Murder on the Orient Express (2001 film)

Last updated
Murder on the Orient Express
Murder on the Orient Express (2001 film).jpg
Based on Murder on the Orient Express
by Agatha Christie
Screenplay by Stephen Harrigan
Directed by Carl Schenkel
Starring Alfred Molina
Meredith Baxter
Leslie Caron
Peter Strauss
Composer Christopher Franke
Country of originUnited States
United Kingdom
Germany [1]
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducerMarion Rosenberg
CinematographyRex Maidment
EditorHenk Van Eeghen
Running time100 minutes
Production companies Agatha Christie Ltd.
CBS
Original release
Network CBS
Sky Movies
ITV [1]
ReleaseApril 22, 2001 (2001-04-22)

Murder on the Orient Express is a 2001 made-for-television mystery film directed by Carl Schenkel based on the 1934 novel Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, featuring Hercule Poirot. This version is set in the present day and has a smaller cast than the novel. The screenplay was written by Stephen Harrigan and the original music score was composed by Christopher Franke. [1]

Contents

Plot

Hercule Poirot is travelling on the Orient Express . While on the journey, Poirot meets a very close friend Bouc, who works for the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. The train is stopped when a landslide blocks the line on the second night out from Istanbul, and American millionaire Samuel Edward Ratchett is found stabbed to death the next morning.

Since no footprints are visible around the train and the doors to the other cars were locked, it seems that the murderer must still be among the passengers in Ratchett's car. Poirot and Bouc work together to solve the case. They are aided by Pierre Michel, the middle-aged French conductor of the car.

A key to the solution is Ratchett's revealed involvement in the Armstrong tragedy in the United States several years earlier, in which a baby was kidnapped and then murdered. (The fictitious Armstrong case, inspired by the real-life kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh's baby boy.)

Cast

Background

Burt Reynolds, Judi Dench, Lauren Bacall, Claire Bloom, Charlotte Rampling, and Sophia Loren were all originally believed to have been cast in the film. [2] [3] [4] [5] At least a dozen members of Keighley Playhouse in Keighley were extras on the film, and provided their own costumes. [6]

Filming and production

Filming started on 6 February 2001 in Leeds. [2] [3] A replica of an Orient Express buffet car was built at Horsforth's newly opened Transformer Studios, where the majority of the filming took place. [2] Filming also took place in Kingston upon Hull, Bury, and Istanbul. [3] [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agatha Christie</span> English mystery and detective writer (1890–1976)

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, was a British author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime"—a moniker which is now trademarked by her estate—or the "Queen of Mystery". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hercule Poirot</span> Fictional detective character created by Agatha Christie

Hercule Poirot is a fictional Belgian detective created by British writer Agatha Christie. Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-running characters, appearing in 33 novels, two plays, and 51 short stories published between 1920 and 1975.

<i>Murder on the Orient Express</i> 1934 novel by Agatha Christie

Murder on the Orient Express is a work of detective fiction by English writer Agatha Christie featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 1 January 1934. In the United States, it was published on 28 February 1934, under the title of Murder in the Calais Coach, by Dodd, Mead and Company. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) and the US edition at $2.

<i>Agatha Christies Poirot</i> British television detective series (1989–2013)

Agatha Christie's Poirot, or simply Poirot, is a British mystery drama television programme that aired on ITV from 8 January 1989 to 13 November 2013. The ITV show is based on many of Agatha Christie's famous crime fiction series, which revolves around the fictional private investigator Hercule Poirot. David Suchet stars as the title character. Initially produced by LWT, the series was later produced by ITV Studios. The series also aired on VisionTV in Canada and on PBS and A&E in the US.

<i>Orient Express</i> Luxury passenger train service in Europe

The Orient Express was a long-distance passenger luxury train service created in 1883 by the Belgian company Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL) that operated until 2009. The train traveled the length of continental Europe, with terminal stations in Paris in the northwest and Istanbul in the southeast, and branches extending service to Athens, Brussels, and London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inspector Japp</span> Fictional character

Inspector James Japp is a fictional character who appears in several of Agatha Christie's novels featuring Hercule Poirot.

<i>Halloween Party</i> 1969 Poirot novel by Agatha Christie

Hallowe'en Party is a work of detective fiction by English writer Agatha Christie, first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club in November 1969 and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. This book was dedicated to writer P. G. Wodehouse. It has been adapted for television, radio, and most recently for the film A Haunting in Venice (2023).

<i>Death on the Nile</i> 1937 novel by Agatha Christie

Death on the Nile is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 1 November 1937 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6)(equivalent to £31 in 2023) and the US edition at $2.00 . The book features the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. The action takes place in Egypt, mostly on the River Nile. The novel is unrelated to Christie's earlier (1933) short story of the same name, which featured Parker Pyne as the detective.

