1 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:07,000 (TRAIN WHISTLES) 2 00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:10,760 (CONDUCTOR SPEAKS ITALIAN) 3 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:15,760 Grazie, Pierre. I understand that you are full up. 4 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:17,520 It's unbelievable, signore. 5 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:19,640 All the world likes to travel tonight. 6 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:23,240 Nonetheless, you must find room for Monsieur Poirot, here. 7 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:26,880 Monsieur Hercule Poirot? 8 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:29,840 In a cramped but luxurious train carriage, 9 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:32,920 snowbound between Istanbul and Calais, 10 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:36,840 twelve suspects have gathered to hear an irascible little Belgian man 11 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:39,800 reveal who committed murder. 12 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:43,440 His hair pomaded to the shine of his patent leather shoes, 13 00:00:43,480 --> 00:00:46,520 his face jowly with late middle age. 14 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:49,600 How he loves the sound of his own voice. 15 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:51,640 (SHUFFLING) 16 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:01,960 And do you think Finney is the definitive Poirot? 17 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:04,800 I think yes, Finney is the definitive Poirot 18 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:06,760 in that he perfectly calibrates 19 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:09,440 the humour and the seriousness of his role 20 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:11,840 with a real sense of kind of moral backbone. 21 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:15,039 And he was supposed to take up the role again 22 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:17,200 in Death On The Nile in 1978, 23 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:20,360 and didn't in the end. He was replaced by Peter Ustinov. 24 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:22,560 Something is poetic about being a one off, isn't it? 25 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:24,880 Just the one perfect moment. Absolutely. 26 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:27,960 And Poirot is, you know, his Poirot specifically, 27 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:29,920 is up there with sort of Humphrey Bogart, 28 00:01:29,960 --> 00:01:32,200 Sam Spade, or Philip Marlowe, 29 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:35,120 one of those kind of quintessential cinematic detectives. 30 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:37,240 (GRAND ORCHESTRAL MUSIC) 31 00:02:17,640 --> 00:02:19,640 (TRAIN WHISTLING) 32 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:45,240 POIROT: In three days, all these people, these total strangers 33 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:48,600 meet in a single train whose engine controls their destiny. 34 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:55,160 BIANCHI: Oh, yes, I know. We are both envious of the husband, eh? 35 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:57,720 Is, uh... 36 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:00,320 is the husband as British as his tweeds? 37 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:02,920 Oh, heaven forbid, he's a hot-blooded Hungarian. 38 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:05,800 If you but look at his wife, he will cease to be a diplomat. 39 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:08,520 Thank God we are not young. (BOTH CHUCKLE) 40 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:16,720 Beneath the remarkable makeup 41 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:19,800 lies the 37-year-old British actor Albert Finney, 42 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:21,680 having the time of his life. 43 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:25,480 With wit and eloquence, and no little flamboyance, 44 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:29,200 he reveals a plot of complexity and cunning. 45 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:32,800 An attempt not only to perpetrate murder, 46 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:37,760 but then outwit the great detective Hercule Poirot. 47 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:40,079 For this is the gripping climax 48 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:44,079 to the legendary whodunnit, Murder On The Orient Express, 49 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:46,440 when the truth will out. 50 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:49,360 NEIL: Murder on the Orient Express, 51 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:52,200 the 1974 version of the film, 52 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:55,200 is probably the best version 53 00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:57,680 of any Agatha Christie novel. 54 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:00,000 There is a variety of reasons for this. 55 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:03,240 It is first of all, beautifully cast. 56 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:06,080 It is beautifully designed. 57 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:09,280 It is directed absolutely impeccably, 58 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:13,960 and it does everything that the book does, but more. 59 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:17,760 Finney is surrounded by one of the greatest casts ever assembled. 60 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:20,200 Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman, 61 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:23,160 Lauren Bacall, Vanessa Redgrave, 62 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:25,600 Anthony Perkins, John Gielgud, 63 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:28,040 Jacqueline Bisset, Michael York, 64 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:30,680 Wendy Hiller, Rachel Roberts. 65 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:33,680 Jean-Pierre Cassel, Denis Quilley, 66 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:37,040 Colin Blakely, Martin Balsam, 67 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:39,560 with Richard Widmark as the victim. 68 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:41,440 There also happened to be a peculiar 69 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:43,840 but brilliant little man behind the camera - 70 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:46,480 the unconventional choice of Sidney Lumet, 71 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:49,400 the New York director better known for his gritty, 72 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:51,360 street-wise psychodramas 73 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:54,080 like 12 Angry Men and Serpico. 74 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:57,400 In his hands, this talky, starry, 75 00:04:57,440 --> 00:04:59,280 intricately plotted thriller, 76 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:01,640 a huge hit in 1974, 77 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:05,920 became still the definitive Agatha Christie adaptation. 78 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:07,960 It elevated the whodunnit 79 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:11,040 to an exhilarating exploration of character. 80 00:05:12,280 --> 00:05:15,160 What did you do on Murder On The Orient Express? 81 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:19,160 Well I was what, in those days, was called continuity, 82 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:22,160 but today it's called script supervisor. 83 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:25,040 I actually had worked for the director. 84 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:30,080 He is one of the most efficient directors I've ever worked with. 85 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:32,360 He was so disciplined, 86 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:35,840 he really knew, he planned everything. 87 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:39,120 You rehearsed for a week or two, 88 00:05:39,159 --> 00:05:41,080 depending on the film. 89 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:44,640 You could ask, or I should say, the actors could ask, 90 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:48,480 any question they liked about their characters. 91 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:51,640 He had written sort of backstories for them. 92 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:55,200 But once that was all hammered out 93 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:57,440 in the rehearsal period... 94 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:01,240 ..he would not tolerate them coming up and saying, 95 00:06:01,280 --> 00:06:05,440 'What is my character thinking?' or, 'What should I be doing?' 96 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:07,600 or could I do this or that? 97 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:11,720 That was all sorted out during the rehearsal period. 98 00:06:12,840 --> 00:06:15,280 So what do you make of Sidney Lumet? 99 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:19,040 He seems a very unconventional choice to direct Agatha Christie. 100 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:23,120 Well, on one hand you have this kind of quintessentially English writer, 101 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:27,120 and someone who is often dealing with European aristocracy, 102 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:29,720 and the upper crust of the old world. 