Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express (2001)

This made-for-television mystery is a contemporary version of the Agatha Christie book that was made into the classic 1974 all-star version starring Albert Finney Lauren Bacall and Ingrid Bergman. This time around Hercule Poirot (Alfred Molina) uses modern technology to help solve the murder of a corrupt and devious Antiques dealer named Ratchett (Peter Strauss). Agatha Christie originally based MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS on the infamous Charles Lindbergh kidnapping case. This adaptation is given a current twist by making the despised Ratchett the abductor and murderer of the little girl of a wealthy software tycoon named Armstrong instead of a famed aviatrix. When Ratchett is found stabbed to death in his compartment and the train comes to a halt as a result of a rock slide that is blocking the tracks Poirot interrogates all of the passengers on the train. As the questioning proceeds Poirot realizes that virtually everyone has some kind of connection to Armstrong. But who is responsible for the grisly murder? Only Poirot can solve the mystery with the help of his "little gray cells of the brain" (and a few technological gadgets like a laptop computer palm pilot and VCR).System Requirements:Running Time 100 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: NR UPC: 783722735824 Manufacturer No: ARD27358 Product Description

Why did they bother?

The back of the DVD case claims that "Agatha Christie's ultimate whodunit speeds into the twentieth century," and that's a pretty good indication of this production's incompetence. Yes, for the record, they probably meant "twenty-first" century, since Christie's book was written in the twentieth century. Actually, bringing this mystery into the twenty-first century is part of the problem - does anyone really need to see Hercule Poirot performing internet searches? Much of the novel's atmosphere came from the fact that everyone was trapped, snowbound, in the train, and Poirot had no way to solve the murder except to reflect. In this movie, Poirot has access to search engines and online video, which means that he's about as isolated as I am now, writing this review.

Due to time constraints, a lot of characters have been cut from this movie entirely. Generally I don't mind that sort of thing, but MotOE is the one novel that really can't accommodate that kind of editing. Maybe the writers would have had room for more suspects if they hadn't wasted time on a completely pointless love interest for Poirot? And in the "pointless changes" category, I don't really care if the producers decided to change a Russian princess into an Eva Peron-style dictator's wife. Actually, I do care, because it's dumb, but I understand that there aren't a lot of Russian aristocrats in the twenty-first century. Still, having changed the character, the writers then leave in a clue about the South American dictator using the Cyrillic alphabet? They gutted half the book's plot and couldn't take out the one thing that should have been removed?

It's impossible not to watch this movie and not compare it to the 1974 Sidney Lumet version. The 1974 version is better in just about every way, from sets to music to, most especially, actors. Meredith Baxter, you are no Lauren Bacall. To be fair, though, I actually preferred Alfred Molina as Poirot to Albert Finney 1974 version. No, Molina isn't really well cast, but he's inoffensive, and that's more than I can say for Finney's portrayal of Poirot as screaming, rude, and bizarrely hunch-backed. Still, it's pretty sad when the best thing I can say about this movie is that the lead actor is inoffensive. Stick to the 1974 version, at least until David Suchet does this story right.
June 3, 2008

This Orient Express never makes it to the main yard.

It is Alfred Molina's great misfortune that, in portraying Hercule Poirot, he has been preceded by Peter Ustinov, Albert Finney, and David Suchet. Had this not been true, we might have been tempted to give his performance a higher rating than it is now possible to do.

The original novel by Agatha Christie (same title) is one of the greatest whodunits ever penned. For unknown reasons, Ustinov never did it. My guess is that, although his Poirot films were made after the timely death of the pernicious and much-despised Code, the prospect of a murderer getting away with the crime was still too daunting for Hollywood. Suchet has yet to make Orient, but then it was only last year ('07) that he finally did "Mrs. McGinty's Dead" (with, we hope, Ariadne Oliver). Suchet's voice is used for Poirot in the 2006 Orient Express video game.

