Plot
Wealthy heiress Linnet Ridgeway agrees to hire her friend Jacqueline "Jackie" de Bellefort's unemployed fiancé, Simon Doyle, as her estate manager. Soon after, Linnet and Simon marry following a whirlwind courtship. While honeymooning in Egypt, they are surprised at the Pyramids by the jilted Jackie, who is stalking them. To evade her, the Doyles pretend to catch a train to Alexandria before backtracking to board a Nile paddle steamer, the S.S. Karnak. Also in Egypt is detective Hercule Poirot, who gradually learns about the situation.
During an on-shore excursion to the Temple of Karnak, a large stone is pushed off a pillar, narrowly missing the Doyles. The couple is shocked when Jackie joins the cruise, having ignored detective Hercule Poirot's advice to stay away. Jackie also reveals that she carries a small .22 caliber pistol and is a crack shot. That evening, Jackie confronts Simon in a drunken rage and shoots him in the leg, then is escorted away. The next morning, Linnet is found dead from a gunshot wound to the head. The letter "J" written in blood on the wall above her bed implicates Jackie, but she has a solid alibi, as Miss Bowers sedated her with morphia and watched her all night.
Poirot and his friend, Colonel Race, investigate. They discover that numerous passengers had motives to kill Linnet: Louise Bourget, Linnet's maid, was bitter that her mistress refused a promised dowry; Andrew Pennington, Linnet's American trustee, was embezzling from her; Mrs. van Schuyler, an elderly American socialite and a kleptomaniac, wanted Linnet's pearl necklace; van Schuyler's nurse, Miss Bowers, blamed Linnet's father for financially ruining her family; Salome Otterbourne, a romance novelist, was being sued by Linnet for libel; Mrs. Otterbourne's daughter, Rosalie, wanted to protect her mother from financial ruin; Jim Ferguson, an outspoken Communist writer, hated Linnet for her wealth; and Dr. Ludwig Bessner, a Swiss psychiatrist, faced Linnet exposing his unorthodox treatments that harmed her friend.
Soon after, the crew pulls a small bundle from the Nile. The missing pistol is wrapped in Mrs. van Schuyler's stole, which has a small bullet hole. There is also a blood-stained handkerchief and a marble ashtray used as a weight. When Linnet's pearl jewelry is found missing, Mrs. van Schuyler denies taking them. Soon after, the necklace is found on Linnet's body, causing Poirot to deduce Mrs van Schuyler "returned" them.
While Poirot and Race conduct their investigation, Louise Bourget is found dead, her throat slit with Dr. Bessner's scalpel, and a fragment of a banknote clutched in her hand. Poirot deduces she saw the murderer exiting Linnet's cabin and extorted money for her silence. Salome Otterbourne claims she saw Louise's murderer and is about to tell Poirot and Race when she is shot through the open cabin door with Pennington's revolver, which is a larger caliber than which shot Linnet.
Poirot gathers everyone in the saloon and reveals that Simon killed Linnet, with Jackie as his accomplice and the plot's mastermind; they had remained lovers all along. Jackie pretended to shoot Simon, drawing attention to herself and ensuring Simon would be temporarily left alone while she was taken to her cabin. After running to Linnet's cabin and shooting her, Simon, returning to the saloon, shot himself in the leg, using Mrs. van Schuyler's stole as a silencer. He then replaced one of the empty cartridges with a new one, should the gun be found. Wrapping the gun in the stole, along with a marble ashtray and the supposed blood-stained handkerchief, he threw the items out the open window, into the Nile. He then used another handkerchief on his now bleeding leg. Jackie later killed Louise, who was blackmailing Simon because she witnessed him enter Linnet's cabin, then killed Mrs. Otterbourne, who saw Jackie exiting Louise's cabin. The plan was that Simon would kill Linnet, inherit her money, and marry his old love at a later date.
When Simon claims Poirot has no proof, Poirot claims that the police can do a gunshot residue test known as a "moulage" test on both him and Jacqueline. Realizing they are caught, Jackie confesses and embraces Simon. Poirot suddenly realizes she has reclaimed her pistol, but cannot prevent her from fatally shooting Simon and then herself. The passengers depart at the next port, and Poirot is congratulated for his work.
Production
Casting
Albert Finney played Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express, but did not wish to undergo the heavy make-up required for Poirot in the Egyptian sun. The producers felt if they could not get Finney they should go in a totally different direction and picked Peter Ustinov. "Poirot is a character part if ever there was one", said producer Goodwin, "and Peter is a top character actor." [8]
An all-star cast was employed. This was Jane Birkin's first British movie in a decade. [9]
Filming
The initial scenes set in England were filmed at the village of Hambleden in Buckinghamshire and at the country house Compton Wynyates in Warwickshire.
The production spent seven weeks on location in Egypt in late 1977. Four weeks filming were on the steamer Karnak (the historic ship SS Memnon) and the rest at places such as Aswan, Abu Simbel, Luxor, and Cairo. Most of the time the ship was conveyed by smaller boats and the engines turned off, because they were so loud that they disrupted filming. [10] Desert filming required makeup call at 4 a.m. and shooting at 6 a.m. to accommodate a two-hour delay around noon when temperatures hovered near 54 °C (130 °F). Bette Davis wryly commented "In the older days, they'd have built the Nile for you. Nowadays, films have become travelogues and actors stuntmen." [11] [12]
John Guillermin commented that the Egyptian government was supportive of the film because there were so many Agatha Christie fans in the country, and the story "was unpolitical". [13]
During the shoot, troubles arose as no hotel reservations had been made for the crew. They were shifted from hotel to hotel, sometimes on a daily basis. Director Guillermin never was allowed to see the rushes. By order of the producers, footage was sent directly to them in London. A lighter moment occurred during a love scene between Chiles and MacCorkindale, when a hostile desert fly landed on Chiles's teeth. The actors carried on as best they could, but the crew burst out laughing when Guillermin thankfully called "cut" and ordered another take. [11]
Guillermin found the shoot logistically tricky because of the heat and the boat, which sometimes ran aground. But he enjoyed the cast:
The more experienced people created a very generous atmosphere. They were not impatient at all. I have never worked with Bette Davis before and was told she was professional but not communicative. Well, she was an absolute bastion of support and enthusiasm. During the breaks, the cast would often sit to one side engaged in terrific conversation. There was Ustinov's great wit and Niven's dry humour. Jack Warden is a very funny man and Mia Farrow is a very funny woman. This was a bunch of people who could relax. [13]
"Poirot can be a cold fish, but here we made him more humanistic and warm, interested in young people for instance", said the director. "Peter Ustinov was able to bring that out." [13] Costume designer Anthony Powell won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, his second. Among his touches were shoes for Chiles that featured diamond studded heels that came from a millionaire's collection and shoes worn by Davis made from the scales of 26 pythons. [11]
Cinematographer Jack Cardiff says he and Guillermin decided to give the film "an old fashioned 30s look". [13]
The choreography for the tango scene was provided by British dancer Wayne Sleep.
In early 1978 David Niven's daughter was seriously injured in a car accident. Niven would fly from London to Switzerland on weekends during filming to sit by her bedside. [14]
