Murder on the Orient Express Murder on the Orient Express
1974 Directed by Sidney Lumet
Synopsis
In 1935, when his train is stopped by deep snow, detective Hercule Poirot is called on to solve a murder that occurred in his car the night before.
Cast
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The 'Whodunnit?' type of storytelling is something I have always liked as it always provides a fun distraction that, when done well, almost always guarantees immediate audience involvement as we are always part of the investigation. Agatha Christie is in the top tier of authors in this genre, heck, she practically invented it.
Lumet's film takes on one of her classic Poirot stories. His hand is immediately present, not only because Sean Connery pops up, but also because it has a rich visual flair, beautifully constructed scenes and crisply edited dialogue that make the distilled version of this elaborate novel not only beautiful to look at, but also quite easy to follow.
This film has an excellent cast, but of…
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With an all star murder mystery cast, Sidney Lumet’s Murder on the Orient Express is undeniably the best adaptation of any Agatha Christie novel. Albert Finney is marvelous as the dapper Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in this classy and glamorous whodunit. An elegant and lavish production, Murder on the Orient Express is a cinematically beautiful and flawlessly directed movie that steams along tracks without ever going off the rails. Lumet keeps you guessing from departure to destination in this underrated masterful classic.
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Yawn.
If you haven't left after the longest and most boring 20 minutes of a crime story ever put on film then the story gets tepidly interesting.
Also :
- Best misuse of a great cast
- Most awkward and affected accent for Albert Finney -
This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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A stunning movie... Stunning. The cast is made of giants, the script is flawless and the direction and sets are gorgeous. I think my favourite part of it was Princess Dragomiroff, played by Wendy Hiller.
The more recent version of this story (I think from 2010) is pretty good too, but it doesn't touch this.
Agatha Christie herself liked it, though she disapproved of Poirot's moustache, saying it could have been even grander, because he deserved it. -
I want to start this by saying that I absolutely love movies set on trains. The closed, claustrophobic setting, the ensemble cast of characters confined to one location, it all has the potential for so much drama. Set it within a cold winter snow drift (my favorite season), and assemble an outrageously good cast featuring the likes of Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave and more, and Murder on the Orient Express had the potential to be some kind of masterpiece. Throw in Sidney Lumet behind the camera and the fact that it's based on an Agatha Christie novel and it sounds too good to be true.
Turns out that it was, as the film is…
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dull
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¿Es posible pasar casi 30 años sin saber quién es el asesino? Pues sí, he llegado a ella sin saber nada ¿milagro?¿incultura?
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As far as detectives go, Poirot is my favorite. I did not know he was in this though so pleasant surprise there. Such a complex ending though.
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I love a movie that doesn't spell everything out, but gives me enough, that by the end I feel pleased with my ability to follow along and catch things. This isn't one of those movies. Dull interrogations followed by a big reveal at the end is not entertaining, especially when the clues are so obscure that it borders on maddening. Case in point: [spoiler]"Evasion. I asked for particulars of the manservant. Colonel Armstrong was an officer of the British army in India. He would have had a British batman, like Private Beddoes, to serve his personal needs. Only officers of the Indian army like Colonel Arbuthrott, have Indian orderlies." I mean, come on! That involves me zero percent. Someone might…
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Picking up once the victim is discovered, the intrigue levels spike during the second act (where Poirot questions each of the passengers) and remain consistent throughout the third (where he summarises his findings to them), keeping us involved right up until the hard-to-guess dénouement.
An unrecognisable Albert Finney makes for an entertaining Poirot, although his heavy accent is occasionally over-cooked and a tad grating.
Continued at: www.flixcapacitor.co.uk/film-review/murder-on-the-orient-express-1974
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I first watched this film in the 7th grade. Still hasn't lost its touch. Albert Finney was fucking awesome.
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The 'Whodunnit?' type of storytelling is something I have always liked as it always provides a fun distraction that, when done well, almost always guarantees immediate audience involvement as we are always part of the investigation. Agatha Christie is in the top tier of authors in this genre, heck, she practically invented it.
Lumet's film takes on one of her classic Poirot stories. His hand is immediately present, not only because Sean Connery pops up, but also because it has a rich visual flair, beautifully constructed scenes and crisply edited dialogue that make the distilled version of this elaborate novel not only beautiful to look at, but also quite easy to follow.
This film has an excellent cast, but of…
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Alfred Linney's French accent is horrible
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Spannender Krimi, aber das Buch ist etwas leichter zu verstehen