Murd*r on the Orient Express was directed by Sidney Lumet and released in 1974, produced by John Brabourne and Richard Goodwin and based on Agatha Christie’s 1934 novel of the same name.
Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney), a Belgian detective is tasked with solving the de@th of an American business magnate on the Orient Express.
Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Vanessa Redgrave, Michael York, Rachel Roberts, Jacqueline Bisset, Anthony Perkins, Richard Widmark and Wendy Hiller all play suspects in this film. Paul Dehn penned the script for this film.
Both audiences and critics enjoyed the film. The film was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Actor (for Finney), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design and Bergman took home the trophy for Best Supporting Actress.
What is the Plot of Murd*r on the Orient Express 1974
News clippings of Daisy Armstrong’s 1930 kidnapping and murd*r open the video. After solving a case for a British Army garrison in Jordan, Hercule Poirot travels to London on the Orient Express from Istanbul in December 1935 and meets his old acquaintance Signor Bianchi.
The other passengers are American widow Harriet Belinda Hubbard, English governess Mary Debenham, Swedish missionary Greta Ohlsson, American businessman Samuel Ratchett with his secretary/translator Hector McQueen, English valet Edward Beddoes and many more others.
Once the train leaves, Ratchett tries to hire Poirot for $15,000 as a bodyguard. Poirot declines Ratchett’s offer, saying “my interest in your case is fading.” Bianchi gives Poirot his compartment and shares a carriage with Greek doctor Stavros Constantine that night.
A letter fragment found at the crime scene revealed that Ratchett was criminal Lanfranco Cassetti, who five years previously arranged the kidnapping and murd*r of Daisy Armstrong, the baby daughter of rich British Army Colonel Hamish Armstrong and his American wife, Sonia.
On the eve of his partner’s death, Cassetti’s Mafia associate betrayed him and fled with the ransom money. Grief-stricken Mrs. Armstrong prematurely delivered a stillborn baby and died. Colonel Armstrong committed su!cide due to family loss.
Paulette, a French maidservant wrongfully accused of kidn@pping, committed herself to avoid incarceration but was found innocent. A pipe cleaner, an “H” handkerchief, Cassetti’s broken watch and a conductor’s uniform provide more evidence.
Poirot’s timeline of passenger actions the night before suggests Cassetti was murd*red at 1:15 a.m., the time of the smashed watch and scream. The coach was isolated overnight, thus the murd*rer must been a passenger or Pierre Michel, the train’s French conductor.
Mrs. Hubbard found the bloodied knife in her room after seeing a man. Foscarelli strongly implies a Mafia conflict caused the murd*r. He learns McQueen was the son of the Armstrong case’s District Attorney and was very fond of Mrs. Armstrong.
Poirot presents two murd*r solutions to the suspects. He suggests not dismissing either. The first suggests that an unknown guy disguised himself as a conductor stabbed Ratchett/Cassetti and fled the train through the snow. Bianchi and Dr. Constantine find this ludicrous, but Poirot suggests they rethink.
The second, more elaborate approach links all coach suspects to the Armstrong case. In addition to self-incriminating confessions from Hardman, McQueen, Schmidt, and the Princess, Poirot has deduced Helena, Mrs. Armstrong’s younger sister, is Countess Elena.
Poirot asks Bianchi to pick a solution before the train is released from the snowdrift, but he knows the Yugoslavian police will favor the simple one.
After learning how horrible Cassetti was, Bianchi sympathizes with the suspects and recommends the first solution which Dr. Constantine and Poirot accept, though Bianchi will struggle with his conscience. The train then symbolically escapes the snowdrift and continues its voyage.
You can watch Murd*r on the Orient Express 1974 on Amazon Prime.
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