Murder on the Orient Express: from the Agatha Christie novel of the same name, directed by Sidney Lumet. Featuring an all-star ensemble, Albert Finney leads with a phenomenal Hercule Poirot (Belgian, NOT French), supported by Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Connery, John Geilgud, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Widmark, Michael York (to name some of them with more recognizable names today). Six Oscar nominations, winning one for Ingrid Bergman (Supporting Actress). Typical of Lumet who was also a stage play director, its not a high action crime thriller. He spends time at the beginning carefully developing the story background and each character in depth before the murder occurs on the train. Indeed, the screenplay could be readily converted into a stage play with a few scene consolidations. Christies Hercule Poirot is not another Sherlock Holmes. Poirot observes people, how they (re)act and exactly what they say, using psychology to tease out motives. Holmes works more with observation of physical objects and using physical science to analyze clues. All the information is there before the reveal in the film, but those unfamiliar with the story will usually be uncertain about what really happened.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Apr 2014 17:56:51 +0000