103 00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:32,360 And then you have this incredibly New York 104 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:34,800 kind of street director, Sidney Lumet, 105 00:06:34,840 --> 00:06:38,760 who started out in TV doing live television in the 1950s, 106 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:41,600 but, you know, went on to make films like 12 Angry Men, 107 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:43,560 and, of course, Serpico. 108 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:46,440 So he had this reputation 109 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:49,360 for being gritty and realistic, 110 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:53,080 and really absolutely nothing to do with this very stylised 111 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:56,960 and plush world of old Europe. 112 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:58,640 And this very English world 113 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:01,960 that Agatha Christie presented in her novels. 114 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,160 I think one of the reasons that Lumet 115 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:06,680 works so well with this film 116 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:08,720 is because he understood 117 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:11,240 that, quite apart from being, you know, 118 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:14,120 the greatest selling author of all time, 119 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:16,360 Agatha Christie was also 120 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:20,960 the greatest female playwright of all time. 121 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:23,560 She wanted to be a playwright and spent a lot of time 122 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:25,360 not getting plays on, 123 00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:27,680 but when she hit, she hit big. 124 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:29,560 And she understood the idea 125 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:33,840 of transferring theatrical devices 126 00:07:33,880 --> 00:07:36,200 into her novels and vice versa. 127 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:40,280 I think that's what makes Sidney Lumet in particular, 128 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:43,560 a wonderfully appropriate director for this. 129 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:45,640 He came out of theatre himself. 130 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:49,960 Many of his films are based on original stage plays. 131 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:52,960 Congratulations on this very real achievement. 132 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:55,120 How do you feel about having the longest run 133 00:07:55,159 --> 00:07:57,000 ever in the land of the theatre? 134 00:07:57,040 --> 00:07:59,200 Well naturally, I think it's wonderful. 135 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:02,640 Hardly believe it.Well, I think most people think it's wonderful. 136 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:05,080 It's certainly the longest run of any of your plays. 137 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:07,360 Do you think, yourself, that it's the best? 138 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:10,840 Well, I don't think an author can tell, themselves, do you? 139 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:13,440 Did you think, yourself, when you wrote this 140 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:15,600 that it was a sure-fire winner? 141 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:18,200 No, I never think that. (CHUCKLES) 142 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:21,200 You don't like your own plays even when you see them produced? 143 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:24,680 Ah, when I see them produced, it's better.In what way? 144 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:26,920 Well, I mean when you've just finished writing them, 145 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:29,960 of course, you think they're terrible. The same with books. 146 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:32,039 Do you prefer writing plays or books? 147 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:35,000 Oh, plays every time. Why?Much more fun. 148 00:08:35,039 --> 00:08:39,000 To see them all coming to life? No, just more fun to write. 149 00:08:39,039 --> 00:08:41,520 Have you ever met a real criminal? 150 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:43,600 Ah, maybe. 151 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:46,000 But I don't know if so. 152 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:48,360 Why are you so fascinated by crime? 153 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:51,280 I don't know that I'm very fascinated by it. 154 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:53,040 I just began writing about it 155 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:55,480 and then one continues, doesn't one, usually? 156 00:08:55,520 --> 00:08:57,960 I've always liked detective stories. 157 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:01,280 You like other people too? Mmm, always liked them, yes. 158 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:03,440 Can you tell me, what about your future? 159 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:05,440 Have you a play on the stocks at the moment 160 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:07,600 that might run as long as The Mousetrap? 161 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:10,120 Ah, one would never like to say that. 162 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:12,160 (LAUGHS) Thank you very much. 163 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:17,080 Agatha Christie was and is hugely important. 164 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:20,080 The best-selling novelist of all time. 165 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:22,800 But the years between the wars 166 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:26,920 were a golden age of detective fiction, 167 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:29,640 and most of the writers were women. 168 00:09:29,680 --> 00:09:32,680 Dorothy Sayers, Josephine Tey, 169 00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:34,600 Margery Allingham. 170 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:37,920 But where Agatha Christie stands out 171 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:42,800 is, well, partly her sheer prolific quality. 172 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:46,760 What, 33 novels on Poirot alone? 173 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:50,480 And maybe 50 short stories, a play. 174 00:09:50,520 --> 00:09:53,160 I think 66 novels in all. 175 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:55,480 Dorothy Sayers wrote about a dozen. 176 00:09:56,320 --> 00:09:59,000 But clearly she, 177 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:02,680 even more than her contemporaries, 178 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:05,560 hit something in the zeitgeist. 179 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:07,800 Because in the years 180 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:10,240 after the First World War, 181 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:13,840 almost every household had lost someone. 182 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:18,640 Death needed to have the sting taken out of it, 183 00:10:18,680 --> 00:10:23,600 and that's what the classic detective stories did. 184 00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:26,560 Look at this one, Murder On The Orient Express. 185 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:29,720 Does anyone care about the man who's killed? 186 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:33,000 No. That's what it tends to be. 187 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:35,560 It tends to be a puzzle 188 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:39,440 without too much inconvenient, 189 00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:43,000 painful emotion in it. 190 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:46,680 POIROT: You are in danger.My life has been threatened, Mr Poirot. 191 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:50,120 My secretary can show you two letters on file. 192 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:54,280 And I... 193 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:56,160 can show you this. 194 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:00,960 I sleep on it. 195 00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:04,640 Mr Poirot... 196 00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:07,920 ..$5,000. 197 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:11,080 No? 198 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:13,880 $10,000? (TRAIN BELL RINGS) 199 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:16,000 $15,000? 200 00:11:16,040 --> 00:11:18,880 Mr Ratchett, I have made enough money 201 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:21,720 to satisfy both my needs and my caprices. 202 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:25,360 I take only such cases now as interests me and to be frank, 203 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:28,640 my interest in your case is, uh... 204 00:11:28,680 --> 00:11:30,840 dwindling. 205 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:32,880 (TRAIN WHISTLES) 206 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:46,720 (TRAIN ANNOUNCER SPEAKING FRENCH) 207 00:11:51,560 --> 00:11:53,680 NEWSREEL: Paris has six railway stations, 208 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:56,200 the busiest of which is the Gare de Lyon. 209 00:11:56,240 --> 00:11:58,880 The Orient Express pulls out at 8:20 every night. 