Wordiezett So much average

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Ian (Flash Review)The crux of this movie is, as the title implies, a murder had taken place on a train in the first class car while stranded mid-journey waiting for the snow covered tracks to get plowed. This started off pretty good but then once detective Poirot got involved began an endless stretch of him telling us what he was figuring out for clues. Clues that the audience most likely would not be able to figure out for themselves (or like me lost interest by then) by how the story unfolded. So the entire film is the audience being spoon-fed intricate clues as Poirot interviews the entire train car with unique characters, bland cinematography and iffy lighting. The acting, costumes and dialog were professional with a who's who of actors of that era. With the repetitive nature of the story, I almost fell asleep a couple times and I'm someone who can happily re-watch Barry Lyndon. Ha. Overall this didn't seem to make good use of the storytelling medium of film.

Harry T. Yung Watching the new Branagh remake triggered re-watching the 1974 version which in turn lead to this posting which is not exactly a review. More like a "deconstruction", I'd say. In the movie, Poirot makes reference to 12 passengers and 12 stab wounds. But they are all different.Let's start with the murderers. One way of deconstructing them is by their relations to the Armstrong Case deaths:Blood/marriage relation to victim: 1. Mrs Hubband (Lauren bacall) 2. Princess Dragomiroff (Wendy Hiller) 3. Countess Andrenyi (Jacqueline Bisset) 4. Count Andrenyi (Michael York)Armstrong household employees: 5. Greta, nursemaid (Ingrid Bergman) 6. Hildegarde, cook (Rachel Roberts) 7. Beddoes, butler (John Gielgud) 8. Mary Debenham, secretary (Vanessa Redgrave) 9. Foscarelli, chauffer (Denis Quilley)Loved one of the wronged housemaid who killed herself: 10. Pierre, father (Jean-Pierre Cassel, father) 11. Hardman, sweetheart, a policeman (Colin Blakely)Colonel Armstrong's colleague 12. Arbuthnot (Sean Connery)Other association: 13. McQueen, would-be stage protegee (Anthony Perkins)Yes, 13 murderers! How would than reconcile to the various number of 12?For passengers, Pierre does not count as he is the train conductor. (There are 4 other passengers who do not count: the victim, Poirot, Martin Balsam's company director cum Poirot's host, George Coulouris's doctor who happens to be on the train).The mystery of the 12 stab wounds is even simpler. The Count and Countess held the knife together, executing one single stab. Characters in Branagh's version stay largely with the original but there are also some changes, in names as well as background. Some would call them innovative and clever; others stupid and irritating. But that's another story.

tlooknbill From Sergio Leone's spaghetti Westerns to the makers of "Taken" there is something about European productions and their set locations in a movie that makes me feel like a stranger in a strange land as an American and Murder On The Orient Express has this in spades. It's engagingly balanced by its character driven story making it more gripping and entertaining though you do have to pay attention due to its use of flashbacks in connecting the dots.I saw this movie in the theaters in '75 when I was a teen and was just taken to another world that felt dangerous with the "you're on your own" aspect of traveling abroad (without the traveler's diarrhea) while running into some of the most quirky, creepy, eccentric and odd behaving characters that one might expect to meet on a train in Europe in the '30's. This seemingly eccentric behavior runs interference in hiding the truth about why and what would bring together on one train 12 oddball characters who seem to have nothing in common. Poirot slowly and diabolically works his way in his questioning of the 12 to make the connections.That ensemble of convincingly cagey acting characters is what the audience and Poirot must break through aided by effectively and obviously placed brief flashbacks to confessions and character back story each character reveals that at first were obscured by first impressions. Of course Poirot humorously dismisses with smart ass and equally quirky European flare and sophistication the suspect's phony behavior as a form of personal interrogation to rattle them in order to draw out more detail that points to the real murderer. Standouts in this form of re-remembering what was said outside the context of first impressions at the start of the movie is performances by oddly pasty pale complected Anthony Perkins and Ingrid Bergman's nervously, devout humanitarian character. The performances are not from your typical B-movie detective who done it.As a teen I was totally confused by these flashbacks and line of questioning even though I had read several Agatha Christie novels including "Murder On The Orient Express". The book had no flashbacks. This movie actually creates a whole other more interesting and character driven way to tell a who done it detective murder mystery in a most elegant and stylish way while remaining brilliantly grounded and believable by the performances of top shelf actors in gorgeous and authentic looking '30's era costumes.Through the years I've had to watch this movie several times in TV re-runs to understand the connections provided by the flashbacks even though I already knew the surprise ending. It's still fun to watch and I can't wait for the US release of the Blu-ray. I wish I could give the same review of the 2017 remake I saw last night.

cinemajesty Opening in classic decor title cards salmon-colored silk followed by a Film Noir styled montage of light and shadow paired with newspaper bulletins and cinematographic shutter speed changes initiated by lighting cameraman Geoffrey Unsworth gives the otherwise classical content of an infant kidnapping inspired by actual event from March 1st 1932 of baby boy Charles Lindbergh Jr., Director Sidney Lumet establishes a visual mystery that will last to the premising shot conclusion.The director had been able to be blessed by one of the major casting ensemble of its time, produced in Season 1973/1974, starting all out-going screen presence from Albert Finney as the main character private investigator Hercule Poirot to Lauren Bacall as the supporting character of Mrs. Hubbard over to Richard Widmark performing as the business criminal Ratchett, who becomes the object of murder on an express train from Istanbul to Paris, which gets stuck in ice and snow in the middle of nowhere, a scenario which had been repeated in production season 2016/2017 from Director Kenneth Branagh, who does not shy away to take on the main role of Hercule Poirot himself and further fostering a major ensemble cast with Johnny Depp as Ratchett and Michelle Pfeifer as Mrs. Hubbard and more to revealed in November 2017. Beauty, excellency and splendor on the train, which departs at around 20 minutes into the "Murder On The Orient Express", Director Sidney Lumet keeps tight focus on any of his twelve murder-involved characters to give them some screen-time to make a mark towards an investigating streak by the character of Hercule Poirot, which still seeking an equal in emotional sophistication, mental navigation and a portion of humorous ease at work, which makes the film another candidate for multiple revisits.Nevertheless some characters established with extraordinary effort at on-location exteriors as the hidden affair of Mary Debenham & Colonel Arbuthnot, performed by Venessa Redgrave and Sean Connery, have one or two decisive moments as striking couple in the film, but their relationship never gets the flourishing beat besides practicing murder as within an unit of twelve, which probably let screenwriter Michael Green of the 2017 remake exchange the character of Mary Debenham to a young, in this case Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley, and making the character of Arbuthnot become a doctor instead of a military officer. When it comes to the blue-lit 12 hit-stabbing of the character of Ratchett, every character dies alone in the moment of committing murder, before reviving each and everyone's spirit in the contradicting scene of drinking a glass of champagne after getting exposed by Hercule Poirot, who does not loose his temper once to be the master of persistence and as to say breaking the ice with anybody he encounters.Director Sidney Lumet and Cinematographer Goeffrey Unsworth had everything under controlling timetables with building constant suspense and excitement with skillful scenario camera pan, as on the train station platform, catching three major supporting character delivering beats in one single panning shot from left to right, which presented editor Anne V. Coates with the coverage to keep the pace for an exceptional Thriller, which finishes without one single action sequence.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)