On his way to England from Istanbul, famous detective Hercule Poirot boards a train and meets his friend Bianchi. During the night, between Vinkovci and Slavonski Brod, a passenger is killed, Mr. Ratchett, but not discovered until morning, when the train is stuck in snow. Poirot discovers that Ratchett was a mobster who ordered the kidnapping of Mrs. Armstrong's child a few years ago, and that almost all passengers had a motive to kill him, among them Mrs. Armstrong's sister, cook and mother. It turns out it was a 'joint criminal enterprise', but Poirot allows Bianchi to accept an alternative, more simple view that it might have been a mobster murder.
"Murder on the Orient Express" is in some circles considered to be one of the best adaptations of Agatha Christie's crime-mystery novels, with Albert Finney Ingrid Bergman even receiving several nominations and awards (even though her role is too small to truly ignite a delight, but her character's four minute interrogation was filmed in one take which gave it more weight). Even though it was directed by the untypical-opulent director Sidney Lumet, and even though the most unorthodox story was picked from Christie's opus (obvious in the unusual ending that defies her previous crime standards), "Orient" is still a rather standard-typical "whodunit" story that has spark, but needed more individual touches to advance into something more special. The ensemble cast is fantastic - among them even Sean Connery, Lauren Bacall and John Gilegud! - whereas it is interesting how Lumet decided to portrait Poirot not as a charming detective, but as an slightly autistic outsider, yet more could have been done to create a truly unique achievement, which an individual of Lumet's calibre could have done. Still, the setting - a train trapped in snow - is perfect, numerous dialogues have wit (Mrs. Hubbard: "Don't you agree the man must have entered my compartment to gain access to Mr. Ratchett?" - Princess Dragomiroff: "I can think of no other reason, madame...No other reason..."), the cinematography is sharp whereas Poirot's final 30 minute speech is exquisite, as in most of his cases.
Grade:++
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