210 00:11:59,840 --> 00:12:02,960 Only one car will go the entire route to Istanbul. 211 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:06,480 Along with the diplomats, the couriers, and their secret pouches, 212 00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:09,640 reporter Kendrick rode in the Istanbul car. 213 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:17,440 Producer John Brabourne was visiting the Kremlin 214 00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:21,000 with his daughter in the early 70s, queuing for Lenin's tomb. 215 00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:23,160 She was so engrossed in her book, 216 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:26,600 she didn't pay the slightest bit of attention to their surroundings. 217 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:29,000 He asked her what she was reading. 218 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:31,920 It was Murder On The Orient Express. 219 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:34,800 Brabourne had impressive credentials. 220 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:37,520 He was a Baron, Lord Mountbatten's son-in-law, 221 00:12:37,560 --> 00:12:39,400 and cousin to the Queen. 222 00:12:39,440 --> 00:12:42,840 As a film producer, he veered towards literary subjects. 223 00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:45,960 He would produce Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet, 224 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:48,600 as well as the Tales of Beatrix Potter, 225 00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:50,760 but was warned that Agatha Christie 226 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:53,960 had grown very protective over her books. 227 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:57,000 The truth was, Agatha Christie had grown weary 228 00:12:57,040 --> 00:12:59,360 of the poor adaptations of her work, 229 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:01,320 especially on screen. 230 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:03,680 Dating back as far as 1928 231 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:05,600 with The Passing Of Mr Quin, 232 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:09,080 films based on her books were mostly unsatisfactory. 233 00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:11,120 She thought that Margaret Rutherford 234 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:13,840 had turned Miss Marple into a lovable buffoon. 235 00:13:14,680 --> 00:13:16,760 With the exception of Billy Wilder's 236 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:18,760 Witness For The Prosecution, 237 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:20,680 no one had got it right. 238 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:24,440 So what are your recollections of John Brabourne, 239 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:26,440 who was Lord Brabourne, I believe, 240 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:29,080 who was the producer of the film, who was the son-in-law 241 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:31,160 of Lord Mountbatten, have I got that right? 242 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:34,240 So he was quite a grand person to be producing the film. 243 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:36,160 Oh, yes, John Brabourne, 244 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:38,800 and Richard Goodwin was his partner. 245 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:41,560 He was co-producer with him. 246 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:43,440 Lord Brabourne was the one 247 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:47,680 who brought Prince Charles to the set, and... 248 00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:53,240 ..towards the end, his youngest brother Edward came 249 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:56,680 after school to see the set. 250 00:13:56,720 --> 00:13:59,160 But he called himself John Brabourne to everybody, 251 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:01,520 we didn't call him Lord Brabourne. 252 00:14:01,560 --> 00:14:03,760 He was actually a very nice man. 253 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:09,480 And had been sort of working in films for... 254 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:11,480 quite a long time. 255 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:15,000 What do you know of Agatha Christie's rather dislike 256 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:17,240 for the adaptations of her work? 257 00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:20,160 Christie was said to be, by her husband, 258 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:22,960 allergic to the screen adaptations of her work. 259 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:25,760 She never really liked any of them, she was highly critical 260 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:27,920 of their casting and so forth. 261 00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:29,680 But she did really like Billy Wilder's 262 00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:31,360 Witness For The Prosecution. 263 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:34,600 So you could say she had pretty good taste where that was concerned. 264 00:14:34,640 --> 00:14:37,680 Agatha Christie was very reluctant 265 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:41,360 to have any more of her books adapted for the screen, 266 00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:45,040 because she had suffered in the past. 267 00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:48,160 The first adaptation, of course, was a great one - 268 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:51,880 1957 Witness For The Prosecution. 269 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:54,480 Billy Wilder and Marlene Dietrich, 270 00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:56,880 Tyrone Power, Charles Laughton. 271 00:14:56,920 --> 00:14:59,320 Great. But then... 272 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:05,240 ..she made a deal which she bitterly regretted with MGM. 273 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:08,040 She needed the money, you wouldn't think of that 274 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:11,760 for such a staggeringly successful writer, 275 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:15,120 but she had got into a tax difficulty, 276 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:18,680 which plagued her for many, many years. 277 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:22,040 So she signed a deal with MGM, 278 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:26,080 who cast Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple. 279 00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:29,720 Agatha personally liked 280 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:32,240 and admired Margaret Rutherford, 281 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:35,320 dedicated a novel to her, in fact. 282 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:38,760 But this series of, I think, four films, 283 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:41,840 got weirder and weirder. 284 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:45,240 She was even more upset when MGM 285 00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:48,120 then turned their attention to Poirot. 286 00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:53,120 They cast Tony Randall as Poirot. 287 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:55,000 The ABC Murders 288 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:58,000 became the Alphabet Murders on screen. 289 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:01,000 But they had Poirot 290 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:02,840 in a bowling alley, 291 00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:05,080 making with the bowls. 292 00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:06,880 They were trying, 293 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:09,400 I think, to answer the success 294 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:11,800 of the Inspector Clouseau movies, 295 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:14,320 to make him a semi-comic 296 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:17,000 action hero, almost. 297 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:19,720 And they actually had Miss Marple 298 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:23,560 and Hercule Poirot meeting for a moment. 299 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:25,800 And needless to say, 300 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:29,280 Agatha was even more distressed about this. 301 00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:31,640 She swore never again, 302 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:34,280 no more film adaptations. 303 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:37,480 But the makers of The Orient Express 304 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:40,400 persuaded her to change her mind. 305 00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:42,960 Through his august father-in-law, 306 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:46,600 Brabourne was granted a rare audience with the reclusive author. 307 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:50,520 He convinced her that they would do justice to her novel, 308 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:52,680 set on the famous train. 309 00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:56,400 Lumet understood because he came out of theatre, 310 00:16:56,440 --> 00:16:59,480 and he understood different mediums when he was directing. 