Staying Fit
Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot in "Death on the Nile."
Rob Youngson/20th Century Studios/Courtesy Everett Collection
Five years after the success of his Murder on the Orient Express, director and star Kenneth Branagh, 61, is reapplying Belgian detective Hercule Poirot’s prodigious mustache to take on a new Agatha Christie case: Death on the Nile. Costarring Annette Bening (63), Russell Brand, Gal Gadot, Sophie Okonedo (53), Armie Hammer and more, his new film will hit theaters on Feb. 11, and it’s sure to include all the delicious twists and dry wit we’ve come to expect from Christie adaptations. The British mystery legend has sold more than 2 billion books, landing her in the Guinness Book of World Records as the top-selling fiction author of all time, and her novels, short stories and plays have proven popular with filmmakers for almost a century. Here are 10 great adaptations to stream before watching Death on the Nile. For each film, we’ve included a tiny detail to watch out for — the kind of thing only an eagle-eyed sleuth like Poirot or Miss Marple might notice.
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Courtesy Everett Collection
And Then There Were None (1945)
The premise: Christie’s 1939 novel ranks as the best-selling mystery in literary history, and it’s been adapted into at least two dozen film and TV versions over the decades. In this 1945 movie by René Clair, eight strangers are summoned to an island off the coast of Devon. Once inside the mysterious mansion, a voice on the gramophone accuses each of murder, and then one by one, they start dropping like flies — felled in the exact same way as the characters in the "Ten Little Indians" nursery rhyme. Can they work together to figure out who the killer is before no one is left?
The detail to watch for: Christie readers will notice that the ending strays from the original finale of the book. She thought the plot was too bleak for audiences who were already dealing with World War II, so she modified the story to make it slightly happier for her stage adaptation, which provided the basis for the screenplay.
Watch it: And Then There Were None on Amazon Prime, Tubi
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
The premise: Witty and suspenseful, Billy Wilder’s adaptation of Agatha Christie’s 1953 play stars Tyrone Power as Leonard Vole, a man being tried for the murder of a wealthy older widow. Defense attorney Sir Wilfrid Robarts (Charles Laughton) convinces Vole’s German wife, Christine (Marlene Dietrich), to provide an alibi and testify on his behalf, but when she uncovers a legal loophole, things don’t go quite as planned. During previews, the studio made test audiences sign a pledge saying, “I solemnly swear I will not reveal the ending of Witness for the Prosecution.” The film earned six Oscar nominations, and AFI ranked it the sixth-best courtroom drama in movie history.
The detail to watch for: It won’t give you any clues to how the case ends, but pay close attention to the flashback in which Christine’s trousers get ripped during a brawl at a German nightclub. The scene was written into the movie to show off Dietrich’s famous legs, and it required 145 extras and 38 stunt performers, costing $90,000.
Watch it: Witness for the Prosecution on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, Tubi, YouTube
Murder, She Said (1961)
The premise: From 1961 to 1964, Dame Margaret Rutherford starred as Miss Jane Marple in a series of four films that paired Christie’s usual suspenseful tone with a light touch of comedy. In this first installment, based on the 1957 novel 4.50 from Paddington, Miss Marple witnesses a woman being strangled in the window of a passing train, but the police find no proof of a crime and dismiss her as a dotty old lady. She takes matters into her own hands, getting a job as a housekeeper at the estate where she believes the body was thrown from the train and begins searching for clues. While Christie was not a fan of the films’ daffier tone, she later dedicated The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side to Marple’s famed portrayer: “To Margaret Rutherford in admiration.”
The detail to watch for: If you’re a fan of Christie’s books, you may not recognize the character of Jim Stringer, Marple’s town librarian friend, and that’s because he never appeared in any of her stories! The part was written for actor Stringer Davis — who just happened to be Rutherford’s real-life husband.
Watch it: Murder, She Said on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube
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