Murder on the Orient Express

Murder on the Orient Express (1974) is about a killing on a train stranded by snow in the Balkans. There are twelve suspects in the carriage, nobody can get on or off, and Hercule Poirot happens to be travelling on it. The background of the murder comes from a real case. The kidnapping and killing of Daisy Armstrong in the story is drawn from the abduction and death of Charles Lindbergh's infant son in 1932. Agatha Christie was generally cool towards adaptations but approved this one. Her husband Max Mallowan said she gave it a rather grudging appreciation. Her explicit complaint was Albert Finney's moustache; in the books Poirot has the finest moustache in England, and Christie said it was a pity. Ingrid Bergman turned down Princess Dragomiroff, which she was offered, for the much smaller part of Greta Ohlsson. Sidney Lumet filmed her five minute monologue in a single unbroken take, and she won her third Oscar for it, for Best Supporting Actress. It cost 1.4 million dollars and grossed between 36 and 37.7 million worldwide. It runs 128 minutes. Good for: classical puzzle mysteries, star ensembles, and crimes in enclosed spaces. Less good for: the pace is slow and the first half is almost entirely introductions. Poirot's solution arrives as a long speech, and if the form is not for you the last twenty minutes play like a lecture.