Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Definitely up to Agatha Christie standards, 7 Sep 2008
The movie was made as a period piece. There are great scenes of the express, landscapes, food and other items. The costumes are also very plush. Even though the movie is star studded the actors to not out shine the characters they play.
As usual Hercule is in earshot of many private conversations that will be used later to his sleuthing advantage once processed by his little gray cells. On the train Hercule (Albert Finney) is approached by an American business man who tries to heir him for protection. Hercule turns him down and the next morning the business man is dead.
This movie has everything that makes Agatha Christie movies great. Everyone is a suspect. Everybody could have done it. Only Hercule Poirot can figure this out. Naturally Hercule Poirot must sort through the red herrings to extract the truth. This time he comes up with two different answers. You need to add this one to your collection.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beat this Mr Suchet !, 19 Jan 2008
This is a classy , lavish adaptation of a brilliant novel ! Albert Finney had Dame Agatha Christies blessing to play the great Hercule Poirot and watching it I can see why . Vannessa Redgrave , Sean Connery , Michael York , Lauren Bacall and Ingrid Bergman along with John Giulgud are very well cast in a film that stays loyal to the novel in question . With this film being so very impressive - it is no wonder that Sir Peter Ustinov never attempted to film his own version and that ITV have never done a David Suchet adaptation of Murder On The Orient Express . They probably feared that their efforts would suffer through being compared with Albert Finney's excellent movie . It is a piece that combines characters with real depth & substance and a powerful , dark storyline . Like Evil Under The Sun an unsolved past case is a prelude to another murder . It is every bit as clever as The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd - only the plotline is so first rate that Hastings , Japp and Miss Lemon are not needed as devices to capture the attention of the viewer via bolted on comic sub plots . But it manages to keep auidiences on the edge of their seat without the kind of raucous spicing up that so ruined the adaptation of Cards On The Table ( as broadcast in 2006 ) . The people behind Murder On The Orient Express can be well pleased with this classic , iconic film - no wonder it was the most popular British film of 1974 beating even the legendary Carry On Dick .
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Classic title, stellar cast, 9 April 2009
In this timeless classic, our Belgian detective (in his usual timely manner) finds himself on the Orient Express just as a murder takes place. A snow drift forces the train to stop, giving Poirot time to interview each of the passengers and investigate what turns out to be a most intricate case. As the detective unravels the clues left by the unknown assassin; the statements of the suspects; the murder's connection with the notorious Armstrong case from years earlier, we get the distinct impression that things are not as simple as they seem... and now we have ourselves a show.
I find Albert Finney's Poirot is not as purely cultivated as that of David Suchet, who has had years to perfect his role as the Belgian detective... but frankly, this is a matter of taste. Finney is not at all bad, even if I don't personally fancy his particular interpretation. The accent is a bit poor, but his body language, even his loudness does not bother me; it is a different way of doing it, but not at all out of place.
The rest of the cast, however, deserve a paragraph of their own. It is a list of juggernauts - Lauren Bacall is sharp, cold and talkative; Jacqueline Bisset shy and beautiful; Michael York the perfect gentleman; Sean Connery his usual authoritative and cultivated self; Vanessa Redgrave a golden bird lighting up the room whenever she enters; Ingrid Bergman a visual talent très magnifique. The list goes on, and that Bergman was the only one to take home an Oscar after this is a mystery to me - it could just as easily have been a nomination for Connery, Bacall and especially the director: Sidney Lumet. Frankly, the director did an excellent job keeping all this talent in check; you would want to unleash them all, giving each of them more time on the screen just as a matter of course... but that might have been a case of getting too much of a good thing - taking the limelight away from the mystery and its main protagonist: Hercule Poirot.
This item offers good value for money. It is a single DVD in a normal box, no extra wrappings, booklets or discs. You don't want that in a thing such as this. This film is a classic, and you don't really want hour upon hour of interviews with people you have hardly heard of, telling you about the intricacies of classic film-making and how the cast members insisted upon getting fresh pineapples in their trailers every morning... face it: all you want is the film itself on DVD - no sugar added. This item gives you that pleasure for less than a fiver - a good deal, my little grey cells think.
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