Poirot: Murder On The Orient Express

David Suchet has been playing Hercule Poirot on television for 20 years, almost every story has been filmed and finally one of the most anticipated has marked Poirot’s debut on the hidef format; Murder On The Orient Express is considered by many to be the definitive Hercule Poirot story, and perhaps the best-known Agatha Christie work of all time.

The story was famously filmed, during Christie’s lifetime, in 1974 by legendary director Sidney Lumet, starring Albert Finney as the diminutive Belgian Detective and a host of Hollywood guest stars including, Sean Connery, Lauren Bacall, Anthony Perkins and Ingrid Bergman.  This frothy, yet intricate and sumptuous version was much-loved by the author that, for many years after her death in 1976, the Christie Estate was reluctant to grant permission to make alternative versions.  However, with almost all of the 33 novels and 51 short stories featuring Poirot to Suchet’s credit, it seemed inevitable that he would eventually get to do it.

It’s interesting to chart the progress of the Poirot franchise; it began as a modest, relatively low-budget TV series in 1989, the focus of which was the original collections of short stories featuring Poirot, his associate Captain Arthur Hastings, his secretary the inscrutable Miss Lemon and the regular Scotland Yard presence of Chief Inspector Japp.  Whilst the house-style was light and charming the attention to period detail, characterisation and authenticity in keeping to the original Christie plots was exemplary and to extend the series the production was expanded to also include feature-length adaptations of the Poirot novels, starting with Peril At End House in 1990 and ending with Murder In Mesopotamia in 2001.

The brand was re-launched in 2003 with Five Little Pigs but not featuring the regular extended cast or the now synonymous Christopher Gunning theme music and reduced to a stringent 90 minute running time.  For the most part these subsequent feature length adaptations have been solid, but they often lack charm or humour and, in recent years, the writers have sought to dramatically alter the original storylines and, largely due to the shorter duration, spend much less time in drawing believable supporting characters on which the resolution of the plots so often depend; the one lasting mark of quality is David Suchet’s leading performance.

I have to admit that Murder On The Orient Express is not my favourite Agatha Christie story, it’s not even my favourite Poirot story; however as a child the 1974 film gave me some of the most vivid nightmares I care to remember and as an adult, appreciating Lumet’s entire oeuvre, I have a very soft spot for it.  The Suchet version decides to be more faithful to Lumet’s film than to Christie’s original book, which is largely taken up with a series of repetitive face to face interviews between Poirot and the 12 suspects and is hardly the most riveting read in the world.

Where Orient Express does score highly is in its setting, cast of exotic characters and morbidly engaging subject matter, inspired by the real life kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh Baby in 1932.  It also differs significantly with its surprise resolution to Christie’s other more traditional whodunits.  The 1080p HD video quality is used to full effect in both the early Turkish scenes, the breathtaking train journey and snow-bound scenes in Belgrade, the DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack and expressive score are also outstanding.  The film opens with Poirot observing both the suicide of a young British Army Officer whilst he cross-examines him and the stoning of an adulterous Muslim woman thus sowing the thematic seeds of crime and punishment, retribution and redemption; developing significantly Suchet’s notion of Poirot’s devout Catholicism.

Poirot’s first release on Blu-ray is much welcomed and contains the excellent David Suchet on the Orient Express (HD 47 mins) examining the exotic 100 year history of the train itself.  I am glad that Acorn Media are dedicated to releasing the entire collection upscaled to high definition.