Ian
(Flash Review)The crux of this movie is, as the title implies, a murder had taken place on a train in the first class car while stranded mid-journey waiting for the snow covered tracks to get plowed. This started off pretty good but then once detective Poirot got involved began an endless stretch of him telling us what he was figuring out for clues. Clues that the audience most likely would not be able to figure out for themselves (or like me lost interest by then) by how the story unfolded. So the entire film is the audience being spoon-fed intricate clues as Poirot interviews the entire train car with unique characters, bland cinematography and iffy lighting. The acting, costumes and dialog were professional with a who's who of actors of that era. With the repetitive nature of the story, I almost fell asleep a couple times and I'm someone who can happily re-watch Barry Lyndon. Ha. Overall this didn't seem to make good use of the storytelling medium of film.
maudebersold
I really like this movie, the casting was very intersting with very good actor. It was quite long at the end, but there was very good suspens. I'm don't very like the end of the movie even if is not common of the other detectiv movie.
mark.waltz
The nostalgic 1970's brought a modern twist to the old fashioned values that took America by storm in a turbulent era. Films like "Airport", "The Sting" and "What's Up Doc?" seem like they could have been made 40 years before, and only slight modern twists made them appear current. For the first of the Hercules Poirot murder mysteries, an all-star cast was hired, many of them veterans and many of them still quite in demand. This was the one and only opportunity for Albert Finney to play the part of the sly Belgian detective, and he's quite different from Peter Ustinov who played the part in half a dozen films, both for the cinema and for television.With a lemon puckered voice hardly musical (even though he sang in two films), Finney is less bumbling than Ustinov, but that doesn't mean that the comedy isn't there. He is much more direct, solemnly business like, and in a sense, more obviously shrewd. James Coco brilliantly spoofed Finney the following year in "Murder By Death". Surrounding him is an international cast who obviously knew that this film would be something special, and a chance to work with actors they might never have the chance to work with again. Like subsequent entries in the Pierot series (and other Agatha Christie stories), this starts off with a prelude seemingly unrelated to the main story, but as I found out by watching the others, nothing should be dismissed. Every move, perhaps every prop, is a clue, giving the audience ample opportunity to guess who did it. There's plenty of suspicion cast on everybody, even those who seem to be completely innocent.The victim? Richard Widmark. The suspects? Many. Annoying Lauren Bacall, Bible spouting Ingrid Bergman, imperious royal Wendy Hiller, her maid/companion (Rachel Roberts), suave nobleman Michael York, nervous mama's boy Anthony Perkins, graceful butler John Gielgud, nasty American businessman Martin Balsam, among others (Sean Connery, Vanessa Redgrave). They are all stuck in the snow in the middle of nowhere when the murder is discovered. Of course, the mixture of personalities creates additional conflict, with the recurring joke of everybody desperately trying to avoid Bacall every time she appears, and the multiple error of Finney assumed to be French, not Belgian.A mention of Garbo puts attention on fellow Swede Bergman, winning her third Oscar for her greatly underplayed performance. With a cast like this, it's easy to get lost in who everybody is, but this is done in such an amusing manner that it never gets dull. It's a fully gorgeous production with every detail practically perfect. I can't imagine the 2017 remake topping this in any way.
