Murder on the Orient Express: Review

In the world of movie directing, there’s the auteur, and there’s the journeyman. The craftsman occupies the middle ground, motivated more by story and character than a need to stamp his personality on the finished product. Sydney Lumet was one of those, a man who zipped across genres with effortless aplomb. He made a pair of classic crime movies in Serpico, and Dog Day Afternoon; between those two, in 1974, he changed gears completely and directed Murder on the Orient Express, the first made big screen adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel, drawing up a murder mystery template which endures today. Has there ever been a more star studded affair? Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery, Vanessa Redgrave, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Martin Balsam, Anthony Perkins, Ingrid Bergman, Richard Widmark, Michael York; and, in the lead role of Hercule Poirot, Albert Finney, a bundle of gurning eccentricity.

Other actors have of course taken on the character: David Suchet, a meticulous fusspot with undiagnosed OCD, has the distinction of appearing in adaptations of all 33 Poirot novels on television, from the eighties to the noughties. More recently, Kenneth Branagh picked up the mantle, choosing to successfully reimagine the Belgian sleuth as a tortured soul, apart from the rest of humanity, doomed to a life of gnawing loneliness.

Now it’s the turn of Michael Maloney, a distinguished and versatile actor with a prestige CV to prove it. Rather than reinvent the wheel, Maloney takes the high road and accepts his part in what is very much an ensemble piece from director Lucy Bailey. This is the first time this particular adaptation – from American Ken Ludwig – has toured the UK.

‘That makes it really exciting’, says Bailey, ‘and it’s partly what drew me to it. Ken has provided a wonderful framework for the dramatisation. He’s come up with the idea that this is one of the most difficult cases in Poirot’s career, not only because of the complexity of its clues but also because it challenges his fundamental belief in the black and white letter of the law.’

Samuel Ratchett (Simon Cotton) is a bad man; we know this straight off because he wears vulgar clothes and likes to bully people to get his own way. Nobody sheds any tears when he’s stabbed eight times, and found dead in his carriage. ‘There’s a dead man rocking in compartment two!’ cries Poirot (something you might hear at a Nickelback concert, perhaps).

There are too many inconsistencies at the crime scene for this to be a normal case, which is fuel for Poirot’s little grey cells. Train manager Monsieur Bouc –serving the same purpose as Basil Exposition in the Austin Powers films – insists Poirot not involve the police (‘They’re like the 3 Stooges!’), and solve the murder himself.

The revolving carriage set from Mike Britton pivots in different directions, allowing the audience to experience the action from different perspectives. Bailey adds some vital visual flourishes, occasionally having the suspects float across the stage like a spectral chorus. After a leisurely first act, things crank up in part two. All the characters get their moment to shine: Princess Dragomiroff (Debbie Chazen) is a woman tired of the world’s bullshit, the sort of no-nonsense soul you might seek out when in need of an ally. Newcomer Iniki Mariano, as Mary Debenham, is a winning mix of steel and vulnerability; Rishi Rian, as secret lover the Colonel, gets a chance to give clever clogs Poirot a rare dressing down, in one of the production’s best scenes.

Middle class Christie was generally more interested in entertaining than railing against social injustice but she did something almost radical here, asking the urgent question: What happens when the law catastrophically fails the victim? After the infected blood scandal, the sub-postmasters debacle, party gate, and Grenfell Tower; justice cruelly denied is the issue of the day (maybe even the decade).

There can’t be many unfamiliar with the denouement but when finally revealed, it’s still a superbly gripping set piece. A good murder mystery offers simple pleasures, akin to a warm bath and a comforting hot chocolate before bed. On that level, Murder on the Orient Express succeeds superbly.

Murder on the Orient Express is at The Lowry Salford from 6-14 September 2024 before continuing on tour.

Read our interview with Michael Maloney and Bob Barrett.