Murder on the Orient Express is a 1974 British mystery film directed by Sidney Lumet and based on the 1934 novel of the same name by Agatha Christie.
Overview
The film (and book) features the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Albert Finney stars as Poirot, who is asked by his friend Bianchi (Martin Balsam), a train company director, to investigate the murder of an American business tycoon, Mr. Ratchett (Richard Widmark) aboard a train with an all-star cast of suspects, including Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Michael York and Anthony Perkins. The screenplay was penned by Paul Dehn and an uncredited Anthony Shaffer.
The film's tagline was: "The greatest cast of suspicious characters ever involved in murder."
It was the first of a number of "all-star" adaptations of Agatha Christie novels in the 1970s and early 1980s. Similar films included Death on the Nile, The Mirror Crack'd and Evil Under the Sun. It is the only occasion that Finney portrayed Poirot, with Peter Ustinov portraying the detective in subsequent films.
Richard Rodney Bennett's memorable Orient Express theme has been reworked into an orchestral suite and performed and recorded several times. It was performed on the original soundtrack album by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden under Marcus Dods. The piano soloist was the composer himself.
Plot
The murder
Having 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, citing death threats he has recently received. 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 traveling 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?
Clues
Dr. 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 were 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. Years ago, Cassetti and a henchman kidnapped and murdered Daisy Armstrong, the baby daughter of a wealthy British colonel who had settled in America. 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.
(The fictitious Armstrong case was inspired by the real-life kidnapping of aviator Charles Lindbergh's child.)
Suspects
The 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 army officer returning to England on leave from India.
- 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, on his way to France.
- 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 returning home.
- Antonio (Tony) Foscarelli (Denis Quilley), an exuberant Italian car salesman from Chicago.
- Cyrus B. "Dick" Hardman (Colin Blakely), a Pinkerton's detective masquerading as a talent agent.
- Pierre Michel (Jean-Pierre Cassel), the French conductor of the sleeping car.
Motive
Poirot 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. He was very fond of Mrs Armstrong.
- Miss Debenham was Mrs Armstrong's secretary.
- Beddoes was Colonel Armstrong's army batman.
- Col. Arbuthnott was an army friend of Col. Armstrong.
- Princess Dragomiroff was Mrs Armstrong's godmother.
- Miss Schmidt was the Armstrong's cook and a close friend of the maid Paulette.
- 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.
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 first 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 my conscience."
Production details
Exterior shooting was mostly done in France, with a railroad workshop near Paris standing in for Istanbul station. The scenes of the train proceeding through central Europe were filmed in the Jura mountains on the then recently closed railway line from Pontarlier to Gilley, with the scenes of the train getting stuck being filmed in a cutting near Montbenoît[1]. Coincidentally, this area (part of Serbia in the story) is part of the micronation of Saugeais. There were concerns about a lack of snow in the weeks preceding the scheduled shooting of the snowbound train, and plans were made to truck in large quantities of snow at considerable expense. However, heavy snowfall the night before the shooting made the extra snow unnecessary—just as well, as the snow-laden backup trucks has themselves become stuck in the snow[2]
Christie's opinion
Agatha Christie had been quite displeased with some film adaptations of her works made in the 1960s, and accordingly was unwilling to sell any more film rights. When Nat Cohen, chairman of EMI Films, and producer John Brabourne attempted to get her approval for this film, they felt it necessary to have Lord Mountbatten of Burma (of the British Royal Family and also Brabourne's father-in-law) help them broach the subject.
In the end, according to Christie's husband Max Mallowan, "Agatha herself has always been allergic to the adaptation of her books by the cinema, but was persuaded to give a rather grudging appreciation to this one." Christie's biographer Gwen Robyns quoted her as saying, "It was well made except for one mistake. It was Albert Finney, as my detective Hercule Poirot. I wrote that he had the finest moustache in England — and he didn't in the film. I thought that a pity — why shouldn't he?"[3]
Cast
Academy Awards and nominations
- Academy Award: Best Supporting Actress, Ingrid Bergman
- Academy Award Nomination: Best Actor in a Leading Role, Albert Finney
- Academy Award Nomination: Best Cinematography, Geoffrey Unsworth
- Academy Award Nomination: Best Costume Design, Tony Walton
- Academy Award Nomination: Best Music, Original Dramatic Score, Richard Rodney Bennett
- Academy Award Nomination: Best Writing, Screenplay Adapted from Other Material, Paul Dehn
Other versions
A made-for-television movie, with Alfred Molina as Poirot, was made in 2001.
See also
References
- ^ Trains Oubliés Vol.2: Le PLM by José Banaudo, p. 54 (French). Editions du Cabri, Menton, France
- ^ DVD documentary "Making Murder on the Orient Express: The Ride"
- ^ The Agatha Christie Companion: The Complete Guide to Agatha Christie's Life and Work, by Dennis Sanders and Len Lovallo (1984), pgs. 438-441
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