311 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:01,160 He'd been in television. 312 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:05,680 And he was attracted by the idea of turning 313 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:09,160 what is basically a static piece of work, 314 00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:12,280 into a big cinema experience. 315 00:17:12,319 --> 00:17:15,280 Sidney Lumet was looking to do something lighter. 316 00:17:15,319 --> 00:17:17,760 He wanted to make a souffle, he said, 317 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:20,160 and here was the perfect recipe. 318 00:17:20,200 --> 00:17:22,400 One that took him far from New York, 319 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:25,319 and promised the possibility of working with his idols, 320 00:17:25,359 --> 00:17:27,839 and had a brilliantly structured plot. 321 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:29,840 But once he was shooting, 322 00:17:29,880 --> 00:17:32,640 he was confronted by a fascinating challenge - 323 00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:36,320 to tell a story trapped within the confines of a train. 324 00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:40,640 And it is also a period piece set in 1935. 325 00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:43,760 Lumet's metier is contemporary thrillers, 326 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:47,280 social justice on the hard-hitting streets of New York. 327 00:17:47,320 --> 00:17:50,600 But on closer inspection, it makes perfect sense. 328 00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:52,800 The carriage is a jury room. 329 00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:55,600 There are distinct echoes of 12 Angry Men, 330 00:17:55,640 --> 00:17:58,440 and courtroom thrillers like Serpico, 331 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:01,040 where one man pursues the truth. 332 00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:03,520 Lumet is so good with the dynamics 333 00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:06,560 of personality in confined spaces, 334 00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:10,640 thriving where the only tool to hand is performance. 335 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:14,360 In a sense, when you look at Murder On The Orient Express, 336 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:16,440 it's very similar to 12 Angry Men. 337 00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:19,640 There are 12 suspects, they are confined to one space, 338 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:22,760 and there is one man pursuing the truth. 339 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:26,360 So you imagine, actually, while Sidney Lumet said 340 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:29,120 he wanted to do something lighter and more melodramatic, 341 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:32,640 he may have seen a quintessential Sidney Lumet film in there. 342 00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:36,440 Yeah, there are certainly parallels to be drawn between these two films, 343 00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:40,920 and I think Lumet's interest in law and order 344 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:43,720 and the justice system, in America usually, 345 00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:48,120 and also in the kind of individual weight of moral responsibility... 346 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:51,320 all of these things appear in these life or death stories, 347 00:18:51,360 --> 00:18:53,440 these whodunnits that Agatha Christie wrote. 348 00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:57,040 And in Murder On The Orient Express, the hero, Poirot, 349 00:18:57,080 --> 00:19:01,120 is ultimately left with a decision to make, 350 00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:04,000 a moral decision to make, about... 351 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:06,600 what's right and what's wrong, and who should be... 352 00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:09,400 who should be seen as innocent and who should be seen as guilty. 353 00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:11,440 Adapted by Paul Dehn, 354 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:13,880 with an uncredited rewrite by Anthony Shaffer, 355 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:15,800 the story is well-known. 356 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:19,320 With Poirot, a late and unexpected passenger, 357 00:19:19,360 --> 00:19:22,480 the Orient Express begins to wend its way across Europe. 358 00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:26,880 The next morning, the unlikeable business man, Ratchett, 359 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:30,400 played with nervy malevolence by Richard Widmark, 360 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:32,440 is found stabbed to death. 361 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:37,440 Poirot's senses alerted, his mind ticking, 362 00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:39,600 he leaps upon the case. 363 00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:43,360 A murder perpetrated beneath his very nose. 364 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:45,440 The fallacy about Agatha Christie 365 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:48,640 is that she wrote cosy mysteries 366 00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:51,880 all set in vicarages in Sussex or Kent. 367 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:53,960 Of course, she did some of those, 368 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:56,920 but, in fact, she had a much broader canvas. 369 00:19:56,960 --> 00:19:59,160 She was very, very well travelled. 370 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:01,040 I mean, she travelled on the Orient Express, 371 00:20:01,080 --> 00:20:03,600 she'd spent quite a lot of time in Egypt as a child. 372 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:05,600 Her second husband was an archaeologist. 373 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:09,120 So she knew the world, I mean, and she absorbed it, 374 00:20:09,160 --> 00:20:12,120 and she was fascinated by other cultures. 375 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:14,040 And many of her books 376 00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:16,440 are in fact set on a, you know, 377 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:20,440 they're set on a much broader international scale 378 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:23,160 than I think we tend to think of. 379 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:43,360 At the heart of Agatha Christie's book, 380 00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:45,400 there's a very American story. 381 00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:49,520 All the evidence, all the what's going on behind the murder, 382 00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:52,280 is about an up-state New York family. 383 00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:54,520 That's what you need to know going in. 384 00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:58,760 And it's not so far away from the world of Sidney Lumet. 385 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:02,720 And Agatha Christie actually based her book 386 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:05,280 partly on the story of the Lindbergh kidnappings 387 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:08,000 in the early 1930s, the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby. 388 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:11,520 So there is that American... very famous American news story 389 00:21:11,560 --> 00:21:14,000 about celebrity and violence 390 00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:17,120 in, you know, the heart of that novel. 391 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:19,200 So there's something interesting about the fact 392 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:22,080 that Lumet, who is so fascinated by these themes, 393 00:21:22,120 --> 00:21:23,880 is returning to this story. 394 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:25,520 Backed by EMI films, 395 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:29,360 this is a prestige British picture in the Korda mould. 396 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:31,680 Literary, with a period setting, 397 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:33,680 and laden with stars. 398 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:36,480 But it is very much a Lumet picture too, 399 00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:38,760 drawing close to its characters, 400 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:42,640 and enjoying the moral uncertainty of the story. 401 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:45,160 Did the victim have it coming? 402 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:48,640 It is a study in class, family, 403 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:51,520 conspiracy, and vengeance. 404 00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:54,400 (LOCK CLICKS) The chain. 405 00:22:02,360 --> 00:22:04,360 Ah, touch nothing! 406 00:22:09,120 --> 00:22:12,000 Where are Signor Bianchi and the Greek doctor? 407 00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:14,240 In the dining car, Monsieur. 408 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:16,280 Fetch them at once. 409 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:50,800 NEWSREEL: The train moves across the Italian countryside 410 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:52,840 toward the Adriatic and Trieste. 411 00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:58,680 The diners lose money, but are run to continue the tradition. 