"Death on the Nile", based on Agatha Christie's best-selling novel, is the best mystery movie ever made. Mystery buffs probably rank "Murder on the Orient Express" as the best. I liked "Murder on the Orient Express", but I like "Death on the Nile" better. I was into this movie right from the start. I never got bored watching this. I found it entertaining from start to finish. A spectacular all-star cast came together for this intriguing film about a murder on a steamer boat while traveling down the longest river in the world, the Nile. Peter Ustinov takes over the role of Hercule Poirot that was played by Albert Finney in "Orient Express", and does a great job of portraying the famous Belgian slueth. Ustinov gets terrific support from a cast of well-known stars. The best performance in the movie is turned in by the great Angela Lansbury as Salome Otterbourne, an alcoholic romance novelist caught up in the dangerous adventure. I think she should have gotten an Oscar nomination for her work here. Who knew that six years later Lansbury would get her turn at sloving crimes on TV's "Murder She Wrote". (It should be noted that in between "Death on the Nile" and "Murder She Wrote", Lansbury portrayed Agatha Christie's other famed detective, Miss Marple, in 1980's "The Mirror Crack'd".) In addition to Lansbury, there's the great Bette Davis as the jewelry obsessed Mrs. Van Schyler; Maggie Smith as Davis' employer Miss Bowers; David Niven as Colonel Race, an officer who helps Poirot in the murder investigation; George Kennedy as Andrew Pennington, an American traveling in Africa; Jack Warden as the doctor on board the ship; Olivia Hussey as Lansbury's daughter Rosalie; and Mia Farrow as Jacqueline De Bellifort, a woman caught in an unusual love triangle. When the murder occurs, I kept trying to guess who did it, and the outcome surprised me completely. "Death on the Nile", directed by John Guillermin of "The Towering Inferno" and "King Kong" (1976 remake), is a classy production. The cinematography and art direction are fabulous, as well as the Oscar-winning costumes. Of all the movies that have been made based on Agatha Christie novels (both theatrical and TV), "Death on the Nile" is easily the best.<br /><br />**** (out of four)