Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

All star cast deliver an Agatha Christie adapted treat.

Murder on the orient Express is directed by Sidney Lumet and adapted to screenplay by Paul Dehn from the novel of the same name written by Agatha Christie. It stars Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman, Michael York, Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Widmark, Anthony Perkins, Martin Balsam, Jacqueline Bisset and John Gielgud. Music is by Richard Rodney Bennett and photography by Geoffrey Unsworth.

1935 and the Orient Express is on route from Istanbul to London. On board is legendary Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. He is called into investigative action when a passenger is found brutally stabbed to death, just as the train is ground to a halt due to heavy snow. This will not be easy for it's a case where any number of the passengers appear to have links to the deceased.

The best of the big screen adaptations of Christie's Poirot works, "Orient Express" is given a consummate sheen by director Lumet and his all star cast. Finney's Poirot has a hard edge to him, which is perfectly in keeping with the story that unfolds. From the beginning, which brings a sad and potent piece of news to our viewing experience, right to the Poirot deconstruction of the crime-perpetrator-motive sequence, picture has dark tints framing the array of thespians gathered for the occasion. The setting is gorgeous, but the confines of the period train add credible claustrophobic tension to the plot, and the reveal, while not surprising to the observant, is still a doozy that is given added emotional heft by a neat character development.

Darker than you may expect, but still a bunch of fun to be had playing spot the star and deducing who has done the foul deed. 8/10

Albert Finney is magnificent as Agatha Christie's "Poirot" in this murder mystery set amidst the luxury (and isolation) of the Orient Express train as it travels from Istanbul to Calais, getting stuck in a snow drift en route. A cast to make your eyes water all vie for the responsibility of murdering oriental pottery collector Richard Widmark. Why, we ask, so brutally murder a guy who collects ancient urns? Well Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery and Ingrid Bergman are just a few of the suspects under the scrutinous eye of our travelling Belgian sleuth. Sir John Gielgud plays the butler with a similar sort of reverse snobbery that won him an Oscar for "Arthur" (1981) and the imperious "Princess Dragomiroff" is played to perfection by Dame Wendy Hiller. A superbly paced and structured bit of direction from Sidney Lumet leaves you guessing for almost all of this two hour cat and mouse chase..