Murder on the Orient Express (2001)

If Agatha Christie had not written the mystery novel by this same name, this TV movie, "Murder on the Orient Express" might have seemed like a good movie to many. Or, if no other films had ever been made of Christie's novel, this TV movie might have seemed to be fair. But Christie did write the book, and other movies have been made of the story. So, one can't forget those when watching this poor rendition. Thus, it's not even a fair story as presented here. Hollywood and its counterparts in England and other countries have always copied earlier successes to remake films. Sometimes they keep the titles and most of the plots, but a whole new cast tackles the story. At other times, the stories are updated in time or changed in place. And sometimes, the same titles are changed so drastically that there is little resemblance between the films. Many more times, Hollywood will make an all new film and plot that copies an earlier successful one. CBS and the makers of this film would have done better by completely changing the title, characters, etc., and just enough plot details to have this stand alone as a copy of a film, but a different one. That would have been much more palatable to a huge array of movie followers who just couldn't see such a modernistic change of a classic that is unchangeable. The cast gave it a shot, but this is one story that should not be remade outside its original time, setting and plot.

I swear I really tried to watch this version of Murder on the Orient Express without comparing it to the 1974 Sidney Lumet film, but like this movie, I failed miserably. This made-for-TV movie lacks much of the class, style, and glamour of the '74 version (and the book for that matter). Talk of VCRs, fitness trainers, and computer styluses seem cheap in comparison to dragon kimonos, pipe cleaners, and butlers. The acting also lacks the class of the '74 film. With the exception of Leslie Caron, none of the other actors are worth mentioning in the same breath with Ingrid Bergman, John Gielgud, or Richard Widmark. The worst offender has to be Meredith Baxter. I couldn't watch a single second of her performance and not be reminded of the great Lauren Bacall. Plot points have been changed that really hurt the story. As Col. Arbuthnot so emphatically put it in the first, "Trial by twelve good men and true... is a sound system." Why change it to nine? This is just one example, I could go on and on about plot changes that I couldn't get past. Finally, Alfred Molina is no doubt a fine actor, but he's not Poirot (and I'm sure the screenwriters are as much to blame for this). I've read a lot of criticisms of Albert Finney's portrayal of Poirot, but to me, he nailed most of the idiosyncrasies that made Agatha Christie's character so unique. Sure, he went overboard at times, but Molina's character never even seems to try to be Poirot. And, what's with the love story involving Poirot? Like the rest of this movie, it's all wrong.In summary, if you want to watch Murder on the Orient Express, skip this one and check out the 1974 film. Or better yet, read the book.

Taken out of its 1930s setting and horribly modernised, lacking almost a quarter of the characters, on the wrong train (they used a diesel-hauled train of British Pullmans owned by Venice Simplon-Orient-Express instead of the Wagons-Lits), stopped by a rockslide instead of a snowdrift, and featuring the character of Vera Rossakoff--a love interest from a pair of short stories.Meredith Baxter as Mrs Hubbard wasn't too bad, but the rest of the cast left something to be desired. A poor attempt to remake a great story. Hopefully LWT will do a decent remake with David Suchet in the near future.

If you like the Agatha Christie films to be faithful to the book or view them as period movies then forget this one. However ! If you like whodunit movies no matter what, then this one is OK. It's not the best of it's kind but you'll have a nice 90 (or so ) minutes. Yes it's updated ( computers, mobiles) and yes Poirot has a love interest. But that does not mean that it's a bad movie. I liked the 1974 one better and the book even more so but i can see that this movie is entertaining as well, just not as good as the 1974 one. As for Poirot i have to say that i did not care much for Finney's portrayal and Molino does not do it any better. Suchett and Ustinov are my favorites. For those who would like to have the DVD : it's for sale in The Netherlands. Together with the TV movie The Pale Horse it has been released as the DVD box "Agatha Christie Mystery Box ".