412 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:01,280 Every meal except breakfast includes veal. 413 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:08,000 Here, 20 hours from Paris, the Orient Express 414 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:11,760 ceases being just a train, and becomes a symbol as well. 415 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:16,080 Lumet was certain that if he landed one superstar, 416 00:23:16,120 --> 00:23:18,160 the rest would surely follow. 417 00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:21,480 So he approached his friend Sean Connery first. 418 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:23,920 They had made two complex thrillers together. 419 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:25,880 Connery loved the idea. 420 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:27,960 It was another Lumet challenge, 421 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,960 to make an impression with little screen time. 422 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:33,720 One by one, they fell into place, 423 00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:36,320 delighted by this ingenious story. 424 00:23:36,360 --> 00:23:38,520 Lumet's sole disappointment 425 00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:42,720 is that he failed to lure Marlene Dietrich out of retirement. 426 00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:44,880 (MAN SINGS INDISTINCTLY) (DOG BARKS) 427 00:23:51,120 --> 00:23:53,800 Welcome, Colonel Arbu... 428 00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:56,520 Arbu... Arbut... 429 00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:58,560 Arbuthnot. 430 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:04,400 MAN: (ON PA) The bus for Esperin will shortly depart 431 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:06,360 for Istanbul Sirkeci station. 432 00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:08,960 You get a real sense of international travel, 433 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:12,880 what it must have been like at that time in Istanbul Station, 434 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:15,640 which is all crowded with all kinds of different people. 435 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:20,160 And through the sort of steam and the haze 436 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:22,640 come these various fantastical characters, 437 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:24,800 dressed absolutely brilliantly, 438 00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:27,640 to board the first class compartments. 439 00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:31,480 In between that, you see this wonderful food 440 00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:33,560 that's been sort of given up to the thing. 441 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:36,840 And all being tested, you know, an oyster is opened. 442 00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:40,160 (SMACKS LIPS) Yes, OK, they're good. The wine is looked at. 443 00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:43,040 He looks at the bottle. Hmm, right vintage, yes. 444 00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:45,960 And all these tiny details sort of build up 445 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:49,560 to the idea that you're going on an amazing journey 446 00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:51,960 in the company of amazing people. 447 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:54,200 Then he pans right back 448 00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:56,160 to the train itself and the locomotive, 449 00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:58,640 which, of course, is a character in itself. 450 00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:01,400 It's a magnificent sort of machine. 451 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:04,800 All this is done in darkness. Actually, it's quite dark. 452 00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:07,720 And there's a lot of clatter, 453 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:09,720 and a little bit of music. 454 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:11,760 But when everybody is on board 455 00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:14,560 and when the train is ready to go off, 456 00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:16,800 what happens is that the lights 457 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:20,600 on the headlights of the train come blazing forth. 458 00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:22,520 (GRAND ORCHESTRAL MUSIC) 459 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:26,160 (STEAM HISSES) 460 00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:33,840 The music rises to the crescendo, 461 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:37,000 and what you're listening to is an overture 462 00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:40,960 to a huge musical spectacle. 463 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:45,000 This is like an MGM film, or a piece of theatre, 464 00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:47,920 which is what you are going to get on film. 465 00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:50,680 And out it goes into the darkness, 466 00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:52,800 and the last thing you hear 467 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:55,080 is the long, mournful whistle, 468 00:25:55,120 --> 00:25:57,360 which sounds exactly like a scream. 469 00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:00,000 (TRAIN WHISTLES)It is one of the most brilliant openings 470 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:04,040 of a film of that kind that I think I've ever seen. Fabulous. 471 00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:11,880 SARAH: Well, Sidney Lumet, in a way, 472 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:15,160 he brought the best of Hollywood to England. 473 00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:17,400 He didn't want to be corralled 474 00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:20,120 into the Hollywood model. 475 00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:23,160 But from the start, he was determined 476 00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:26,480 that this wouldn't be a little, cute, 477 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:29,960 cosy adaptation of Agatha Christie. 478 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,160 That this would be socking, 479 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:36,360 full-out glamour, and fun, 480 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:38,400 and that's what he did. 481 00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:41,200 The moment I see that first 482 00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:45,080 is when Mrs Hubbard, the Lauren Bacall character, 483 00:26:45,120 --> 00:26:47,320 arrives in the station 484 00:26:47,360 --> 00:26:50,400 wearing this amazing concoction. 485 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:53,440 Lumet himself said, quite rightly, 486 00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:57,040 that no-one has ever got on a train dressed like that 487 00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:00,600 to start a long journey, but who cares? 488 00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:04,920 These weren't ordinary dresses, these were costumes. 489 00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:09,280 Glamorous. And that's glamour to the max. 490 00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:11,960 This was the first Agatha Christie adaptation 491 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:13,880 to have its list of suspects 492 00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:16,280 played by a suite of greats... 493 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:19,720 ..to have her already-grand characters 494 00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:22,320 loaded with superstar baggage. 495 00:27:22,360 --> 00:27:25,840 That Bacall's character is a little like Bacall, 496 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:28,600 or that Bergman's is rather like Bergman, 497 00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:30,680 is entirely deliberate. 498 00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:33,280 The film honours its starts, 499 00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:36,120 even as it accuses them of murder. 500 00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:38,480 When you've got stars of that magnitude, you know, 501 00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:41,480 and you have some really not just big stars, 502 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:45,120 but really, really fine actors, all sort of having 503 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:47,840 more or less equal time and jostling for position. 504 00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:51,880 There was no jostling for position because they trusted Sidney 505 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:54,920 in order to be able to make it all work. 506 00:27:54,960 --> 00:27:57,600 The lovely thing was that he also managed 507 00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:01,840 to sort of use their personas, 508 00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:04,320 or their profiles, 509 00:28:04,360 --> 00:28:06,520 within the characters that they were playing. 510 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:08,680 So, for example, Anthony Perkins 511 00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:11,360 pops up as McQueen, 512 00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:15,720 the sort of assistant to Richard Widmark. 