“Murder on the Orient Express” – a Crime Story with a Touch of Nostalgia

Title: “Murder on the Orient Express”

Release Date: 1974

Director: Sidney Lumet

Cast: Albert Finney, Ingrid Bergman, Lauren Bacall, Jacqueline Bisset, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Perkins, Martin Balsam, Richard Widmark, Michael York, Rachel Roberts

Agatha Christie’s famous crime novel “Murder on the Orient Express”, brought to the screen in 1974 by Sidney Lumet, is a pure classic of the genre. Instead of innovative experiments, the director opted for fidelity to the famous writer’s prose. And there’s something else: the film, set in 1930, is an expression of nostalgia for pre-war Europe, as the carriages of a prestigious railway line are filled with a representative group of characters from different parts of the old continent.

The splendor of the Orient Express, old-fashioned customs, the impeccable manners of the passengers, and their shared sense of belonging to a common culture paint a picture of a world that will irrevocably fall apart in just a few years. Viewers, boarding the train from Istanbul to Calais, can enjoy this atmosphere, especially as it is created by a whole host of Hollywood stars: Albert Finney as detective Hercules Poirot, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Perkins and Jacqueline Bisset.

“Murder on the Orient Express”– a classic crime novel

“Murder on the Orient Express”, one of Agatha Christie’s most famous novels, was published in 1934. Sidney Lumet, in his film adaptation of this crime novel, decided to remain faithful to the original, which greatly pleased the author, who highly praised the film. We are dealing here with a classic detective story plot. The famous Hercules Poirot, currently in Istanbul, receives a telegram summoning him back to Great Britain. At the last minute, he boards the Orient Express bound for Calais and, thanks to the intervention of his friend, the railway director, manages to get a bed in a first-class compartment.

Soon, one of the train passengers, an American millionaire named Ratchett (Richard Widmark), asks the famous detective for help. He claims that he has been receiving anonymous threatening letters for some time and that someone is out to kill him. However, Poirot rejects the offer of $15,000 to take on the case, which he considers uninteresting. That same night, due to a snowstorm, the train is trapped in the Alps, and in the morning, the train crew finds Mr. Ratchett’s body. Bianchi (Martin Balsam) asks Poirot to take on the investigation before they reach their destination, so that unnecessary publicity can be avoided.

The detective accepts the offer and eagerly begins his investigation. Poirot quickly discovers that the alleged American businessman was in fact a fugitive kidnapper and murderer of a three-year-old girl, Daisy Armstrong, and that his actions led to the deaths of five innocent people. What’s more, it turns out that each of the twelve passengers in the first-class carriage not only heard about the high-profile case in America, but was directly connected to the Armstrong family, so everyone has a motive... The solution to the mystery will prove to be extremely surprising…

The movie “Murder on the Orient Express” – a great adaptation by Sidney Lumet

Sidney Lumet’s “Murder on the Orient Express” is an extremely successful adaptation of Agatha Christie’s novel. The 1970s were one of the best periods in the career of the director, who made his debut with the excellent film “Twelve Angry Men.”

It was then that Lumet made a name for himself as a creator of excellent psychological thrillers with a strong socio-political background. Suffice it to mention such classics as “Serpico” (1973) and “Dog Day Afternoon” (1975), both with excellent performances by Al Pacino. In “Murder on the Orient Express”, the director offers the viewer a classic crime formula, i.e. the pleasure of gradually unraveling the tangled threads of the mystery. However, he draws heavily on his theatrical experience. Lumet, the son of actors, made his stage debut at the age of five, and in 1947 he founded an acting school to rival the famous Actors Studio. Lumet’s adaptation of Agatha Christie’s prose is characterized by a distinctive theatricality, which finds expression in the organization of the action around the characters’ striking dialogues and monologues.

The auditions of the successive passengers are a true masterpiece: the classic art of conversation is intertwined with rhetorical and eristic figures, while at the same time providing an opportunity to present the interesting profiles of the successive characters in the plot. The climactic murder scene (recreated in the finale by Poirot) and the ending sequence, when the characters bow to the audience, are also extremely theatrical.

