# Murder on the Orient Express (again) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 4, 2017, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088 "2017-06-04T05:07:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088/21 "2017-06-04T18:41:05Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Someone tell Jacobi he’s three times the actor Branagh is (And i kinda like Ken). He doesn’t need to be Branaghs second fiddle. Jacobi is set to turn eighty next year – and, as far as I can tell, there’s not exactly a surfeit of first-fiddle movie roles for guys that age. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088/22 "2017-06-04T19:43:21Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > Albert Finney’s performance makes that version, for me at least, unwatchable. I’m hoping beyond hope that Kenneth Brannagh doesn’t set my teeth on edge. I know Poirot is a frustratingly annoying character at times, but Finney made him downright insufferable. I never saw David Suchet’s TV version. They made every book, so it exists. Did anyone see it? Was it good? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088/23 "2017-06-04T19:44:26Z")
As a train fan, I really wish they used a locomotive that looks like it could be from the correct continent. The one shown in the trailer looks distinctly American. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088/24 "2017-06-04T22:41:01Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I never saw David Suchet’s TV version. They made every book, so it exists. Did anyone see it? Was it good? David Suchet _was_ Poirot. His appearance and performance were 100% perfectly in line with the character in the books. As Jeremy Brett was to Sherlock, Joan Hickson was to Miss Marple, or Colin Firth was to Mr. Darcy, so was David Suchet to Poirot. Having said all that: you know, I’m not sure I saw his version of MotOO. They left it until pretty late in the run. Might have been during the years I didn’t have a TV. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088/25 "2017-06-04T22:51:28Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > _Murder On The We-Don’t-Use-That-Word-Any-More-It’s-Politically-Incorrect Express_ Love it, but it’s a little wordy. Why not just use the title of the first US edition of the book: _Murder in the Calais Coach_? I’ll look forward to the movie. I loved the 1974 version, and I’d like to see how this one measures up. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088/26 "2017-06-04T23:10:29Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > David Suchet _was_ Poirot. His appearance and performance were 100% perfectly in line with the character in the books. As Jeremy Brett was to Sherlock, Joan Hickson was to Miss Marple, or Colin Firth was to Mr. Darcy, so was David Suchet to Poirot. > > Having said all that: you know, I’m not sure I saw his version of MotOO. They left it until pretty late in the run. Might have been during the years I didn’t have a TV. Suchet was excellent. But I hated the fat suit/structure that he wore. Poirot was described in the books as having (if my memory is correct) “a touch of embonpoint” which means he was a _little_ overweight. That structure made him look like The Penguin from some angles. His regular body with, perhaps, a little tummy added, would have been just fine. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088/27 "2017-06-04T23:40:06Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > You think Branagh will have a problem playing a self-important ass? +1 > [@aruvqan](#): > > Well, looks interesting, though mrAru commented that Brannaugh as Poirot is really wrong, but he sort of looks like Bridges as The Dude … :dubious::smack:😛 > > I am somewhat bemused as Poirot is described as basically pudgy, a dapper dresser, an egg shaped head with classic heavily waxed moustaches. Much like David Suchet in the TV version of Agatha Christie’s Poirot. [we actually were binge watching them this past couple of weekends.] > > As an aside, is there a decent Lord Peter Wimsey anywhere to watch? I think the Ian Carmichael Lord Peter Wimseys are still pretty watchable. I rewatched them about ten years ago. And they are from the early 1970s. But I loved Albert Finney as Poirot. FWIW, Dame Agatha herself said that the '74 version of _Murder on the [Far East Asian] Express_ was her personal favorite of all the adaptions of her books. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2017, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088/28 "2017-06-04T23:57:09Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > _Murder On The We-Don’t-Use-That-Word-Any-More-It’s-Politically-Incorrect Express_ Amusing. But it is’t the \*most \*politically incorrect title that Dame Agatha ever penned! ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088/29 "2017-06-05T00:13:24Z")
> [@Hermione](#): > > But just to play devil’s advocate…why is the 2001 Murder on the Orient Express considered such a travesty, when Sherlock and Elementary are so well-received? Because neither series was made as a direct adaptation. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088/30 "2017-06-05T01:52:38Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > But I loved Albert Finney as Poirot. FWIW, Dame Agatha herself said that the '74 version of _Murder on the [Far East Asian] Express_ was her personal favorite of all the adaptions of her books. Even so, remember she hated Poirot. She had a stand-in for herself who appeared in some of the Poirot stories, by name Ariadne Oliver; her detective was a Finn, and she was always fuming about why she made him a Finn and how his mannerisms were a pain in the ass. For myself, I thought Finney’s portrayal was a travesty at first, but I have gotten used to it on further viewings. He was too tall, but they did use some camera angle tricks to make him seem shorter. Nitpick: “Orient” in the name of the train refers to West Asia not East Asia. The line didn’t go any further east than Istanbul (or Stamboul) Nitpick 2: Since “Orient Express” is the proper noun denoting the route/train, it seems to me an excess of PC-ness to not use it. But that’s just me. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088/31 "2017-06-05T02:04:40Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Even so, remember she hated Poirot. I wonder how far/deep the hate really went. It has certainly become widely known, like Conan-Doyle hating Sherlock Holmes. I know she is on record disliking him, but she did continue writing his novels well past the point of needing to. