Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
Country: GB/US
Technical: col 128m
Director: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Albert Finney, Ingrid Bergman, Lauren Bacall, Richard Widmark, Anthony Perkins, Wendy Hiller, Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Connery, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Martin Balsam, John Gielgud, Rachel Roberts
Synopsis:
The historic case of an infant kidnapping and ransom perhaps lies at the heart of a brutal slaying aboard the train soon after it leaves Istanbul in 1935. There is one last-minute passenger who might clear things up: Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot.
Review:
Quite star-studded and most handsomely produced of the EMI Christie adaptations of the 70s-80s. Certainly Lumet sustains wonderful period detail and chilly atmosphere as the locomotive lies stranded in a snow drift. Acting honours undoubtedly go to Finney's extraordinary box-of-tricks performance, but the stiffness of his body language extends to some of the other playing, as if the cast is struggling to get past the makeup and into the idiom. However, the screenplay does not strain after effect as it does in the remake.
Country: GB/US
Technical: col 128m
Director: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Albert Finney, Ingrid Bergman, Lauren Bacall, Richard Widmark, Anthony Perkins, Wendy Hiller, Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Connery, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Martin Balsam, John Gielgud, Rachel Roberts
Synopsis:
The historic case of an infant kidnapping and ransom perhaps lies at the heart of a brutal slaying aboard the train soon after it leaves Istanbul in 1935. There is one last-minute passenger who might clear things up: Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot.
Review:
Quite star-studded and most handsomely produced of the EMI Christie adaptations of the 70s-80s. Certainly Lumet sustains wonderful period detail and chilly atmosphere as the locomotive lies stranded in a snow drift. Acting honours undoubtedly go to Finney's extraordinary box-of-tricks performance, but the stiffness of his body language extends to some of the other playing, as if the cast is struggling to get past the makeup and into the idiom. However, the screenplay does not strain after effect as it does in the remake.
Country: GB/US
Technical: col 128m
Director: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Albert Finney, Ingrid Bergman, Lauren Bacall, Richard Widmark, Anthony Perkins, Wendy Hiller, Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Connery, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Martin Balsam, John Gielgud, Rachel Roberts
Synopsis:
The historic case of an infant kidnapping and ransom perhaps lies at the heart of a brutal slaying aboard the train soon after it leaves Istanbul in 1935. There is one last-minute passenger who might clear things up: Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot.
Review:
Quite star-studded and most handsomely produced of the EMI Christie adaptations of the 70s-80s. Certainly Lumet sustains wonderful period detail and chilly atmosphere as the locomotive lies stranded in a snow drift. Acting honours undoubtedly go to Finney's extraordinary box-of-tricks performance, but the stiffness of his body language extends to some of the other playing, as if the cast is struggling to get past the makeup and into the idiom. However, the screenplay does not strain after effect as it does in the remake.