Marking a point of departure for vet director Sidney Lumet, Murder on the Orient Express is a glitzy, elegant, amd engaging (if not too deep) all-star production of Agatha Christie’s whodunit, set in the 1930s within the confines of the famous (and notorious) titular train.
Grade: B+
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Original British quad format film poster
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Albert Finney is almost unrecognizable in his role as super-sleuth Hercule Poirot. Donning a wig and speaking in a heavy Belgian accent, Finney received a Best Actor nomination for stretching his skills, rewarding his mannerisms and eccentricities rather than acting chops (manifest in many previous features).
Finney’s Poirot is asked to resolve the murder of a nasty businessman (played by Richard Widmark). The diverse group suspects are played by Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Wendy Hiller, Rachel Roberts, Sean Connery, Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Perkins, John Gielgud, Michael York and Jacqueline Bisset.
A classy colorful entertainment, the film offers some pleasures, prime among which is spotting the stars, all name-actors playing small (and cameo) roles.
Sharp viewers may be able to detect the resolution, long before it arrives, but they will still have fun taking the ride with the film’s elegant and its varied illustrious performers.
The movie was so popular at the box-office that it launched a cycle of films of many lavish Christie adaptations, though this is clearly the first and one of the best.
Ingrid Bergman, who used her native Swedish for the role of the neurotic missionary, won her third Oscar, this time in the Supporting Actress category. Initially Lumet wanted Bergman to play the part of the Russian princess (later cast with Wendy Hiller).
Oscar Nominations: 6
Actor: Albert Finney
Supporting Actress: Ingrid Bergman
Screenplay (Adapted): Paul Dehn
Camera: Geoffrey Unsworth
Score (Dramatic): Richard Rodney Bennett
Costume: Tony Walton
Oscar Awards: 1
Supporting Actress: Ingrid Bergman
Oscar Context:
The winners of the Adapted screenplay Oscar were Coppola and Mario Puzo for The Godfather, Part II, which also won the Dramatic Score Oscar for Carmine Coppola and Nino Rotta.
The Cinematography Oscar went to Fred Koenekamp and Joseph Biroc for The Towering Inferno. Theoni V. Aldredge won costume design for the period drama, The Great Gatsby.
Cast
Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot
Lauren Bacall as Mrs. Hubbard/Linda Arden
Martin Balsam as Bianchi
Ingrid Bergman as Greta Ohlsson
Jacqueline Bisset as Countess Helena Andrenyi
Jean-Pierre Cassel as Pierre Paul Michel
Sean Connery as Colonel John Arbuthnott
John Gielgud as Edward Beddoes
Wendy Hiller as Princess Natalia Dragomiroff
Anthony Perkins as Hector McQueen
Vanessa Redgrave as Mary Debenham
Rachel Roberts as Hildegarde Schmidt
Richard Widmark as Ratchett/Lanfranco Cassetti
Michael York as Count Rudolf Andrenyi
Colin Blakely as Cyrus B. Hardman
George Coulouris as Dr. Constantine
Denis Quilley as Antonio Foscarelli
Vernon Dobtcheff as Concierge
Jeremy Lloyd as A.D.C.
Credits:
Directed by Sidney Lumet
Screenplay by Paul Dehn, based on “Murder on the Orient Express”
1934 novel by Agatha Christie
Produced by John Brabourne, Richard Goodwin
Cinematography Geoffrey Unsworth
Edited by Anne V. Coates
Music by Richard Rodney Bennett
Production companies: G.W. Films Limited, EMI Films
Distributed by Anglo-EMI Film Distributors
Release date: November 21, 1974 (UK)
Running time: 128 minutes
Budget: about $2.0 million
Box office $37.7 million