513 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:19,760 And he's a very nervous man. He's very nervous, he's twitchy. 514 00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:21,680 He has a mother fixation. 515 00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:24,160 Of course, the minute you hear that, 516 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:27,360 you realise that you're watching sort of Norman Bates, 517 00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:30,880 or Norman Bates's sort of second cousin down the line. 518 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:34,280 And it gives you a connection to his earlier performances, 519 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:37,640 which... it doesn't distract from the character, 520 00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:40,560 it actually makes it somehow more fully rounded 521 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:43,440 because you've got a history, or a potential history, 522 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:46,440 behind the character you're watching on the screen. 523 00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:48,880 There's a really fascinating idea, I think, 524 00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:50,840 in Murder On The Orient Express, 525 00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:52,760 and I think Lumet's very good with it. 526 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:54,760 Is that all these wonderful actors 527 00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:56,720 are playing a part 528 00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:58,640 that is playing a part, if you understand me. 529 00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:01,480 They are all deceiving, certainly, Poirot. 530 00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:05,000 So what we see on the screen isn't necessarily their character. 531 00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:07,640 Their character is sort of hidden within the performance 532 00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:09,520 they are giving within the film. 533 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:12,640 And it's a sort of fantastically layered idea. 534 00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:17,240 I think it's something that he probably got to relish in. 535 00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:20,280 You know, coming off the back of a film like Serpico, 536 00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:22,160 which was ripped from the headlines, 537 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:24,480 where you're talking about real people and, you know, 538 00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:26,560 where Frank Serpico, the main character there, 539 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:29,840 was somebody that Al Pacino was spending time with to learn about. 540 00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:33,080 You get a lot more free rein with a literary adaptation like this, 541 00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:36,400 and particularly because you have such big characters. 542 00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:38,680 But you also manage to get these actors 543 00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:41,640 who are kind of playing with their own personas. 544 00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:43,480 So Ingrid Bergman, who is playing 545 00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:47,320 this very sort of meek, pious missionary. 546 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:50,160 I mean, 'Is she actually so pious?' is the question. 547 00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:53,880 And of course, in Ingrid Bergman's own life, she was often cast 548 00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:56,280 in parts like that early in her career, in things like 549 00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:58,440 The Bells Of St Mary's, for instance. 550 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:01,120 And then her infamous affair 551 00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:03,440 with the Italian film director Roberto Rossellini 552 00:30:03,480 --> 00:30:06,120 sort of shattered her reputation in America, 553 00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:08,840 and caused a great scandal. And so she wasn't nearly 554 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:11,160 as sort of saintly as she appeared on the screen. 555 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:14,160 And that, all of that, is feeding back into the persona 556 00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:16,560 and the layers of persona that you get. 557 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:21,920 What is it that is so pleasurable about Murder On The Orient Express? 558 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:25,120 It is that it's entirely about performance. 559 00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:29,280 It works as an ensemble of very different actors and styles, 560 00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:31,400 like an expensive chocolate box. 561 00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:34,880 Compare Bacall's feisty American divorcee - 562 00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:36,880 almost a self-parody - 563 00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:39,120 with Connery's simmering anger 564 00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:42,040 as a dyed-in-the-wool British officer. 565 00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:45,400 But it also works as a one-man show - 566 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:49,280 Finney's delectable take on Poirot. 567 00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:53,240 Mr Ratchett has been frontally stabbed... 568 00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:57,000 ..ten, eleven, twelve times. 569 00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:01,440 Oh, dear.Mon pauvre, if you must go woop-woop, 570 00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:04,320 please go woop-woop not to windward, but to leeward. 571 00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:06,360 Help him, Pierre. 572 00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:10,000 There had been Poirots on stage and film, 573 00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:14,160 including Charles Laughton, Austin Trevor and Tony Randall. 574 00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:16,640 None had come close to Agatha Christie's 575 00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:19,440 fastidious Belgian detective. 576 00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:23,480 When both Alec Guinness and Paul Scofield declined the role, 577 00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:25,600 Lumet turned to Albert Finney. 578 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:27,440 He was too young, 579 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:30,800 but Lumet knew what a precise actor Finney was. 580 00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:33,600 Finney was certain that he wanted 581 00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:37,240 to make Poirot not necessarily likeable. 582 00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:41,240 He is arrogant, disdainful, eccentric. 583 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:43,760 He transforms from irritation 584 00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:46,040 to almost childish delight 585 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:48,680 when the case unfurls before him. 586 00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:51,320 So tell me something about his performance 587 00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:55,200 and watching him take on the character. How did he work? 588 00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:58,640 Well, it's hard to know how somebody works. 589 00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:01,520 I mean, he had discussed his part 590 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:04,920 at great lengths, I'm sure, with Sidney, 591 00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:07,960 and they had come to an agreement 592 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:10,040 as to how he was going to play it. 593 00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:13,440 And you know, again, 594 00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:15,280 he just got on with it. 595 00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:19,080 We didn't ever have actors saying 596 00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:23,480 'I don't like this line,' or 'I don't want to do it this way.' 597 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:26,320 A two-week rehearsal was vital for Lumet, 598 00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:30,160 to bring his cast together and get them singing to his tune. 599 00:32:30,200 --> 00:32:33,080 Also, to get all their questions out the way. 600 00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:35,520 Once they were shooting, he would be obsessed 601 00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:37,560 with the case's Poirot. 602 00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:39,600 He was amazed to find how the legends 603 00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:41,960 were nervous meeting one another. 604 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:44,840 He had to remind them they were all actors. 605 00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:47,120 Time to knuckle down. 606 00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:50,280 Well, can't you tap the telephone wires?Fire a rocket or something? 