Murder on the Orient Express

Plot synopsis:
The murderHaving sorted a matter out in the Middle East, detective Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney) is returning to England aboard the Orient Express. During the journey, Poirot encounters his friend Bianchi (Martin Balsam), a director of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, which owns the line. The train is unusually crowded for the time of year: every first-class berth has been booked. Shortly after the train's departure from Istanbul, a wealthy American businessman, Ratchett (Richard Widmark), tries to secure Poirot's services for $15,000 since he has received many death threats, but Poirot finds the case of little interest and turns it down. That night the train is caught in heavy snows in the Balkans. The next morning Ratchett is found stabbed to death in his cabin.
Poirot and Bianchi work together to solve the case. They enlist the help of Dr. Constantine (George Coulouris), a Greek medical doctor who was travelling in another coach with Bianchi as the only other passenger and thus not a suspect. Pierre Michel (Jean-Pierre Cassel), the middle-aged French conductor of the car, also assists the investigation, as well as being a suspect. Poirot soon discovers that Ratchett was not who he claimed to be. The victim's secret past indicates a clear motive for murder, even justification, but who was the killer?CluesDr. Constantine's examination of the body reveals that Ratchett was stabbed 12 times. Some wounds were slight, but at least three of them could have resulted in death.
The stopped watch in the victim's pocket, as well as Poirot's reconstructed timeline of passenger activities the night before, indicate that Ratchett was murdered at about 1:15 a.m. The train had stopped, surrounded by fresh snow, before that time. There are no tracks in the snow and the doors to the other cars were locked, so the murderer is almost certainly still among the passengers in the coach in which Ratchett was killed.
Most importantly, Poirot realizes that Ratchett was in fact a gangster called Cassetti. Five years previously, Cassetti and a henchman kidnapped and murdered Daisy Armstrong, the baby daughter of a wealthy British Army Colonel who had settled in America with his American-born wife. The body was found after the ransom had been paid. Overcome with grief, the pregnant Mrs. Armstrong went into labor early and died while giving birth to a stillborn baby. A maidservant named Paulette who was wrongly suspected of complicity in the kidnapping committed suicide. Colonel Armstrong, consumed by these tragedies, later killed himself as well. Cassetti's accomplice was arrested and executed, but Cassetti himself fled the country with the ransom, as he was only revealed to be the leader on the eve of the execution.
Having established these facts, Poirot, Dr. Constantine and Bianchi summon the other passengers one by one and proceed to interrogate them.
(The fictitious Armstrong case was inspired by the real-life kidnapping of aviator Charles Lindbergh's child.)SuspectsThe thirteen suspects are:
Hector McQueen (Anthony Perkins), a tall, young American man, the victim's secretary and translator;
Edward Beddoes (Sir John Gielgud), the victim's British valet;
Mary Debenham (Vanessa Redgrave), a young British woman, returning home to England after working as a teacher in Baghdad;
Colonel Arbuthnott (Sean Connery), a British officer in the British Indian Army returning to England on leave;
Princess Natalia Dragomiroff (Wendy Hiller), an elderly Russian royal;
Hildegarde Schmidt (Rachel Roberts), a middle-aged German woman, the Princess' personal maid;
Count Rudolf Andrenyi (Michael York), an aristocratic Hungarian diplomat;
Countess Elena Andrenyi (Jacqueline Bisset), née Grünwald, his beautiful young wife;
Greta Ohlsson (Ingrid Bergman), a middle-aged Swedish missionary returning to Europe on a fund-raising trip for her mission in Africa;
Mrs. Harriet Belinda Hubbard (Lauren Bacall), an older, fussy, very talkative American pluri-widowed socialite;
Antonio (Gino) Foscarelli (Denis Quilley), an exuberant Italian American car salesman from Chicago;
Cyrus B. "Dick" Hardman (Colin Blakely), a Pinkerton's detective masquerading as a talent agent;
Pierre-Paul Michel (Jean-Pierre Cassel), the French conductor of the sleeping car.MotivePoirot soon comes to realise that all the suspects were connected to the Armstrong family and had reason to seek revenge for the tragedies that followed the kidnapping. Some openly admit their connections to the Armstrongs, while other ties must be uncovered by Poirot.