So finally, in 2001 a TV version of Orient is made with Alfred Molina in the key role. Alas. Molina is a talented actor. His portrayal of Poirot, while not definitive nor even close, is passable - even pretty good in some ways. However, once we compare him with his predecessors (not to mention the literary original), the problems show up like fat, pendulous, juicy pimples (the kind we all loved to pop back in the day). We all know, for instance, that Poirot was fastidious to the point of school-marmish fussiness. Molina's Poirot is neat and that's about it. Molina's accent is a sort of generalized European, not the pointedly confrontational French that Poirot affected. Molina does use the catch-phrase "little grey cells", but he rattles them out because they're in the script, not because (as is the case) Poirot is obsessive about them. Indeed, Poirot's fundamentally obsessive character is de-emphasized to the point of vanishing. Molin'a Poirot seldom speaks of himself in the third person; Poirot does so rather a lot. His mustache is some short hair under his nose; Poirot's is a fashion statement and accessory that defines his dandified appearance. Molina doesn't wear gloves. Nor spats, but then the date of the mystery has been moved up to about the date the film was made. Anyone who by now believes I haven't made my case doesn't know Hercule.

While Suchet is the best Poirot overall, Ustinov bears away the palm for best actor. He inhabits the role so effectively that we become unconscious of his imposing height and bulk. Finney, who appears in the 1974 Orient, lacks for little in the Poirotishness of his portrayal. This is a competition that Molina simply can't win.

The plot of the 2001 film is, incidentally, pretty much the same as that of the novel and the 1974 film. Poirot is traveling from Istanbul on the famous Orient Express. He shares the first class car with a diverse set of individuals. One of them, a highly unpleasant person (Ratchett) is stabbed to death in the dead of night. There are plenty of clues ... in fact, as Finney's Poirot observes and Molina's does not, there are too many of them. The train is stalled in its journey (snow slide in 1974, rock slide in 2001) and the railway's CEO commissions Poirot to find the killer. Through patient questioning and separating false clues from real ones, Poirot does so ... twice. If you don't actually know the plot already, your cultural deprivation is truly unfortunate.

The problem with the 2001 production, however, runs deeper than merely the star. It's virtually the whole cast and what the update in time has done to their roles. The update from 1935 to c.2001 was apparently made because the producers figured that education has been so inadequate recently that viewers would never figure out what a White Russian (Princess Dragomirov) is, nor understand references to the Lindburgh kidnapping, nor fail to be puzzled by people going to Iraq for actual constructive purposes (archaeology), nor ... well, you get the gist.

The result is that we have characters who are updated but far less interesting. As for the participating actors: recall that in 1974 we get Martin Balsam, Richard Widmark, Wendy Hiller, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, Michael York, Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Perkins, John Gielgud, ... well, again you get the gist. Want a cast list of the 2001 film? Well, there's Leslie Caron, and Who? ...and Whom? ...and What? ...and Which? ...and ...and ...and ... well, and a group of actors, most of whom are still working. They appear primarily in small roles in TV series episodes and in fairly little-known films. The upshot is that we get OK performances of a fairly uninspired script, and that's about it. The exception is from the one fine actor in the group, Leslie Caron. That's the upside. The downside is that her performance is deeply informed by that of Wendy Hiller as Princess Dragomirov. In this film the character becomes Señora Alvarado, the widow of a fairly nasty Latin American dictator. The problem here is that the character has way more social standing than would someone coming from such a sleazy background. She is in fact treated as the royalty Dragomirov was. That is, the character doesn't really compute ... in order to keep character relationships as they were before the rewrite, Alvarado had to be accorded deference even Eva Peron didn't get in exile. Still, Caron manages to convince us of her bona fides. As I said, she's good.

The cold, hard fact is that there are quite a few things on TV that are better than this remake. That's something we can't say about the 1974 original. The Poirot of the remake, Alfred Molina, is a pretty good actor - but for whatever reason he has seriously misconceived the part he plays and as Poirot he winds up in 4th place in a field of 4. The picture, alas, winds up in about 9th place in a field of 2.
April 13, 2008

Enjoyable

I purchased this specifically to see Leslie Caron. I was not disappointed. I enjoyed having the classic set in modern times. September 23, 2007

Where's the A Team when you need them?

Even with Alfred Molina and Peter Strauss, this production leaves a lot to be desired. Poirot and computers and PDAs? Please! And removing 3 characters from the panel of 12 who decide the fate of and execute the offender is more than Agatha Christie herself would stand for! August 9, 2007

Murder On Orient Express TV Movie

A poor updated attempt to remake a classic film. While any remake of a classic is difficult, this tv movie was extremely poorly done with an unremarkable cast. Alfred Molina sleepwalked his way through the film as Poirot. He had absolutely no chrisma nor humor. Not much more can be said of the remainder of the cast. The attempt to update by giving Poirot a love interest really missed the mark. July 26, 2007

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