X is for Murder on the Orient EXpress by Agatha Christie
Poirot travels by train in winter from Istanbul to London. During the night while traversing Yugoslavia, the train encounters an avalanche and cannot move forward until the snow is cleared. The following morning, a passenger, Mr. Ratchett, is discovered dead with 12 stab wounds. The murderer must still be on the train because the surrounding snow is too high for escape plus there are no footprints.
Poirot interviews the passengers and collects the clues, and arrives at the solution. However, he presents the passengers with two possible resolutions. After hearing them both, they know option 2 is correct but everyone chooses option 1 as the official story. Poirot reports option 1 to the local police after the train is able to move forward again.
The BBC produced Masterpiece Theater 1989-2013 with actor David Suchet as Poirot.
In my not-so-humble opinion, there is NO better actor for that role! I've seen all of the Poirot adaptations, plus all of the Miss Marple ones too. Excellent series, and the intro music is amazing.
The recent movie version was released in 2017 with Kenneth Branagh as Poirot.
He doesn't even come close to Suchet. Sorry. Johnny Depp was Ratchett. The movie was reasonably true to the basic story line although it did take some liberties. But I couldn't really get into it because Poirot was NOT Poirot.
Have you seen the BBC production and the 2017 movie? Did you like the new Poirot? Tell us in the comments!
4 comments:
Did not see the newer version. What a classic - what a writer. I did not know that the Lindy kidnapping inspired this story.
Xanthic
It’s interesting how we have a picture in our minds of how a character should look. I haven’t seen the new series.
I agree that Suchet is Poirot and no one else can compare. But that's why I think Branagh actually made the right choice just to take it in a different direction altogether. It's not as accurate to the book, but I enjoyed it as its own different thing.
X is for Variables
I have seen both versions and also both versions of the Death of the Nile. I agree Suchet is a much better Poirot. I am not really a fan of the Murder on the Orient Express story and I like Death on the Nile better. I though the Branagh verson which I saw quite recently was well done but Suchet still a better Poirot.
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