McQueen was the son of the District Attorney who prosecuted the case and was very fond of Mrs. Armstrong;
Miss Debenham was Mrs Armstrong's secretary;
Beddoes was Colonel Armstrong's army batman and the family butler;
Col. Arbuthnott was an army friend of Col. Armstrong;
Princess Dragomiroff was Sonia Armstrong's godmother;
Miss Schmidt was the Armstrongs' cook;
Miss Ohlsson was Daisy's nursemaid;
Foscarelli was the Armstrong's chauffeur;
Hardman was, at the time, a policeman who was in love with Paulette;
Michel was Paulette's father;
Countess Andrenyi was Mrs Armstrong's sister;
Mrs Hubbard was Mrs Armstrong's mother;
Count Andrenyi was Mrs Armstrong's brother in law.
Ratchett was sedated by Beddoes and McQueen. Each of the passengers then stabbed him in turn.
Poirot presents this explanation for the murder to the assembled passengers, describing it as the "complex" solution to the crime. Yet he also offers another explanation, a "simple" one. In the course of the inquiry evidence has been found of an intruder on the train, who may have murdered Ratchett and then escaped evidence planted by the suspects. Poirot suggests that Ratchett/Cassetti may have been involved with the Mafia and murdered as the result of a feud. He leaves it to Bianchi, director of the line, to decide which explanation to present to the local police.
Bianchi decides that this "simple" solution will be enough for the local police and that Ratchett deserved everything he got. A cover-up is therefore instigated. Poirot is satisfied that justice has been done, though he does admit to a struggle with his conscience.

Tags: dramatic, mystery, murder

Review:
I will be honest and say it took me a long time to appreciate just how good a film this actually is.The format and layout of the film works tremendously well, the dark and twisted kidnap and killing story at the beginning sets the tone well, it hits hard, and makes the end of the film all the more engaging and believable.The film looks sensational, it is a beautiful production (especially in HD) the scenery throughout is lavish, a true feast for the eyes.
He is wonderfully theatrical, and as Ustinov definitely suits the flavour of Death on the Nile, so does Finney here.The characterisations aside from Poirot are expertly brought to life, some glorious performances, Lauren Bacall and Wendy Hillier are sensational in their roles, how well the cast bring to life the class system of 1930, it really was a different world.
The rest of the cast has ensemble parts, my favorite being Wendy Hiller whose Princess Dragomiroff comes across as royal, proud, and very eccentric.With its snowy landscapes, ornate and cozy interiors, and subdued lighting, "Murder On The Orient Express" is an excellent movie to watch on a cold, winter night, snuggled under a blanket or next to a warm fireplace with a cup of cappuccino or a glass of cognac.
It is a wonderful film - I have never read the book to compare to the movie - but I can say the film is worth watching if you love a good mystery movie.An all-star, well seasoned, cast does help to make the film more intriguing, more appealing because all gave outstanding performances in this film.
"Murder On The Orient Express" is arguably the most famous theatrically released film based on an Agatha Christie book, but there are two factors that keep me from rating it quite as high as its successors, "Death On The Nile" and "Evil Under The Sun": a) Albert Finney has his moments as Hercule Poirot, but sometimes his stuffy, mannered performance comes close to obnoxiousness (some people might claim that he's trying to be more accurate to the character as written by Christie, but I don't think the Poirot of the books would ever tear up the menu of a restaurant and throw the pieces up in the air), b) although the solution to the mystery is one of Christie's most daring and unusual, it is also pretty tough to translate from the page to the screen because it is necessary to introduce a remarkably high number of characters and explain the connection of all their backgrounds to the present events.
Besides all that, however, there's still a lot to like about "Murder On The Orient Express": the superb cast (though I don't know why Ingrid Bergman won an Oscar for this role, if anyone deserved such an award, it was probably John Gielgud or Wendy Hiller), the exhilarating music score, the nostalgic train setting, and some memorably atmospheric scenes (the opening, the re-construction of the crime, etc.).
But in 1974 she saw her vision of Hercule Poirot as a character put properly on screen by Albert Finney in MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS.It gave her a satisfaction that few mystery novelists of her age ever had.