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088/32 "2017-06-05T02:42:52Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Nitpick: “Orient” in the name of the train refers to West Asia not East Asia. The line didn’t go any further east than Istanbul (or Stamboul) > > Nitpick 2: Since “Orient Express” is the proper noun denoting the route/train, it seems to me an excess of PC-ness to not use it. But that’s just me. For that matter, is “orient” really non-PC? I get that “oriental”, as applied to people, is out of favor; the reason I hear given is that it’s offensive to use the same term for people as you would for an object like a rug. Is “orient” completely taboo now, for things as well as people? It seems to me that if we start calling them “Asian Express” and “Asian rugs” that we’re back where we started. It’s not a topic that comes up very often, and I know such matters are not governed by purely rational reasons; I’m just curious. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088/33 "2017-06-05T04:54:37Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Nitpick 2: Since “Orient Express” is the proper noun denoting the route/train, it seems to me an excess of PC-ness to not use it. But that’s just me. > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > For that matter, is “orient” really non-PC? I get that “oriental”, as applied to people, is out of favor; the reason I hear given is that it’s offensive to use the same term for people as you would for an object like a rug. Is “orient” completely taboo now, for things as well as people? It seems to me that if we start calling them “Asian Express” and “Asian rugs” that we’re back where we started. I have never heard that “Orient” or “Oriental” are in any way offensive when applied to things. The issue is calling people “orientals.” Has anyone suggested that “Orient Express” is offensive? Because that would be absurd. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088/34 "2017-06-05T12:25:01Z")
I think people are vastly over estimating how popular Agatha Christie is this days. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088/35 "2017-06-05T15:09:06Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > The only ones I know of are an ancient (1950s/60s?) series with Ian Carmichael, and one from the 1980s or so with Edward Petherbridge and Harriet Walter (which was pretty good but it only did a few of the stories). I see there are examples of both on Youtube. I will have to rummage around for them. > [@Sattua](#): > > David Suchet _was_ Poirot. His appearance and performance were 100% perfectly in line with the character in the books. As Jeremy Brett was to Sherlock, Joan Hickson was to Miss Marple, or Colin Firth was to Mr. Darcy, so was David Suchet to Poirot. > > Having said all that: you know, I’m not sure I saw his version of MotOO. They left it until pretty late in the run. Might have been during the years I didn’t have a TV. The Poirot series is currently on Netflix, so I binged on the whole series =) I have this box by Samsung that hooks into my wifi and gives me Netflix, Amazon Prime and several others [that I don’t have accounts with like Hulu] so I have pretty much quit watching regular cable other than for special stuff [I keep track of what is going to be on for movies or documentaries/shows I occasionally like to catch.] I have gone to mainly using music as my background instead of random TV or cable shows. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088/36 "2017-06-05T15:33:58Z")
> [@Hermione](#): > > Actually, there WAS a made-for-TV adaptation in 2001 that updated the story to the (then-) present day. It starred Alfred Molina, who seems to have done his usual good job, but fans were outraged at the update…they just couldn’t get their brains around Hercule Poirot looking up info on a laptop. I think they were trying to get a TV movie series going with Molina in more updated Poirot stories, but it never got off the ground. To me, the bigger jarring element in that TV-movie was the reason Poirot was travelling from Istanbul in the first place. Only partly because he had just finished another investigation, but more because he had been visiting his on-again/off-again girlfriend, a femme-fatale jewel thief, who he occasionally drops in to sleep with, but won’t marry because he has commitment issues. Sheesh. That’s not the Poirot I know. I found the David Suchet adaptation rather unsatisfying, to be honest. The religious overtones just seemed weird and out of place–Christie was never a particularly religious writer–and Poirot came off as much more Law and Order Must Be Observed than he does in the novel. Making M. Bouc an annoying fanboy rather than a genuine friend also seemed like one of those changes people make just because they can, without much of a good reason behind it. I don’t know about Branagh’s moustache. Or his hair color, for that matter. In the books, Poirot explicitly dyes his hair when he starts to go gray. But other than those quibbles, I’ll give this one a chance. Could be fun. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088/37 "2017-06-05T15:52:58Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I have never heard that “Orient” or “Oriental” are in any way offensive when applied to things. The issue is calling people “orientals.” > > Has anyone suggested that “Orient Express” is offensive? Because that would be absurd. What’s more, the [Venice Simplon] Orient Express is a company which still exists and operates the same train under that name. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088/38 "2017-06-05T16:28:40Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > I first saw this movie with Finney in the 80s. My brother walked in, and remarked 'Oh, this is the one where \*\*\*\*\* did it." I replied that I didn’t know, I hadn’t seen it before. Convinced I must have mis-remembered, as how could I not know this movie by now, went into detail about the ending to jog my memory, despite my protestations that no, I had never seen the movie before, and didn’t know who did it. The look on his face when he realized that indeed, I had never seen the movie before and he just spoiled the whole thing was priceless, but it didn’t stop me from wanting to kill him. So you did have a motive! ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088/39 "2017-06-05T18:51:53Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > I found the David Suchet adaptation rather unsatisfying, to be honest. The religious overtones just seemed weird and out of place–Christie was never a particularly religious writer–and Poirot came off as much more Law and Order Must Be Observed than he does in the novel. I think I’ve seen all of these at least once, and this stern religiosity ISTM only appears in the last three seasons or so. There was no more Hastings or Miss Lemon, no more badinage, and a lot more seriousness. I always thought, without any particular evidence, that the religious overtones were added at Suchet’s request. There seems to be a different writer for each episode, at least in those years, which could also account for the uneven tone. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088/40 "2017-06-05T21:19:57Z")
What religious overtones were added? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/murder-on-the-orient-express-again/788088.md?page=3)