_ crowd would be the casting of Lois Chiles (Moonraker), Harry Andrews (The Internecine Project, Modesty Blaise), and Simon MacCorkindale, TV’s Manimal (and who also starred in the Canadian Mission:Impossible-style series Counterstrike with Christopher Plummer.)
Add to that cast the wonderful backdrop of Egypt (and Pinewood Studios, home of James Bond), and there really is no mystery why Death on the Nile will be our #Bond_age_Choice tomorrow night starting at 9pm EST. I hope you will exercise your little grey cells, and join us for some vintage sleuthing from the world’s foremost Belgian detective.
