"Death on the Nile" remake hits cinemas: Murderous Journey à la Agatha Christie
Created: 2022-02-04 16:44
By: Katja Kraft
Merkur editor Katja Kraft in front of the historic paddle steamer Sudan, which sails on the Nile.
© kjk
Kenneth Branagh has reimagined Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile.
The remake starring Gal Gadot hits theaters on February 10th.
We visited the original ship on the Nile - our travel tip!
The bodybuilder must be the killer.
He's sitting two tables away, alone.
Don't order a starter or main course.
Just a scoop of ice cream.
Day after day.
Vanilla for lunch, strawberry for dinner.
The Egyptian waiters serve them in silver bowls.
On the Sudan, the oldest ship on the Nile.
And the most beautiful at that.
Here Agatha Christie (1890-1976) found inspiration for her crime novel "Death on the Nile" (1937).
Many scenes of the adaptation of the book, starring Sir Peter Ustinov (1921-2004), were filmed here and was released in cinemas in 1978.
Kenneth Branagh's remake of Death on the Nile is based on this and will be released in cinemas on February 10, 2022.
And here you can still use the imposing paddle wheels to sail across the African current.
From Aswan to Luxor in five days.
The author of these lines did it with two friends.
The muscle-bound man in his mid-forties traveling alone, too.
And that struck her as suspicious from the start.
The historic Paddle Steamer Sudan on the Nile © Sterntours
Admittedly, one is not completely at ease when embarking on the Sudan. As a fan of the crime classic, you know about the dangers that could lurk on board. 23 cabins, five of which are suites - and in each of them possibly a person with a pistol in a historic night box. Before embarking on this adventure on the water, do what Agatha Christie did before her voyage: treat yourself to a night at the Old Cataract Hotel Aswan. And at the end of a 48-degree day, enjoy a sundowner and water pipe on the terrace directly on the Nile, opposite the Aga Khan mausoleum. Particularly passionate admirers of the Mistress of Suspense book into the Agatha Christie Suite. Murderous price per night: around 5000 euros. The stars sparkle no less magically,if you look at them from the normal room, I promise.
View of the ship's cabin: On the Sudan you can make yourself comfortable in the wood-panelled rooms.
© kjk
Anyway, the stars!
Evening number one on board.
The boat may not have a pool, disco or any of the fuss that is now standard cruise ship repertoire.
On the other hand, you will find an incredibly relaxing mixture of British sophistication and Arabic laissez-faire.
If the sandstorm gets too bad, the crew simply postpones the planned day trip and instead invites them to the reading room for tea and fig pastries.
Hercule Poirot would have liked that too.
The guests from all over the world anyway.
There is, in suite no. 2, the somewhat doddering pensioner couple, with whom you spontaneously fall in love because the two treat each other so touchingly and lovingly.
Then: two young French couples, cabins seven and ninth, who look stunning – but unfortunately seem to be just as stunningly bored with each other.
Also: four British gentlemen friends who, even in the midday sun, stroll across the upper deck in a wrinkle-free three-piece suit.
Then: three funny Japanese women, always with a friendly grin on their faces, cameras around their narrow necks, protected against the sun with umbrellas and gloves – clichés are so beautiful because they are mostly true.
Full of life: the Nile near Aswan.
To the right is the venerable Old Cataract Hotel, where Agatha Christie is said to have written Death on the Nile.
© Ullstein
And finally: the suspicious solo traveler.
Why the hell, we three single and typically suspicious Germans ask ourselves, why the hell is someone who is obviously very interested in sports going on board a ship without a fitness room?
And why is he absent from all excursions?
Neither does the muscleman experience the magnificent Philae temple of the goddess Isis.
Nor the double temple dedicated to Horus and Sobek.
Sobek: the god of fertility and eternal life.
Shown with a crocodile head.
The mummified crocodiles in the temple are spectacular.
You arrive back at the ship feeling really good after the excursion, where the waiters are ready with wet towels and cold drinks.
But the truant lies, as always, in the sun and sizzles his steely body.
"He's up to something," we're sure.
Cinema classic: Sir Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot in "Death on the Nile" from 1978. © Ullstein
But first to the bar. With the only Copt among the boat employees (one drinker finds the other drinker), we philosophize at Sakara about Egyptian mythology, the (not just sibling) love between Isis and Osiris - and the question of whether Christie really started working on her thriller on the ship.
"Yes, she did!
Here.
where you sit
She sit and write,” the bartender, who is very passionate about his job, emphasizes in broken English and slams the counter hard.
"Here she sits!"
She still seems to be doing that a little bit.
And that is exactly the reason why they decided on this and none of the possibly more comfortable new ships.
Because the wood-panelled cabins, the slightly worn carpets and the rickety canvas, which is set up as the highlight of the trip, are a charming reminder that people lived here on the water and not just wasted time.
On the cinema evening, which is a bit reminiscent of slide evenings at Grandma's, it's - of course!
- "Death on the Nile".
Everyone gathers in the reading room at the sound of the bell.
And for a moment you think Poirot will be around the corner to fill us in on what's going on on board.
Is there really a criminal traveling with us?
Crime Queen Agatha Christie (1890-1976).
© kjk
On the last day you lie alone on the upper deck - and the supposed murderer comes straight at you. Smiling, he sits dangerously close to the next couch. And then says – in the most beautiful Oxford English! – that he wanted to introduce himself. You may have wondered why he was absent from all excursions (“Oh, what!”) and otherwise not very sociable. He just knows the tour too well. It must be the twelfth or 13th time that he is traveling. Always in Suite 1. He is a busy businessman and has noticed that nothing relaxes him as much as the chug of the steamer, the calm on this old ship. And a little fasting. During the five days on board, he only eats two scoops of ice cream and the corn bars he brought with him. "Then I can do without sport sometimes," he says with a smile and winks at you.case solved.
"Death on the Nile" opens in cinemas on February 10th.
Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot in the remake of Death on the Nile, which opens February 10, 2022.
©Disney
