Released: November 24, 1974
Director: Sidney Lumet
*****
After two previous Agatha Christie movie adaptations-The Mirror Crack'd (1980) and Death on the Nile (1978)-failed to win me over, I should have known Murder on the Orient Express, arguably her most famous novel, would leave a sour taste in my mouth.
It did, despite knowing I should love this film in all its glory. The all star cast (Finney, Ingrid Bergman, Lauren Bacall, Vanessa Redgrave, Jacqueline Bisset, Anthony Perkins) acting on largely one set based on a popular who-dun-it novel...but the proceedings are boring.
Nothing happens to keep the audience with the story revolving around a murder mystery on board the famous train. To make matters even worse, it seems as though every actor was told to speak "English"--not American English, but British English, making every bit of dialogue difficult to understand. And this is a dialogue-driven movie; without it, the audience is lost.
It's no spoiler to say that the mystery gets resolved in the 128 minute running time (yes, over two hours). Conveniently, because there is a ticking clock on Poirot and the passengers. By the time the clock gets to zero, the audience desperately wants something to blow up.