Murder on the Orient Express (2001 film)
Encyclopedia
Murder on the Orient Express is a 2001 made-for-television movie, 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 original music score was composed by Christopher Franke
.
. 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 America several years earlier, in which a baby was kidnapped and then murdered. (The fictitious Armstrong case was apparently inspired by the real-life kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh's baby son
.)
Murder on the Orient Express
Murder on the Orient Express is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie featuring the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.It was first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on January 1, 1934 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year under the title of...
by Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
, featuring Hercule Poirot
Hercule Poirot
Hercule Poirot is a fictional Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie. Along with Miss Marple, Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-lived characters, appearing in 33 novels and 51 short stories published between 1920 and 1975 and set in the same era.Poirot has been portrayed on...
. This version is set in the present day and has a smaller cast than the novel. The original music score was composed by Christopher Franke
Christopher Franke
Christopher Franke is a German musician and composer. From 1971 to 1988 he was a member of the electronic group Tangerine Dream. Initially a drummer with The Agitation, later renamed Agitation Free, his primary focus eventually shifted to keyboards and synthesizers as the group moved away from its...
.
Plot
Hercule Poirot is travelling on the Orient ExpressOrient Express
The Orient Express is the name of a long-distance passenger train service originally operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. It ran from 1883 to 2009 and is not to be confused with the Venice-Simplon Orient Express train service, which continues to run.The route and rolling stock...
. 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
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, 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 America several years earlier, in which a baby was kidnapped and then murdered. (The fictitious Armstrong case was apparently inspired by the real-life kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh's baby son
Lindbergh kidnapping
The kidnapping of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., was the abduction of the son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The toddler, 18 months old at the time, was abducted from his family home in East Amwell, New Jersey, near the town of Hopewell, New Jersey, on the evening of...
.)
Cast
- Alfred MolinaAlfred MolinaAlfred Molina is a British-born American actor. He first came to public attention in the UK for his supporting role in the 1987 film Prick Up Your Ears...
.... Hercule Poirot - Meredith BaxterMeredith BaxterMeredith Baxter , also known for some years as Meredith Baxter-Birney, is an American actress and producer. She is known for her acting roles including three television series: Family , an ABC television-network drama, Family Ties , an NBC television-network situation comedy, and Dan Vs. , a...
.... Mrs. Caroline Hubbard - Leslie CaronLeslie CaronLeslie Claire Margaret Caron is a French film actress and dancer, who appeared in 45 films between 1951 and 2003. In 2006, her performance in Law and Order: Special Victims Unit won her an Emmy for guest actress in a drama series...
.... Sra. Alvarado - Amira CasarAmira CasarAmira Casar is a French actress who grew up in Ireland and who has appeared in 40 films between 1989 and 2009....
.... Helena von Strauss - Nicolas Chagrin .... Pierre Michel
- Tasha de VasconcelosTasha de VasconcelosSandra de Vasconcelos Mota e Cunha, aka or better known under the name, Tasha de Vasconcelos is a supermodel, actress and notable humanitarian.- Childhood :Sandra Tasha is born in Beira, in Mozambique, her family was forced to flee from 2 revolutions...
.... Vera Rossakoff - David HuntDavid Hunt (actor)David Hunt is a British actor who has worked in both the United Kingdom and the United States.His best known U.S. film role is Harlan Rook, the murderer in the 1988 action film The Dead Pool, the fifth installment in the Dirty Harry series...
.... Bob Arbuthnot - Adam JamesAdam James (actor)Adam James is a British actor. His credits include Band of Brothers, The Mother of Tears, Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire, Bonekickers, Henry VIII: The Mind of a Tyrant and the Doctor Who episode Planet of the Dead, as well as an episode of ITV2 drama Secret Diary of a Call Girl...
.... William MacQueen - Dylan Smith .... Tony Foscarelli
- Peter StraussPeter StraussPeter Strauss is an American television and movie actor, known for his roles in several television miniseries in the 1970s and 1980s.-Personal life:...
.... Mr. Samuel Ratchett - Fritz WepperFritz WepperFritz Wepper is a German television actor.- Life and work :He has been married to Angela Prinzessin von Hohenzollern since 1979, and they have one daughter, Sophie...
.... Wolfgang Bouc - Kai WiesingerKai WiesingerKai Wiesinger is a German actor.-Life and work:Kai Wiesinger began taking private acting lessons as a teenager. After his Zivildienst , he became an acting student in Munich...
.... Philip von Strauss - Natasha WightmanNatasha WightmanNatasha Wightman is an English actress, who trained at Elmhurst Ballet and Theatre School in Camberley, Surrey.She has appeared in movies such as Gosford Park and played Valerie Page in V for Vendetta....
.... Mary Debenham
Other versions
- Murder on the Orient ExpressMurder on the Orient Express (1974 film)Murder on the Orient Express is a 1974 British mystery film directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot, and based on the1934 novel Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie.-Overview:...
is a 1974 film with Albert FinneyAlbert FinneyAlbert Finney is an English actor. He achieved prominence in films in the early 1960s, and has maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television....
as Poirot. - In December 2010 the series Agatha Christie's PoirotAgatha Christie's PoirotAgatha Christie's Poirot is a British television drama that has aired on ITV since 1989. It stars David Suchet as Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot. It was originally made by LWT and is now made by ITV Studios...
, featuring David SuchetDavid SuchetDavid Suchet, CBE, is an English actor, known for his work on British television. He is recognised for his RTS- and BPG award-winning performance as Augustus Melmotte in the 2001 British TV mini-drama The Way We Live Now, alongside Matthew Macfadyen and Paloma Baeza, and a 1991 British Academy...
as Poirot, aired their own adaptation of this story.