Murder on the Orient Express (1974 film)
| Murder on the Orient Express | |
|---|---|
 film poster by Richard Amsel |
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| Directed by | Sidney Lumet |
| Produced by | John Brabourne |
| Written by | Novel: Agatha Christie Screenplay: Paul Dehn Uncredited: Anthony Shaffer |
| Starring | Albert Finney Lauren Bacall Sean Connery Ingrid Bergman Michael York Vanessa Redgrave Jacqueline Bisset Richard Widmark John Gielgud Anthony Perkins Martin Balsam Rachel Roberts Wendy Hiller Denis Quilley Colin Blakely Jean-Pierre Cassel George Coulouris |
| Music by | Richard Rodney Bennett |
| Cinematography | Geoffrey Unsworth |
| Editing by | Anne V. Coates |
| Distributed by | EMI Films (UK) Paramount Pictures (U.S.) |
| Release date(s) | November 24, 1974 |
| Running time | 128 min. |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Murder on the Orient Express is a 1974 feature film directed by Sidney Lumet and based on the 1934 novel of the same name by Agatha Christie.
Contents |
Overview
The film (and book) features the great Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Albert Finney starred as Poirot, who is asked by Martin Balsam to investigate the murder of 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. On the second night out from Istanbul the train is caught in heavy snows in the Balkans. The next morning a wealthy U.S. businessman, Ratchett (Richard Widmark), is found stabbed to death in his cabin. Shortly after the train's departure he tried to secure Poirot's services, citing death threats he recently received, but to no avail.
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 second class and thus not a suspect. Pierre Michel (Jean-Pierre Cassel), the middle-aged French conductor of the car, also assists the investigation. 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 1:30 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 first class.
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), a Hungarian diplomat with English manner and clothing, 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 woman returning home.
- Gino Foscarelli (Denis Quilley), an exuberant Italian car salesman from Chicago.
- Cyrus "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. 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."
Differences between novel and film
- The novel introduces Poirot to two of the suspects on a train bound for Istanbul, the Taurus Express. The ferry crossing from one side of the city to the other is only briefly mentioned. On film, Poirot becomes aware of Debenham and Arbuthnot on the ferry across the Bosporus, and the ferry crossing is the real start of the narrative.
- Several characters, notably Mrs Hubbard, Beddoes, Princess Dragomiroff, Miss Debenham, and Greta Ohlsson, are played by actors who do not match the ages or physical descriptions given in the novel.
- In the novel the valet character is named Masterman rather than Beddoes. This name change for the film was likely to avoid confusion with the character named Hardman.
- The character of the railroad official in the novel is a Belgian named Bouc, who dislikes Italians. He and Poirot converse in Belgian French and share an affinity due to the shared nationality. On film, ironically, he is an Italian named Bianchi.
- The development of the plot and gradual solution to the case is streamlined. The novel introduces the revenge motive for the killing of Ratchett in dialog during the course of the investigation. The film lays some of this ground work with a short, atmospheric prologue.
- The novel had the Orient Express run right into a snowdrift, so the murderer would not have got off the train without getting buried in snow. It takes a few days for men to dig out the train. The movie had the Orient Express stop before hitting the snowdrift. While Poirot is explaining the passengers' involvement in the murder, we see a steam engine with a snowplough breaking through the pile of snow. The movie ends with the Orient Express following the rescue engine to the next station while the credits are rolling.
- In the novel, the Orient Express consists of the dining car, Istanbul-Calais sleeping car (in which the murder took place), a sleeping car from Athens to Paris attached by Belgrade, and ordinary carriages. In the movie, the train consists of a dining car, the sleeping car, and a Pullman day car that would have served in Wagon-Lit daytime trains, not the Orient Express.
- In the novel, at the end, Poirot shows Ratchett's pistol to the suspects and says that it is not only fully loaded but that Rachett was prepared to use it to protect himself. In the movie, Poirot has the pistol on a sidetable with the other evidence but does not explain its significance.
- In the novel, during the second interview with the count and countess, Countess Elena says that the maid who killed herself at the Armstrong household's name was Susanne, and she tells her that Mrs. Armstrong's maiden name was Greenwood, and says that the Mrs. Armstrong's secretary's name was Mrs. Freebody. In the film it is the Princess and her maid who give that information.
- In the novel the first theory about Ratchett's death is that he was killed by a stranger for unknown reasons. In the movie the first theory is that he was killed by a disguised member of an organized crime group as a result of a vendetta.
- In the novel, Mrs Hubbard's full name is Caroline Martha Hubbard. In the movie, her full name is Harriet Belinda Hubbard.
- In the novel, Foscarelli's first name is Antonio. In the film his first name is Gino.
- In the novel, the Countess takes her usual sleeping medication the night of the murder, and her husband stabs Ratchett. In the movie, the Count and Countess grasp the dagger together to make one stab.
- In the novel, Poirot discovers the clues at a much slower rate and makes connections between them with a more complex series of events. In the movie, however, Poirot finds clues faster and makes connections between them at a rapid rate (specifically, during the ending climax). The movie's story is relativily simple. These differences were made possibly because of time constraints.
- In the novel, Poirot remarks that Count Andrenyi has the chest pocket of his shirt in its right part, which can lead to think he is left-handed or ambidextrous and therefore the author of the left-handed-made stab. In the film, however, McQueen is portrayed as the author of that stab.
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 Louis Mountbatten (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?" [1]
Other Associations between the Director and Actors
Lumet had previously directed Connery and Balsam in The Anderson Tapes. He had also directed Connery in The Hill and Balsam in 12 Angry Men.
Balsam had also co-starred with Anthony Perkins in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho with Perkins as the murderer and Balsam as the victim of a stabbing.
Lumet writes extensively of the making of "Murder" in his book "Making Movies".
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
- ^ The Agatha Christie Companion: The Complete Guide to Agatha Christie's Life and Work, by Dennis Sanders and Len Lovallo (1984), pgs. 438-441
External links
- Murder on the Orient Express at the Internet Movie Database
- Murder on the Orient Express at Allmovie
- Murder on the Orient Express at the TCM Movie Database
- Murder on the Orient Express at Rotten Tomatoes
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