While Josephine Tey's novels occasionally were made into films, her Inspector Grant was not turned into a good running series character.I think that the reason that Agatha Christie was satisfied was the care that Sidney Lumet took with MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS.
Of course there's the typical enclosed group of suspects with a murderer in their midst.The setting is 1935 and Belgian detective Hercule Poirot boards the Orient Express along with an assortment of colourful, suspicious passengers.
Sidney Lumet directs a great cast through a brilliant cinematic interpretation of one of Agatha Christie's most popular Hercule Poirot Mysteries.
Despite the cramped quarters, the only witness is the murder victim himself, and Poirot must put together the solution from disparate and seemingly contradictory evidence.The three most striking qualities of this film are its production values, cast, and Finney's exhausting performance.
This is achieved by perfect visual pacing, great camera work, spectacular - though somewhat cramped and redundant - sets, good costuming, and a stunningly attractive cast.Murder on the Orient Express also succeeds in sticking with Christie's original narrative (mostly), and sets a high standard for film versions of the great mystery writers repertoire.
The movie is an excellent whodunit and concerns upon one murder in the Orient Express train with Hercules Poirot (Albert Finney) as sleuth-man to solve it .
However this doesn't make boring it.The runtime movie is overlong : two hours and some but isn't slow-moving and is amount amusing for suspense and tension.First-rate interpretation specially from Albert Finney and Ingrid Bergman , Oscar winner as best secondary actress .The set design and costumes are riveting , the flick is magnificently set by that time .
Although Albert Finney who does a fine job as the Belgian Sleuth Hercule Poirot declined to do further films with Poirot, Peter Ustinov more than amply took up the slack in later productions.Richard Widmark is an American expatriate traveling on the famous Orient Express train and he's been receiving mysterious death threats.
There are a whole lot of people who had reason to want him dead.Poirot conducts his inquiry of the other passengers and they are quite a crew consisting of among others, Lauren Bacall, Michael York, Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman, Wendy Hiller, Rachel Roberts, Vanessa Redgrave, Jacqueline Bissett, etc.
Based on the novel by mystery sleuth Agatha Christie, it takes you on a ride by train where we meet an assortment of colorful characters all traveling on the Orient Express.
Also good: the great Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar (her third overall) for her small performance as an African missionary; and Martin Balsam as the director of the line and Mr. Poirot's personal friend.
Along the movie when Poirot interviewing suspects and you can enjoy his funny acts and talks, a non criminal story happening, introducing western countries nations from Agatha Christie point of view.
The performances are not from your typical B-movie detective who done it.As a teen I was totally confused by these flashbacks and line of questioning even though I had read several Agatha Christie novels including "Murder On The Orient Express".
This movie actually creates a whole other more interesting and character driven way to tell a who done it detective murder mystery in a most elegant and stylish way while remaining brilliantly grounded and believable by the performances of top shelf actors in gorgeous and authentic looking '30's era costumes.Through the years I've had to watch this movie several times in TV re-runs to understand the connections provided by the flashbacks even though I already knew the surprise ending.
Still, once it gets going it moves well and the way that Poirot puts the clues together manages to ensure that the film is always interesting.This film features quite a few smaller performances from well-known screen actors, including Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Michael York and Sean Connery.
I don't mind telling you that my head nearly exploded during the opening credits: Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman, Michael York, Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Widmark, Anthony Perkins, Martin Balsam, John Gielgud!
Not to mention that 'Murder on the Orient Express (1974)' was directed by Sidney Lumet, one of my favourite filmmakers, and adapted from an Agatha Christie novel.
The cast is incredible with the like of Sean Connery, Michael York, Ingrid Bergman (who won an Oscar for her role in this), Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Richard Widmark, Anthony Perkins, and Albert Finney who does a fantastic job as Poirot himself.
What struck me most was the luxurious star-cast, worthy of a true super-production, with memorable names like Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline Bisset, Jean- Pierre Cassel, Sean Connery, Wendy Hiller, Anthony Perkins and Vanessa Redgrave.
Set it within a cold winter snow drift (my favorite season), and assemble an outrageously good cast featuring the likes of Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave and more, and Murder on the Orient Express had the potential to be some kind of masterpiece.
Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Vanessa Redgrave, Sean Connery, Anthony Perkins and Michael York, to name a few, together in a movie.
