Murder On The Orient Express

Detective Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney) is returning to England aboard the Orient Express. During the journey, Poirot encounters his friend Signor Bianchi—Monsieur Bouc in the novel -- (Martin Balsam), a director of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, which owns the line. The train is unusually crowded for the time of year: every first-class berth has been booked. The morning after the train’s departure from Istanbul, a wealthy American businessman, Ratchett (Richard Widmark), tries to secure Poirot’s services for $15,000 since he has received many death threats, but Poirot finds the case of little interest and turns it down. That night the train is caught in heavy snows in the Balkans. The next morning Ratchett is found stabbed to death in his cabin.
Poirot and Bianchi work together to solve the case. They enlist the help of Dr. Constantine (George Coulouris), a Greek medical doctor who was travelling in another coach with Bianchi as the only other passenger and thus is not a suspect. Pierre Michel (Jean-Pierre Cassel), the middle-aged French conductor of the car, also assists the investigation, as well as being a suspect. Poirot soon discovers that Ratchett wasn’t who he claimed to be and his secret past indicates a clear motive for his murder.
Clues
Dr. Constantine’s examination reveals that Ratchett was stabbed 12 times. Some wounds were slight, but at least three of them could have resulted in death. The stopped watch in the victim’s pocket, as well as Poirot’s reconstructed timeline of passenger activities the night before, indicate that Ratchett was murdered at about 1:15 a.m. The train had stopped, surrounded by fresh snow, before that time. There are no tracks in the snow and the doors to the other cars were locked, so the murderer is almost certainly still among the passengers in the coach.
Poirot discovers that Ratchett’s real name was Cassetti, a mafia gangster who five years before planned and carried out the kidnapping of Daisy Armstrong, infant daughter of a wealthy British Army Colonel who had settled in America with his American wife. The kidnappers demanded a ransom; but after it was delivered, instead of returning the child, they murdered her. Overcome with grief, the then-pregnant Mrs. Armstrong went into labor early and died while giving birth to a stillborn baby. A maidservant named Paulette (Suzanne in the novel), who was wrongly suspected of being involved in the kidnapping, committed suicide, only to be found innocent after she took her life. Colonel Armstrong, consumed by these tragedies, later killed himself as well. Cassetti betrayed his partner, leaving him to be executed while he fled the country with the ransom, as he was only revealed to be the leader of the kidnapping plot on the eve of the execution.
Poirot, Dr. Constantine and Bianchi summon the other passengers one by one and proceed to interrogate them.
(The fictitious Armstrong case was inspired by the real-life kidnapping of aviator Charles Lindbergh’s child).
Suspects
The 13 suspects are:
Pierre-Paul Michel (Jean-Pierre Cassel), the French conductor of the sleeping car;
Hector McQueen (Anthony Perkins), a tall young American man, the victim’s secretary and translator;
Edward Henry Beddoes (Sir John Gielgud), the victim’s English valet;
Mrs. Harriet Belinda Hubbard (Lauren Bacall), an older, fussy, very talkative, American, multiple widowed socialite;
Greta Ohlsson (Ingrid Bergman), a middle-aged Swedish missionary returning to Europe on a fund-raising trip for her mission in Africa;
Count Rudolf Andrenyi (Michael York), an aristocratic Hungarian diplomat;
Countess Elena Andrenyi (Jacqueline Bisset), née Grünwald, his beautiful young wife;
Princess Natalia Dragomiroff (Dame Wendy Hiller), an elderly Russian royal;
Hildegarde Schmidt (Rachel Roberts), a middle-aged German woman, the Princess’ personal maid;
Colonel Arbuthnott (Sean Connery), a British officer in the British Indian Army returning to England on leave;
Mary Debenham (Vanessa Redgrave), a young Englishwoman, returning home to England after working as a teacher in Baghdad;
Antonio (Tony) Foscarelli (Denis Quilley), an exuberant Italian American car salesman from Chicago;
Cyrus B. ”Dick” Hardman (Colin Blakely), a Pinkerton’s detective masquerading as a talent agent.
Motive
After concluding his investigation, Poirot gathers all the suspects in the dining car to present his solution of the crime. He has formulated two possible scenarios to explain the murder. The first, which he calls the simple solution, is based on several clues which suggest that the murder of Ratchett/Cassetti was the result of a mafia feud. Poirot deduces that these clues have been planted by the suspects to mislead the investigation. Then Poirot analyzes his second solution — referring to it as the more complex of the two — according to which every passenger of the Calais coach, including the conductor Michel, has a link to the Armstrong case, thus having sufficient motive for the murder:
Michel was Paulette’s father;
McQueen was the son of the District Attorney who prosecuted the case and was very fond of Mrs. Armstrong;
Beddoes was Colonel Armstrong’s army batman and the family butler;
Mrs Hubbard was Mrs Armstrong’s mother;
Miss Ohlsson was Daisy’s nursemaid;
Count Andrenyi was Mrs Armstrong’s brother-in-law;
Countess Andrenyi was Mrs Armstrong’s sister;
Princess Dragomiroff was Sonia Armstrong’s godmother;
Miss Schmidt was the Armstrongs’ cook;
Col. Arbuthnott was an army friend of Col. Armstrong;
Miss Debenham was Mrs Armstrong’s secretary;
Foscarelli was the Armstrongs’ chauffeur;
Hardman was, at the time, a policeman in love with Paulette.
Ratchett was sedated by Beddoes and McQueen. Each of the passengers then stabbed him in turn.
When Poirot finishes his explanation, everyone in the car is dumbfounded. Poirot suggests that Bianchi should choose which explanation they should present to the police: the simple or the complex one. Bianchi decides that this ”simple” solution will be more than enough for the local police and that Ratchett deserved everything he got. A cover-up is therefore instigated. Poirot agrees with the decision, and he departs to present his report to the police, even though he admits he will struggle with his conscience. The train becomes free of the snow and starts on its way as everyone toasts the outcome

1980

PG

097360879032

Movie

2018-02-07 18:33:08

1.66:1

128

United States

Slip Sleeve

~$3.58

2026-04-11

2018-02-07 18:33:08