607 00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:52,400 BIANCHI: This is not a ship, madam. Where are we? 608 00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:54,960 We are between Vinkovci and Brod. 609 00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:57,200 In what country? In Yugoslavia. 610 00:32:57,240 --> 00:32:59,520 The Balkans. What else can you expect? 611 00:32:59,560 --> 00:33:02,280 Snow is God's will and always for the best. 612 00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:04,480 Yeah, but h-h-how long do you think 613 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:07,120 before we start getting out of here? As soon as the station master 614 00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:10,240 perceives that we do not arrive on time, he will send-(CLATTERING) 615 00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:13,240 What was the rehearsal like, and gathering together 616 00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:15,920 all these legends of film? 617 00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:21,680 Well, they were all very supportive of each other, 618 00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:24,280 and what you did with Sidney 619 00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:26,760 was to read around the table. 620 00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:29,120 They would all read their parts, and I'd sometimes 621 00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:32,000 have to read the scene descriptions. 622 00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:33,880 We probably did that twice, 623 00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:36,120 and then he rehearsed 624 00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:39,000 every scene in the film, 625 00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:42,320 because the sets were marked out, 626 00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:45,480 because we didn't have them built or anything. 627 00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:47,880 So they rehearsed it that way 628 00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:50,640 and so they knew exactly what they were doing 629 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:52,960 when it came to shooting it. Yeah. 630 00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:57,280 Observe, memorise. You are my only witnesses! 631 00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:02,600 A-I-S-Y A-R-M-S. BIANCHI: What does that mean? 632 00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:06,560 It means... 633 00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:09,520 we know the true identity of Mr Ratchett... 634 00:34:11,199 --> 00:34:13,920 ..and why he had to leave America. 635 00:34:22,126 --> 00:34:24,120 (HUMS, SINGS INDISTINCTLY) 636 00:34:28,199 --> 00:34:30,199 (FOOTSTEPS, OBJECTS CLATTER) 637 00:34:34,199 --> 00:34:36,199 (HUMS, SINGS INDISTINCTLY) 638 00:34:45,639 --> 00:34:47,719 (CHUCKLES) 639 00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:49,760 (LAUGHS) 640 00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:07,120 The book presents an interesting cinematic challenge. 641 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:11,240 Everything is seen or heard from Poirot's perspective. 642 00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:14,200 Of course, he arrives at the scene of the crime 643 00:35:14,240 --> 00:35:16,400 before it has been committed. 644 00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:18,680 The night of the murder is depicted 645 00:35:18,720 --> 00:35:20,840 in a series of glimpses. 646 00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:23,400 Distant voices, knocks at a door, 647 00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:26,560 clues that seem too obvious. 648 00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:28,480 Once the body is discovered, 649 00:35:28,520 --> 00:35:30,400 the story evolves into a series 650 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:32,800 of interrogations with the suspects, 651 00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:35,120 these delicious vignettes 652 00:35:35,160 --> 00:35:37,840 where each actor gets a chance to shine. 653 00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:43,360 The interiors of the train were built at Elstree Studios. 654 00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:47,480 It was a film consciously restricted in terms of space. 655 00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:50,880 Apart from the early scenes in Istanbul, 656 00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:53,960 the arrivals of the passengers and exteriors of the train, 657 00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:56,760 the story is entirely set within the bounds 658 00:35:56,800 --> 00:36:00,640 of two carriages of the sumptuous Orient Express. 659 00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:03,000 Lumet keeps his cast 660 00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:05,040 confined to the train. 661 00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:07,680 Scenes are shot often over 662 00:36:07,720 --> 00:36:09,640 or around Poirot, 663 00:36:09,680 --> 00:36:13,000 as if the camera is one step behind his investigation. 664 00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:16,000 It's really a feat 665 00:36:16,040 --> 00:36:19,000 of several different strands, I guess, of Lumet's talent, 666 00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:21,880 and it shows how many different talents he had in that. 667 00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:24,080 He started out working in confined spaces 668 00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:26,320 in that he was often working on live television, 669 00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:29,040 one-set plays in cramped studios. 670 00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:31,760 So something which was born of necessity, 671 00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:34,720 which is to say that he could work really well in confined spaces, 672 00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:36,720 and figure out ways to put the camera 673 00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:38,760 in the places they needed to be, 674 00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:40,800 and often with really teeming, 675 00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:42,920 complex amounts of things going on 676 00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:44,800 within those shots as well. 677 00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:46,880 But that thing that was born of necessity 678 00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:48,960 kind of became a signature for him. 679 00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:52,600 And he continues to do that in so many others of his films, 680 00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:54,800 even as the budgets increase. 681 00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:56,640 And with Murder On The Orient Express, 682 00:36:56,680 --> 00:36:58,280 of course, so much of it takes place 683 00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:00,760 in this confined area of the train 684 00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:02,960 and the compartments of that train. 685 00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:06,160 And on top of that, of course, the train is snowbound, it's trapped. 686 00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:09,720 So it gives a real claustrophobic air. 687 00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:11,720 And there's a wonderful... 688 00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:14,560 sort of sense of use of design of the train itself. 689 00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:16,360 And it's very unusual, you know, 690 00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:18,880 he doesn't shoot the train in a cliched way. 691 00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:21,080 He uses these kind of strange lights. 692 00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:24,560 He makes it almost like a haunted house, certainly during the nighttime sequences. 693 00:37:24,600 --> 00:37:28,640 There's a weird blue light in Poirot's room, he's woken up. 694 00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:32,200 And sort of an oddity, a strangeness to the environment, 695 00:37:32,240 --> 00:37:34,240 yet it's full of luxury too. 696 00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:38,360 Now, tell me something about the shooting of the film, 697 00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:41,280 because it's in a remarkably confined space. 698 00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:43,560 It's carriages of a train, 699 00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:45,640 and there's not much room to move. 700 00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:49,200 So how difficult was that to physically work with? 701 00:37:49,240 --> 00:37:51,120 Well, it was constrained, 702 00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:53,440 but it was all based on, you know, 703 00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:55,440 the size of the carriages. 704 00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:59,400 I mean, the cabins were the size of the real cabins. 705 00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:01,760 And Tony Walton 706 00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:04,880 was the Art Director on that film. 707 00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:07,520 And I think he, if I remember correctly, 708 00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:09,640 he'd managed to get 709 00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:13,280 some of the original panels from the train 710 00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:15,440 to be used on the film. 711 00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:17,880 That must have added to the whole atmosphere 712 00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:20,120 of creating the film. 713 00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:23,320 Yes, it did. I think, you know, 714 00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:26,400 the set was confined, but it was very accurate. 