Director Sidney Lumet (from '12 Angry Men') has made a movie set in a train where all these great actors have the same amount of screen time, accept for Finney who is in almost every scene.The movie is set on the Orient Express where a murder is committed.
Sidney Lumet's "Murder On the Orient Express" is adapted from the classic mystery by Agatha Christie.
"Murder On the Orient Express" is a faithful adaptation from Christie's original novel, and is blessed with a stunning all-star cast: Lauren Bacall as Mrs. Hubbard, Ingrid Bergman as Mrs. Olson, Sean Connery as Col. Arbuthnot, Anthony Perkins as Mr. McQueen, Michael York as Count Andrenyi, Wendy Hiller as Princess Dragomiroff, and Albert Finney as Poirot himself.
Lumet's film version of Agatha Christie's immortal novella "Murder on the Orient Express" is – simply put – phenomenal entertainment from start to finish and, to me personally, the main reason why cinema is the greatest invention in the history of mankind.
Of course there is an all-star cast, but not just for the names' sake: every single one of the stars fits his role to a T (imagine that Ingrid Bergman was originally to play Princess Dragomiroff, but she chose the "ungraceful" one of Miss Olsen - and won an Oscar for it!), from Albert Finney of course as the original Hercule Poirot, literally as he was described by Agatha Christie (although he would have been at that time "too young" for the role, but an excellent make-up fixed that) to Martin Balsam as his eager friend and "assistant" who after every inquiry asks hopefully: "Please - HE did it?!".
"Tall Story," "Friendly Persuasion," "Psycho," "Phaedra" -- in ALL his films he involvingly and believably portrayed a variation of the same man.Of the entire cast, Perkins seems most camera-aware and "actorish." Ironically, his role is closest to his own natural "American" persona.Everybody else (but Connery, who is what he iconically is, no matter the role or the subtlety of his playing, so overwhemingly magnetic is he) gives us characters we haven't seen before and are obviously delighted doing so.Quibble.So brilliantly-produced is MOTOE that it's endlessly watchable and enjoyable for all the great talents in front of and behind the cameras.Yes, I know whodunit and how.But every time I sit down to MOTOE it sucks me in and I find myself thinking, "But how can that BE?" And delight, once again, at Christie's jaw-dropping construction and this -- the film adaptation of her work with which she was most pleased.It's a ball!.
The first in the quarter of mysteries produced by John Goodwin and Richard Brabourne has the starriest cast of all of them - Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Perkins, John Gielgud and Jean-Pierre Cassel all have the chance to flex their acting muscles in a generally acceptable version of the Christie classic.
Murder On The Orient Express (1974)Plot In A Paragraph: In December 1935, when his train is stopped by deep snow, detective Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney) is called on to solve a murder that occurred in his car the night before.Murder on the Orient Express is an entertaining movie, it's a classical who done it and it has a large and expensive collection of stars.
Amongst them were Finney for Best Actor and Geoffrey Unsworth for Best Cinematography, whilst Ingrid Bergman won Best Supporting Actress.Murder On The Orient express become Connery's biggest success away from the Bond franchise by quite some distance as it grossed $36 million at the domestic box office to end 1974 as the 11th highest grossing movie of the year..
In this movie version, the inimitable Albert Finney plays Hercule Poirot, who is aboard the Orient Express, coming from Istanbul.
An amazing cast consisting of Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline Bisset, Colin Blakely, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Rachel Roberts, Michael York, and Denis Quilley play the suspects, and each hold their own in the movie.
"Murder on the Orient Express" starts with infamous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney) making his way to London on urgent business.
For this movie ofc at the beginning i had cursory ideas about it because this kind of mysterical movies could be much more complicated and very difficult to solve and realise the story i think but i knew Agatha and i love reading her novel so i gave a chance.Cast is very powerful and it gives us a wonder on the film.Sean Connery,Albert Finney had an adoroble acting,Anthony Perkins as well.
About story i can say that you wonder everything until the end of the film.It might be a little spoiler but i want to say that the last 20 minutes which Hercule Poirot expresses his ideas about murder i watched it like the hair stood up on my neck and i said myself he is such a smart guy.
