# Death On The Nile time period? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 13, 2018, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-on-the-nile-time-period/817863 "2018-07-13T20:31:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-on-the-nile-time-period/817863/1 "2018-07-13T20:31:33Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-on-the-nile-time-period/817863/2 "2018-07-13T22:17:04Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2018, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-on-the-nile-time-period/817863/3 "2018-07-14T00:58:40Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2018, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-on-the-nile-time-period/817863/4 "2018-07-14T01:08:46Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2018, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-on-the-nile-time-period/817863/5 "2018-07-14T01:29:23Z")
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”_. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2018, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-on-the-nile-time-period/817863/6 "2018-07-14T01:46:46Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > 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. 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.