715 00:38:28,720 --> 00:38:31,960 But I think everybody quite enjoyed it. 716 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:34,440 In the grand tradition of the whodunnit, 717 00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:36,560 the film finishes with Poirot 718 00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:38,760 gathering the characters together. 719 00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:41,480 Twelve of them, to match a jury. 720 00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:44,240 And he reveals who killed Ratchett. 721 00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:47,120 It is a tour de force from Finney. 722 00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:50,720 Eight pages of near-monologue, 723 00:38:50,760 --> 00:38:53,600 a character who loves to take centre stage. 724 00:38:54,520 --> 00:38:57,840 It's a performer playing a performer, 725 00:38:57,880 --> 00:39:00,360 a show-off, and a brilliant man 726 00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:02,680 setting the universe to rights. 727 00:39:02,720 --> 00:39:06,360 I am inclined to agree with Mr Foscarelli...Ah! 728 00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:09,200 ..who believes that he was a rival member of the mafia, 729 00:39:09,240 --> 00:39:12,800 exacting private vengeance for a vendetta whose precise nature 730 00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:16,080 the Yugoslav police will undoubtedly identify. 731 00:39:18,400 --> 00:39:21,440 But... is that all? 732 00:39:21,480 --> 00:39:23,480 No. No, no, no, no. 733 00:39:23,520 --> 00:39:25,280 No, it is not. 734 00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:28,120 So the conclusion always is with... 735 00:39:29,080 --> 00:39:31,400 ..Poirot bringing together 736 00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:34,520 all the suspects into one room, 737 00:39:34,560 --> 00:39:36,760 and then, basically, 738 00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:38,800 delivering a speech 739 00:39:38,840 --> 00:39:41,240 which sort of goes through all his deductions. 740 00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:44,880 I mean, he gives his... This is his chance to be a performer. 741 00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:47,720 This is his chance to be the star of his own show. 742 00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:50,360 Because he can then show off how clever he has been, 743 00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:53,880 in terms of working out 'whodunnit'. 744 00:39:54,720 --> 00:39:58,120 And, in this case, it's wonderful 745 00:39:58,160 --> 00:40:01,360 because not only is Albert Finney 746 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:03,480 actually probably the perfect Poirot, 747 00:40:03,520 --> 00:40:07,360 he is, of course, an actor of immense capability. 748 00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:11,040 And he sort of gives that whole idea 749 00:40:11,080 --> 00:40:14,800 of being someone on stage in the spotlight, 750 00:40:14,840 --> 00:40:18,200 actually addressing not just suspects, 751 00:40:18,240 --> 00:40:19,920 but an audience. 752 00:40:19,960 --> 00:40:22,280 In November 1974, 753 00:40:22,320 --> 00:40:25,720 Agatha Christie attended the London premiere, 754 00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:28,600 and expressed her rare approval of the film. 755 00:40:28,640 --> 00:40:31,800 Apart from the matter of an underwhelming moustache, 756 00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:34,120 this was her Poirot. 757 00:40:34,160 --> 00:40:36,800 It would be her last public appearance. 758 00:40:36,840 --> 00:40:40,360 She died 14 months after the release of the film. 759 00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:46,000 How well do you think Sidney Lumet serves Agatha Christie? 760 00:40:46,040 --> 00:40:48,800 How well does he depict her world in the novel? 761 00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:52,440 I think he does a really incredible job of both... 762 00:40:53,280 --> 00:40:56,920 ..ramping up this 1930s art deco world, 763 00:40:56,960 --> 00:40:59,840 this world of, you know, very kind of wealthy, 764 00:40:59,880 --> 00:41:01,840 international people. 765 00:41:01,880 --> 00:41:05,680 And largely, I should add, a cast of American and English actors 766 00:41:05,720 --> 00:41:08,880 playing all manner of nationalities in the film. 767 00:41:08,920 --> 00:41:11,760 But he also brings something unique to it, 768 00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:14,160 by taking this very... 769 00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:16,960 you might even say stuffy world, 770 00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:19,520 and approaching it differently, 771 00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:22,480 both visually and psychologically. 772 00:41:22,520 --> 00:41:25,240 He is very interested in psychological realism. 773 00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:28,120 These are not cardboard cutouts. 774 00:41:28,160 --> 00:41:31,200 You know, that's the Russian princess, for instance, 775 00:41:31,240 --> 00:41:34,240 and that's the moustachioed Belgian detective. 776 00:41:34,280 --> 00:41:36,800 Yes, OK, on the face of it, that's fine, but... 777 00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:39,680 he is really interested in delving into their perplexity, 778 00:41:39,720 --> 00:41:42,680 their anger, their confusion, their self-deception. 779 00:41:42,720 --> 00:41:44,800 And that's quintessential Lumet. 780 00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:48,000 The film would be a big hit, especially in America 781 00:41:48,040 --> 00:41:50,800 where it helped firmly establish Agatha Christie. 782 00:41:50,840 --> 00:41:53,840 It received six Academy Award nominations, 783 00:41:53,880 --> 00:41:56,240 including Best Actor for Finney. 784 00:41:56,280 --> 00:41:58,280 No other Poirot ever did that. 785 00:41:59,240 --> 00:42:01,920 Ingrid Bergman won Best Supporting Actress 786 00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:05,280 for her no more than a single take, five minutes long, 787 00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:07,760 in which she created an entire character, 788 00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:11,360 and said something about the tragedy of her career. 789 00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:14,240 Though if the Academy had any wit, 790 00:42:14,280 --> 00:42:17,480 they would have given them all an Oscar together. 791 00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:20,320 In the years since Murder On The Orient Express, 792 00:42:20,360 --> 00:42:22,680 Agatha Christie has become an industry. 793 00:42:22,720 --> 00:42:24,720 Nearly all of her books and short stories 794 00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:27,040 have been adapted in one form or another, 795 00:42:27,080 --> 00:42:30,640 some of them good, many mediocre. 796 00:42:30,680 --> 00:42:33,800 But none of them are a match for Finney's core precision. 797 00:42:34,720 --> 00:42:38,200 It's become the signifier, 798 00:42:38,240 --> 00:42:42,960 the classic of an Agatha Christie mystery, hasn't it? 799 00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:46,600 That moment at the end where the detective, 800 00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:50,440 where Poirot, assembles all the characters, 801 00:42:50,480 --> 00:42:53,480 and tells them what happened. 802 00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:57,920 Opportunity for lavish use of flashbacks, of course, 803 00:42:57,960 --> 00:43:00,760 as we see what really happened, 804 00:43:00,800 --> 00:43:03,080 as Poirot describes it. 805 00:43:03,120 --> 00:43:07,080 The actors actually living out those roles 806 00:43:07,120 --> 00:43:10,520 that had led to the original murder. 807 00:43:10,560 --> 00:43:13,080 I'm not sure whether this was the first 808 00:43:13,120 --> 00:43:15,280 real use of it on the screen, 809 00:43:15,320 --> 00:43:20,000 but if so, it was vitally important. 810 00:43:20,040 --> 00:43:23,840 Because that has become the benchmark, if you like. 811 00:43:23,880 --> 00:43:27,080 It's almost... say the words Agatha Christie, 812 00:43:27,120 --> 00:43:29,400 say Hercule Poirot, 813 00:43:29,440 --> 00:43:31,640 and that is what you see. 814 00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:33,800 You see Poirot in, 815 00:43:33,840 --> 00:43:37,480 whether it's the drawing room of a great country house, 816 00:43:37,520 --> 00:43:41,240 or the dining car of the Orient Express, 817 00:43:41,280 --> 00:43:45,080 laying it all out, what happened. 818 00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:49,880 And an amazing thing to act and film, of course. 819 00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:52,560 An amazing job for Albert Finney. 820 00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:55,320 More than even the brand of Agatha Christie, 821 00:43:55,360 --> 00:43:59,000 the whodunnit has become a central tenet of modern culture. 822 00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:01,600 The genre has never been so popular, 823 00:44:01,640 --> 00:44:04,440 the rules firmly fixed in place. 824 00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:07,560 The murder, the suspects, the locations, 825 00:44:07,600 --> 00:44:10,600 the clues, and the eccentric detective. 826 00:44:10,640 --> 00:44:13,680 But Sidney Lumet's Murder On The Orient Express 827 00:44:13,720 --> 00:44:17,280 is not only the definitive Agatha Christie, 828 00:44:17,320 --> 00:44:19,440 but the best of an entire genre. 829 00:44:31,680 --> 00:44:33,680 (WHISTLE BLOWING) 830 00:44:53,160 --> 00:44:55,160 (TRAIN HISSES) 831 00:45:09,400 --> 00:45:12,840 Subtitles by Sky Access Services www.skyaccessibility.sky