Of course, the set design and the theatrical nature of the props cannot be underestimated. Every clue: a burnt piece of paper, a button torn from the killer’s uniform, a handkerchief with the initial H sewn on it, and finally the murder weapon – a bloodstained dagger – are almost independent characters in the story, appearing on the film stage with appropriate introduction and in such a way as to have a specific effect on the audience.

“Murder on the Orient Express” – elements of horror cinema

It is worth noting that in Lumet’s “Murder on the Orient Express”, the crime story is combined with elements of horror cinema. The extremely dark murder scene has a clearly ritualistic character: the act of stabbing is accompanied by a spoken formula – a spell. The final behavior of the characters, when they approach the grieving women with glasses of champagne, resembles a cult ritual. The number 12, which appears in various configurations, also plays a significant role: 12 wounds, 12 passengers, 12 judges.

Murder on the Orient Express – Ingrid Bergman

The use of a convention associated with horror gives the murder a deeper, almost metaphysical character. This is not a “simple” murder, but the meting out of justice, the restoration of the order of nature violated by evil. According to traditional morality, crime must be punished. The passengers of the Orient Express become almost executors of fate, as indicated by Poirot’s toast at the beginning of the journey: “In three days, all these people, complete strangers, met on a train whose engine controls their destiny.” The metaphor of the journey as life is thus combined here with the motif of life as theater: in both cases, the characters function as actors playing their assigned roles.

Lumet’s “Murder on the Orient Express” – a showcase for Hollywood stars

And if we’re talking about actors, then of course we mean the best ones, for which Sidney Lumet’s films are famous. “Murder on the Orient Express” features a pantheon of Hollywood stars. The lead role of the legendary Hercule Poirot was brilliantly played by Albert Finney. He perfectly captured the personality of his character: his love of good food, his attention to manners and the appearance of his moustache, and above all, his brilliant mind, which connects distant facts and clues. Ingrid Bergman, who won an Oscar for her role as Mrs. Ohlsson, is the embodiment of a Swedish missionary who, under the influence of a religious revelation, decides to help “brown children.” Her modesty in dress and manners, poor English, and piety are so far removed from the image of a great star that they almost command respect for the craftsmanship of the Scandinavian actress.

Lauren Bacall as the eccentric, pushy Mrs. Hubbard also leaves a lasting impression on viewers. Her sexually suggestive focus on men and her love of luxury make her the perfect embodiment of a born coquette looking for a wealthy companion. Sean Connery has the opportunity to showcase his masculine qualities as Colonel Arbuthnott, a gentleman defending the honor of his beloved. Jacqueline Bisset is extremely charming as Countess Andrenyi, and Wendy Hiller, who plays Princess Dragomiroff, is an almost ghostly figure straight out of a Gothic novel. It is impossible not to mention Anthony Perkins, the matter-of-fact assistant to an American millionaire, whose rationalism begs for the mask of the murderer from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho to appear behind him at any moment.

“Murder on the Orient Express” – nostalgia for old Europe

Murder on the Orient Express – Lauren Bacall

Beyond the level of criminal intrigue and philosophical parable about the eternal order of nature, “Murder on the Orient Express” is also a picture of pre-war Europe. The old continent appears as a community of thought, values, and culture, clearly distinct from the exotic East. European identity is symbolically contrasted with the Orient, and the characters return to Western civilization with relief. It is only on the Orient Express that Poirot can say that he finally enjoys the wine and that the exquisite meal is a feast for his palate.

The luxurious train is photographed with real reverence in Lumet’s film. The splendor of the first-class compartments, the crystal glasses and silver tableware in the restaurant, the impeccable manners of the staff—all this creates the atmosphere of an elite world and an old hierarchical social order. We also see long, majestic shots of the departing train, whose endless carriages are like the famous Titanic – taking passengers on an unforgettable journey of a lifetime.

What is more, the Orient Express is a miniature version of the entire continent, as the characters represent different European nations: there are British, German, Belgian, French, Swedish, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, and Russian passengers. There are also Americans, which brings to mind the entire Western civilization. Everyone finds a common language, and national divisions are clearly pushed into the background in the face of a dominant awareness of belonging to one culture. However, this is a world that is about to fall apart, swept away by the cataclysm of a great war, knocked out of its clear division of values and plunged into permanent crisis. With his film, Lumet returns to that time – Murder on the Orient Express is an expression of nostalgia for classic crime literature, the traditional order of values, and old Europe.