Murder on the Orient Express (2001)

Hercule Poirot, now in modern times, investigates the famous crime on the famed train with a modern twist.

Director:

Carl Schenkel

Writers:

Agatha Christie (novel), Stephen Harrigan (teleplay)

Stars:

Alfred Molina, Meredith Baxter, Leslie Caron

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Alfred Molina	...	Hercule Poirot
Meredith Baxter	...	Mrs. Caroline Hubbard
Leslie Caron	...	Sra. Alvarado
Amira Casar	...	Helena von Strauss
Nicolas Chagrin	...	Pierre Michel
Tasha de Vasconcelos	...	Vera Rossakoff
David Hunt	...	Bob Arbuthnot
Adam James	...	William MacQueen
Dylan Smith	...	Tony Foscarelli
Peter Strauss	...	Mr. Samuel Ratchett
Fritz Wepper	...	Wolfgang Bouc
Kai Wiesinger	...	Philip von Strauss
Natasha Wightman	...	Mary Debenham

Storyline

Agatha Christie's classic whodunit speeds into the twenty-first century. World-famous sleuth Hercule Poirot has just finished a case in Istanbul and is returning home to London onboard the luxurious Orient Express. But, the train comes to a sudden halt when a rock slide blocks the tracks ahead. And all the thrills of riding the famous train come to a halt when a man discovered dead in his compartment, stabbed nine times. The train is stranded. No one has gotten on or gotten off. That can only mean one thing: the killer is onboard, and it is up to Hercule Poirot to find him.

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Plot Keywords:

laser surgery | snake tattoo | reference to ross perot | plastic surgery | web search | 

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Taglines:

Agatha Christie's ultimate whodunit speeds into the twenty-first century.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Carl Schenkel's last film.

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Goofs

While Poirot is examining Ratchett's body for the second time, Ratchett is still breathing.

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Quotes

Wolfgang Bouc: I thought you despised computers.
Hercule Poirot: I do. They are a very poor substitute for the little gray cells, but sometimes they are surprisingly useful.

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Connections

Referenced in David Suchet on the Orient Express (2010)

User Reviews

Stalled Train

One of the most exhilarating things is to see a remake or another version of a film where at least one of the films or the source book is excellent.

That way, when you see even a poor version, you recall in your mind the excellent one, plus perhaps a number of metanarratives about previous experiences. And the meta-meta about the relationships among them, each one a puzzle.

In this case, we have a remarkable book, truly tricky. We have no good film versions among the three I have seen. Lumet's is the most famous; it is entertaining, lush and has some rudimentary notion of the importance of the space. It also has the finest performance of Ingrid Bergman's career, just a few minutes, but truly remarkable.

But it was not good. The book depends on the arrangement of the cars, the compartments and the doors between. There's a spatial logic to the thing that the puzzle is based on, and Lumet ignores it completely. So too here. And of course, we don't have recognizable actors, and what we have aren't encouraged to perform to excess. They are simply there, and fewer than in the book. The number is significant.

So it is not particularly good mystery, but neither were the Finney (Lumet) and Suchet (Blue Train) versions. What's interesting here is how the thing is now set in the modern era. Actually in 2001 before 9-11. Some mechanics are modernized and the writer somehow thought computer technology could do the job alone.

The big change is in Poirot. He isn't an officious penguin, He isn't obsessed with the mechanics of evil. And — surely the most interesting — he isn't celibate and in fact is involved with an incredibly sexy woman. Her scenes are the most well done and effective, actually, and the notion is so shocking that it jars the whole metastructure we balance on top of this production.

She's a not quite reformed jewel thief. At the end, it is obvious that the two as lovers and codetectives were to be a team in further adventures. These never happened of course. But its a great idea: old and young, both geniuses, he emotionally inept but cerebral and she emotionally damaged (a prior murder) and overflowing with an understanding of how life works.

I would have watched it.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 April 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Asesinato en el Orient Express

Company Credits

Production Co:

Daniel H. Blatt Productions, Agatha Christie, Chorion

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1