![]() Branagh's is (like his Poirot) ponderous, a tear-soaked water cracker. Lumet's film was clean and quick and crisp. ![]() The famous mystery poses an interesting moral challenge - what if the murder victim is an awful person? - and works it through as Agatha Christie often did: drily, methodically, modeling Poirot's clinical interest even as it exposed everyone else's silliness by comparison. ![]() It's a moment that captures the film's tone exactly. If you've seen the film, you likely remember the moment when Wendy Hiller started to crack a wry, crooked smile as the formidable Princess Dragomiroff. It, too, had an all-star cast, with Albert Finney as Poirot and turns from the likes of Vanessa Redgrave, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, Lauren Bacall, and Jacqueline Bisset. Sidney Lumet's 1974 Murder on the Orient Express was - like Clue, which in some ways parodied it - both sumptuous and understated, cozy and threatening, equal parts thrilling and dry and absurd. No one could have done it but the folks on the train, and a fascinating study of the passengers on board ensues. ![]() ![]() Poirot refuses, the train hits a snowdrift, and Ratchett is murdered overnight. He tells Poirot his life is in danger and tries to hire him for protection. Among the passengers is a rather sinister individual named Ratchett (played here by Johnny Depp). The setup of Christie's most famous bottle episode, if you don't know it, is pretty simple: Poirot boards the Orient Express in the dead of winter, hoping for a respite before he starts on his next case. ![]()
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