TCM is promoting itself, and they have a Backlot member saying that they had a movie night on which they showed Death On The Nile. As part of the festivities, the guests dressed up in 1930s attire. I know that the book came out in the '30s (1937, I think), but the costumes in the film clips appear to be from the 1920s. So when do the events in the movie take place?
The book definitely takes place in the '30s. The late '30s, to be precise. My guess is that the guests were a little off on their costuming.
I don’t remember the Poirot books being that specific as to time, and I don’t think you can just go by when it was published.
Was there something in the book that placed it in time? It’s been a long while since I read it.
As for the film, there was a car in an early scene that might have set the early time limit on when it was to take place. I barely remember but I think it was definitely a 30s car.
Checking a few clips on youtube, the one character that seems dolled up in 20s clothes is Angela Lansbury’s, who is supposed to be a penniless drunk, so she may just be wearing what she has left from the old days. Maggie Smith’s suit and Jane Birkin’s dresses are very 30s mid-calf styles, and I think the same can be said for the other young women (Mia Farrow, Olivia Hussey) although I couldn’t find clips of them in daytime clothes. Bette Davis was wearing what an old woman would wear, neither stylish nor easily dated.
I believe the film refers to the Chrysler Building, and the book to Prohibition, in ways that fairly well announce “yeah, this isn’t the 1920s”.
Sure you can. Aggie wasn’t writing time travel novels.
With Golden Age detective stories, I always figure…if no dates are given…that the story takes place in the year before publication. When the author was writing it.