Rating: PG
Genre:
Mystery
Release Date: 09/07/2004
SubTitles: English
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: DD5.1/DD1
Run Time: 127 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Adult Language
Distributor/Studio: Paramount
Like many of
Agatha Christie's mysteries,
Murder on the Orient Express is predicated on an actual event, in this case the
Lindbergh kidnapping. In the movie, everyone on board the Orient Express seems to have concluded that hateful financier Ratchett (
Richard Widmark) was behind the abduction and murder of the infant daughter of a famed aviatrix. Thus, when Ratchett is himself found murdered, everyone is suspect. Normally, the police would handle the investigation, but the train has been stalled by a snowslide halfway between Istanbul and Paris. Thus, it's up to the insufferable but brilliant Belgian detective
Hercule Poirot (an unrecognizable
Albert Finney) to activate his "little grey cells" and determine who's guilty. Among the suspects are colorful characters played by
Lauren Bacall,
Martin Balsam,
Jacqueline Bisset,
Sean Connery,
Wendy Hiller,
John Gielgud,
Anthony Perkins,
Vanessa Redgrave, and
Ingrid Bergman, whose performance won her a third Academy Award. (In her acceptance speech,
Bergman apologized for her win, insisting that
Day for Night's
Valentina Cortese deserved the prize.) The first and best in a long line of contemporary
Christie adaptations, the film scores on atmosphere, period detail, and richness of characterization.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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