Click Here to watch a brief trailer for the movie, Murder on the Orient Express
Cast: Kenneth Branagh, Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi
I love a good movie, don’t you? I was delighted that the new Agatha Christie movie was making an appearance in our Rocky Mount, NC movie theater. Murder on the Orient Express has a great cast, is beautifully filmed, but I am conflicted when writing about the overall impression of the movie. I wouldn’t want you to miss it, but I wonder if you won’t agree that Kenneth Branagh leaves a lot to be desired as Poirot and that this brilliant cast comes off flat and passionless. It’s a great mystery, and you may remember begins with Hercule Poirot arriving at the Tokatlain Hotel after catching the Taurus Express from Aleppo in Syria traveling to Istanbul. Once there, Poirot receives a telegram prompting him to return to London. He instructs the concierge to book a first-class compartment on the Simplon-Orient Express leaving that night. The train is fully booked, and Poirot is able to secure a second-class berth with the intervention of his friend M. Bouc, a fellow Belgian who is a director of the train line. Here then is the setting for a murder with all the passengers as suspects, and a crime to be solved. See the movie and let me know what you think.
With the new movie release, let us tip our hat to Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976,) English crime novelist, short story writer, and playwright. She is best known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around her fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. Murder on the Orient Express was published in 1934.
Book Jackets for this famous mystery
SaveSave
I’m with you, Stepheny. I really enjoyed this movie, even though I knew the ending and had seen the previous movie version (1976). I liked the fact that Murder on the Nile was presaged at the end!