''Murder on the Orient Express'' (1974 movie)- Review

Directed by: Sidney Lumet
Released: 1974
Country: United Kingdom

Cast: Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman, Michael York, Vanessa Redgrave, Jacqueline Bisset, Anthony Perkins, Martin Balsam, Wendy Hiller, Jean-Pierre Cassel

Genre: Mystery, Crime, Thriller

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Review

''Murder on the Orient Express'' is a locked room mystery film that has a great cast, excellent screenplay, extremely engrossing story and presentation. It's definitely a great film.

Based on Agatha Christie's classic novel, the film starts informing the audience about a recent kidnap case. 5-year-old Daisy Armstrong had been kidnapped, and when her parents gave ransom to the kidnappers, the girl was found slain...

The film then shifts to the famous detective Hercule Poirot. He is on a train journey. One day, Mr Ratchett, one of the passengers of the train, tells Poirot that he has been recently receiving threatening letters, and asks Poirot to give him some protection. However, Poirot denies.

The next morning, Mr Ratchett is found dead. All the passengers are shocked. Poirot's friend Bianci (Martin Balsam) persuades Poirot to look into the case. Bianci is confident that before the journey ends, they will have found the criminal, and after that, they would tell the police about the crime and hand the criminal to the police.

Poirot interrogates the passengers, and does thorough investigation. The case seems extremely difficult, and it is discovered that this crime is somehow connected with the Armstrong case.

Albert Finney makes an excellent Poirot! He portrays Poirot in a lively, energetic, way! It was great to watch Poirot on screen. (I am a fan of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novels).

We see so many great actors in this film. There are Albert Finney, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, Lauren Bacall, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Martin Balsam, Jacqueline Bisset... so many great actors.

The story is very engrossing and the very shocking solution to the mystery was presented in such a wonderfully atmospheric way. The climax was really shocking and unpredictable. And the ending was also wonderful.

Excellent performances, excellent story, great screenplay, an unpredictable ending- ''Murder on the Orient Express'' is indeed a great film.

4.5 out of 5