Episode 2 - Hercule Poirot in Death On The Nile (1978)
This week on Be Gay Solve Crimes, our investigation brings us to Hercule Poirot in Death On The Nile (1978).
Join us as we hunt down a League of Library Assassins, enlist Butch Maggie Smith to help us finally make the switch to injections, and watch Angela Lansbury down a crocodilian cocktail* to appease Sobek, God of Semen.
*A croc-tail, if you will.**
**We won't.
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Comments (26)
Dear god, I looked up "Chewing Gum Magnate" and William Wrigley, Jr. Is worth $3.6 billion...
God I love butch maggie smith
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Suchet version of Five Little Pigs or Evil Under the Sun--completely different vibes to this one!
This is a very aristocratic and spiteful movie, I don't care for it.
I haven't listedn to this one yet as I only recently subscribed - just finished Disco Elysium which was really good, the game and you podcast on it is amazing. However this movie is the second Poirot movie, the first one is: Murder on the Orient Express’ (1974), with Albert Finney as Poirot, its one of my favorite depictions as it seemed a little different from the Peter Ustinov and David Suchet portrayals. Looking the date up for that movie I also found there are some even earlier Poirot movies but I've never seen them. Apologies if you addressed that in the podcast its on my next to listen. Also interesting tid bit from wikipedia: the Albert Finney murder on the orient express and Witness for the Prosecution were the only movie adaptations that Agatha Christie liked!
*Dark Souls font* Truffles mystery solved EDIT: Is it weird that I feel some amount of civic pride whenever someone mocks Bob Katter. They hate him over there was well? We humans are truly one people. EDIT2: "Embezzlement: the cuddliest sounding crime" is up there with "fool's daylight" and "standing: cousin to walking" in terms of all time November phrases. EDIT3: BGSC meeting to receive eels up inside them.
As someone who is finally getting a little bit closer to a glorious mustache, I second that Poirot has transmasc vibes (and tansmasc swag)
I sadly know estate management degrees and jobs are still a thing, it's whatever a public institution owns (hospital, school etc) that you are in charge of managing. Like maintenance, refurbs, etc.
Why didn't I know there's a steamboat from Uppsala? (Actually there's two, I discovered, one of which combine with a steam train for a roundtrip). Thanks Mia, I now have a daytrip planned for the summer, far away though it feels right now..
Ya’ll need to do some Bengali detective films. My fave is The Golden Fortress. Eken Babu also has some excellent films
1:18:40 you clearly don’t know your Sun Ra
1:12:00 that’s just what Read or Die Is about.
Amazing episode. I haven't seen this movie, but last year on a whim I watched the entire David Suchet show, all seventy episodes, including the one of this story, and it was every bit as stupid. And in some ways even more so. When the overly dramatic lady got shot just before she could reveal the killer I absolutely couldn't believe it wasn't some ruse by Poirot himself because it was just that... good grief, what's the opposite of 'tense'? Also, Jason Alexander did in fact do Hercule Poirot for a sketch on the Muppets, of all things. It's on youtube.
I spent my childhood going to sleep in the weekends with the Suchet Poirot series and I feel you how much I love it
Damn I love this movie, Ustinov's Poirot honestly kinda dreamy tbh
The Thursday Next books by Jasper Fforde have a lot to say about identity, and having an 'assigned role'.
That tumblr post did irreparable damage, now there's only the one joke you're allowed to make about any kind of volley gun
Ferguson getting engaged to Rosalie Otterbourne was invented for this film - in the book, he courted Cornelia Robson (who was replaced with Maggie Smith's character) and was rejected in favour of the doctor. I suspect his success here doesn't reflect Christie's views of communism but instead reflects those of unionised 1970s screenwriters.
Also, if you do the Wimsey books at all, you'll be able to reuse that final drop, because they have multiple characters with the surname Gotobed.
Maggie Smith's line "Begun, the chewing gum war has" is a classic.
In case it hasn't already come across your desks, I highly recommend the China Mieville novel "The City and the City" for a future episode. It's a detective story with a really interesting, well-executed alternate reality sci-fi premise. The premise is introduced so gradually that it feels like spoiling to say what it is, but let's just say that themes of alterity and boundary crossing are central. Really would enjoy hearing your reactions to it.
we had planned to talk about it at length in the Disco Elysium episode, but worry not, it's on the list
Hercule Poirot, the Adrian Monk of his days
I cannot wait for the discussion of the subtle foreshadowing imagery in the Branagh version. That CGI crocodile lunging and eating that CGI stork really does let you know that trouble is on the way.
If y'all do books and literature too, I'd love to see you do The Last Policeman, by Ben Winters. It is about a police detective in a world where Earth is about to be hit by an asteroid, and there's nothing anyone can do. It looks at society and policing and what that means in the face of the apocalypse and it is an interesting read.
Building the slide whistle guillotine 530 feet tall so it's a Wile E. Coyote bit every time we execute a billionaire