Murder on the Orient Express (2001) (TV)

Director:

Carl Schenkel

Writers (WGA):

Agatha Christie (novel)
Stephen Harrigan (teleplay)

Release Date:

22 April 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Tagline:

Agatha Christie's ultimate whodunit speeds into the twenty-first century.

Plot:

Hercule Poirot, now in modern times, investigates the famous crime on the famed train with a modern twist.

Plot Keywords:

Train | Hercule Poirot | Rock Slide | Orient Express | Whodunit

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Alfred Molina	...	Hercule Poirot
Meredith Baxter	...	Mrs. Caroline Hubbard
Leslie Caron	...	Sra. Alvarado
Amira Casar	...	Helena von Strauss
Nicolas Chagrin	...	Pierre Michel
Tasha de Vasconcelos	...	Vera Rossakoff
David Hunt	...	Bob Arbuthnot
Adam James	...	William MacQueen
Dylan Smith	...	Tony Foscarelli
Peter Strauss	...	Mr. Samuel Ratchett
Fritz Wepper	...	Wolfgang Bouc
Kai Wiesinger	...	Philip von Strauss
Natasha Wightman	...	Mary Debenham

Runtime:

100 min | Germany:85 min | Brazil:93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

Daniel H. Blatt Productions

Goofs:

Continuity: On departure from Istanbul the first car of the train is named Perseus. When stopped at the rockfall, the first car is Lucille.

Quotes:

Hercule Poirot: I am never in a hurry, and when the world slows down to my pace, I find it very agreeable.

Movie Connections:

References Fight Club (1999)

not good

The 1974 movie of this book was a mixed bag. Obligations to the all-star cast caused most of the problems, as the writers and editors jockeyed to give everyone an equitable amount of screen time, an actorly moment and some close-ups. This prevented it from being a very deep film, and Sidney Lumet is really only a workmanlike filmmaker. But still, despite those limitations, there is much pleasure in the earlier version; the wordless flashback prologue of a kidnapping is beautifully done. Rare for a murder mystery, the unfolding of the solution provides a startling, satisfying emotional payload.

For this retelling, a decision was made to update the material to the contemporary era. The topical references that acknowledge the world has changed since the thirties really achieve naught, except perhaps alleviating some writers fear that the material is passé... There's too many of these self-conscious references (to air travel, the internet, VCRs, taking the Express out of mothballs, Ross Perot) and they become annoying. Other changes are there simply because filmmakers thought it would make it more conventional (Hercule Poirot has a ridiculous romantic interest, "Vera"). The biggest bummer is the substitution of a utilitarian diesel engine for the original stylish steam locomotive. Thud.

Ultimately these revisions add nothing to the movie and seem to have taken the focus off producing a tight, compelling, methodical script.

The highlight of the previous movie was the cross-cutting between the temporal time-frame and the crime. This movie lifts that technique, but doesn't really come up with any contribution of it's own. The color palette, the research and the envisioning of the crime were all more vivid in the earlier version.

Alfred Molina is pretty bad in this. It just isn't interesting.