THE GREATEST CAST OF SUSPICIOUS CHARACTERS EVER INVOLVED IN MURDER.
In 1935, famous detective Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney) boards the Orient Express, but ends up stranded in Yugoslavia with a fresh murder case and a train full of suspects.
Agatha Christie was unhappy with some of the recent screen adaptations of her books, but this one was something else. Here’s a star-studded, old-fashioned whodunit, with classy cinematography and music, where Sidney Lumet and his crew create a tense, isolated atmosphere on the train.
Finney may come across as somewhat stiff, but has his effective moments, and the stars get their chances to shine, not least Ingrid Bergman; the drama often plays out in close-ups.
1974-U.K. 128 min. Color. Directed by Sidney Lumet. Screenplay: Paul Dehn. Novel: Agatha Christie. Cinematography: Geoffrey Unsworth. Music: Richard Rodney Bennett. Cast: Albert Finney (Hercule Poirot), Lauren Bacall (Mrs. Hubbard), Martin Balsam (Bianchi), Ingrid Bergman (Greta Ohlsson), Jacqueline Bisset, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Rachel Roberts, Richard Widmark, Michael York… Colin Blakely.
Trivia: Poirot returned in Death on the Nile (1978). Remade as Murder on the Orient Express (2017).
Oscar: Best Supporting Actress (Bergman). BAFTA: Best Supporting Actor (Gielgud), Supporting Actress (Bergman), Film Music.
Last word: “Albert Finney got paid more because his Hercule Poirot had most of the lines, and Sean Connery got a percentage because he was such a big star. The rest all got paid the same: $100,000 each. Vanessa Redgrave would spend all her lunchtimes converting the workers, making speeches about politics in the canteen, while the rest of the actors would sit and listen to John Gielgud telling his amazing stories. Eventually, the guys in the canteen asked if we could get Vanessa to go and talk to someone else.” (Producer Richard Goodwin, The Guardian)