<i>Death on the Nile</i> (1978 film) 1978 film by John Guillermin

Death on the Nile is a 1978 British mystery film based on Agatha Christie's 1937 novel of the same name, directed by John Guillermin and adapted by Anthony Shaffer. The film features the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, played by Peter Ustinov for the first time, plus an all-star supporting cast that includes Maggie Smith, Angela Lansbury, Bette Davis, Mia Farrow, Jane Birkin, David Niven, George Kennedy, and Jack Warden. The film is a standalone sequel to the 1974 film Murder on the Orient Express.

<i>Murder on the Orient Express</i> (1974 film) Film by Sidney Lumet

Murder on the Orient Express is a 1974 British mystery film directed by Sidney Lumet, produced by John Brabourne and Richard Goodwin, and based on the 1934 novel of the same name by Agatha Christie.

<i>Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express</i> 2006 video game

Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express is a 2006 adventure game developed by AWE Productions and published by The Adventure Company for Microsoft Windows. It is the second installment in The Adventure Company's Agatha Christie series. The setting is five years before the events in Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None, with a largely unrelated storyline. The story takes place in 1934 and follows an amateur sleuth, Antoinette Marceau, and her investigation of a murder with twelve possible suspects aboard the Orient Express, which has been blocked by an avalanche in Yugoslavia. She is aided by famous detective Hercule Poirot.

The Agatha Christie series is a series of adventure games developed by AWE Games and published by The Adventure Company and DreamCatcher Interactive, based on the works of the English mystery writer Agatha Christie.

<i>Dead Mans Folly</i> (film) Television mystery film

Dead Man's Folly is a 1986 British-American made-for-television mystery film featuring Agatha Christie's Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. It is based on Christie's 1956 novel Dead Man's Folly. The film was directed by Clive Donner and starred Peter Ustinov as Poirot.

<i>Murder in Three Acts</i> Television mystery film

Murder in Three Acts is a British-American made-for-television mystery film of 1986 produced by Warner Bros. Television, featuring Peter Ustinov as Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot. Directed by Gary Nelson, it co-starred Jonathan Cecil as Hastings, Tony Curtis, and Emma Samms.

An amber moon is a cocktail containing Tabasco sauce, a raw egg, and whiskey or vodka. It is typically considered a "hair of the dog" hangover remedy, though there is no scientific evidence showing that drinking alcohol is effective as a treatment for a hangover. It is similar to a prairie oyster, another traditional hangover remedy drink made with a raw egg, though a prairie oyster does not typically contain alcohol.

In Agatha Christie's mystery novels, several characters cross over different sagas, creating a fictional universe in which most of her stories are set. This article has one table to summarize the novels with characters who occur in other Christie novels; the table is titled Crossovers by Christie. There is brief mention of characters crossing over in adaptations of the novels. Her publications, both novels and short stories, are then listed by main detective, in order of publication. Some stories or novels authorised by the estate of Agatha Christie, using the characters she created, and written long after Agatha Christie died, are included in the lists.

Lists of adaptations of the works of Agatha Christie:

<i>Murder on the Orient Express</i> (2017 film) 2017 film by Kenneth Branagh

Murder on the Orient Express is a 2017 mystery film co-produced and directed by Kenneth Branagh from a screenplay by Michael Green, based on the 1934 novel of the same name by Agatha Christie. The film stars an ensemble cast with Branagh as Hercule Poirot, alongside Tom Bateman, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Leslie Odom Jr., Michelle Pfeiffer, and Daisy Ridley. The plot follows Poirot, a world-renowned detective, as he investigates a murder on the luxury Orient Express train service in the 1930s.

<i>Death on the Nile</i> (2022 film) 2022 film by Kenneth Branagh

Death on the Nile is a 2022 mystery film directed by Kenneth Branagh from a screenplay by Michael Green, based on the 1937 novel of the same name by Agatha Christie, and the second big screen adaptation of Christie's novel, following the 1978 film. As a sequel to Murder on the Orient Express (2017), it was produced by Branagh, Ridley Scott, Judy Hofflund, and Kevin J. Walsh. It stars an ensemble cast with Branagh and Tom Bateman reprising their roles as Hercule Poirot and Bouc, respectively, alongside Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Ali Fazal, Dawn French, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Rose Leslie, Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Saunders, and Letitia Wright.

Murder on the Orient Express is a play by Ken Ludwig adapted from the novel of the same name by Agatha Christie. Commissioned by Agatha Christie Limited, the work was written by Ludwig in 2015. Debuted in 2017, it was the first stage play featuring Hercule Poirot to premiere in more than 75 years; with Arnold Ridley's 1940 play Peril at End House being the last play to feature Poirot previously.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express". BFI Collections. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 "World Stars May Film in Horsforth". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. 25 January 2001. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 "Stars steam in - but not from Hollywood". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. 1 February 2001. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  4. "Daybreak start is murder... but fun!". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. 13 February 2001. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  5. 1 2 "The early mornings are murder...but great fun". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. 15 February 2001. Retrieved 5 August 2022.
  6. "Always dressed to kill... that's Mavis". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. 27 February 2001. Retrieved 5 August 2022.