Great, star-studded adaptation of the classic Agatha Christie novel.It is 1934 and master-detective Hercule Poirot is travelling from Istanbul to France on the Orient Express.
Just about every name is an icon of the silver screen - Albert Finney (as Poirot), Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Michael York, Jacqueline Bisset, Martin Balsam, Anthony Perkins, Richard Widmark.None of them put a foot wrong,Ingrid Bergman got a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance, but I'm not sure why.
Apart from its stellar cast – which includes Albert Finney as Poirot, Sir John Gielgud, Richard Widmark, Wendy Hiller, Ingrid Bergman (in an Oscar winning role as the nervous Swede Miss Olsen), Anthony Perkins, Jacqueline Bisset, Lauren Bacall, Michael York and others, the atmosphere of the film is striking.
This film features an all-star cast, including Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Anthony Perkins, Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman, Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Widmark, and of course John Gielgud.
And with such elegantly styled period costumes and sets (the Orient Express itself is a masterpiece of cinematic potential: masked in superbly artistic shots of billowing steam and chugging pistons, it shows a clear influence on almost any given train sequence since) the film makes its mark as one of the most sumptuously aesthetic pictures of the decade, perfectly backed by the sweeping and eerie musical score.While adjusting to Albert Finney's flamboyant accent does take time, he proves an unconventionally perfect fit for the eccentric but brilliant detective Poirot, showing the good sense to play the quirkiness of the character straight rather than overdoing it for comedy's sake and letting his fiery passion for knowledge and reason shine through enough to win over even the least interested audience member.
The rest of the all star cast similarly do not disappoint, with standout performances from Martin Balsam as the warmly charismatic owner of the train, Lauren Bacall as a motor-mouthed passenger, Oscar winner Ingrid Bergman giving a nervously passionate performance as an obsessive missionary, a perfectly cast Sean Connery as a gruff Colonel, John Gielgud as a wryly humorous butler, Anthony Perkins as an oddball secretary and Wendy Hiller as a dignified elderly princess, all of whom may or may not know more about the murder than it would immediately appear.Of course the film is not for everyone, and may in fact alienate many modern audiences who have grown accustomed to associating the murder mystery genre with white-knuckled tension and palpable threat, or those bereft of the patience to sit through the dialogue heavy plot (particularly Poirot's near half hour final monologue).
Sidney Lumet directed this film-version of Agatha Christie's book "Murder on the Calais Coach", and his penchant for letting his actors carry on at length is tempered quite a bit by the setting here (a snowbound train) and by the large collection of characters (posers, as it turns out, all pretending to be something they are not).
In addition to Albert Finney and Martin Balsam, there are: Sean Connery, Wendy Hiller, John Gielgud, Rachel Roberts, Anthony Perkins, Lauren Bacall, Richard Widmark, Michael York, Jacqueline Bisset, Ingrid Bergman, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Vanessa Redgrave.
His Hercule Piorot in 1974 earned him an Oscar nomination as Best Actor, though it's a far more shouty and loud performance (completed with oily black hair and rich Belgian accent) than subsequent interpretations of the role by Peter Ustinov and David Suchet.When Sidney Lumet's MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS appeared in British and American cinemas at the end of 1974,audiences were not yet accustomed to the numerous Agatha Christie adaptations which are now part of ITV peak-time schedule.
Here was a British- made film bursting with movie stars (Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman, Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Widmark, Jacquline Bisset, Anthony Perkins etc) all cast as various American and European murder suspects marooned a snow-bound Orient Express somewhere in the Balkans in 1935.
Here we have a typically baffling murder mystery, the old-fashioned kind set aboard an exotic train setting where a number of suspects are available for the final round-up by detective Hercule Poirot (ALBERT FINNEY).We've seen plenty of train murder cases before, but this one has an extra special passenger list of exceptional well-known star talent: LAUREN BACALL, JACQUELINE BISSET, SEAN CONNERY, JOHN GIELGUD, WENDY HILLER and VANESSA REDGRAVE are all rather first-class snobs, and MARTIN BALSAM, INGRID BERGMAN and ANTHONY PERKINS are members of the lower class.Naturally, they all become prime suspects when a murder is committed and they all have their moments to shine.
Sidney Lumet managed with "Murder on the Orient Express" to do something no other director of film based on a Christie novel had done.