The 1974 adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express was flawed, will the 2017 adaptation be better?

With a director such as Branagh at the helm, there’s a good chance that this film will be very good.

Considered by many as one of the most ingeniously crafted stories ever published, Agatha Christie’s ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ has stood the test of time (it was published in 1934) and a handful of cinematic iterations to retain its place in the pantheon of great whodunits’.

Most who haven’t read the book may be familiar with filmmaker Sidney Lumet’s adaptation of the classic mystery which was released in 1974.

In Hollywood though, no film is old or important enough to be remade or as I like to call it, ‘reheated’ and this time around veteran Shakespeare director, Kenneth Branagh, is taking a stab at adapting the famous novel.

The story is fairly simple. Thirteen passengers travelling across Europe on the Orient Express find themselves front and centre of a murder mystery after one of the passengers is mysteriously murdered. Everyone is a suspect and the self-proclaimed greatest detective in the world, Hercule Poirot, also played by Branagh, is ready to solve the case.



The trailer doesn’t do much, other than efficiently set-up the story which is also what it is supposed to do. It gives us an introduction to the eccentric Poirot as he walks through the train cabin examining the 13 passengers one by one, mentally referring to them by their designations and making clear his intentions of catching the killer.



The trailer ends with Imagine Dragons’ ‘Believer’ playing in the background, which seems like a bit of an odd music choice, but according to the studio, gives an important hint regarding the story.

I’m someone who isn’t particularly fond of Hollywood’s continuing fetish with remaking old films. But in the case of Murder on the Orient Express, it could actually benefit from a polished redo simply because of how interesting and fun the entire story is. Lumet’s 1974 adaptation is enjoyable for what it is, but it is also heavily flawed and not necessarily a sacred property like most films being remade these days



Perhaps it is worth mentioning that the cast is particularly star-studded. Apart from Banagh, Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfieffer, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Daisy Ridley, Olivia Colman and Judi Dench are all part of the cast.



I also feel with a director such as Branagh at the helm, who truly respects the source material and has already directed two immensely successful and faithful adaptations of Hamlet and Henry V, there’s a good chance that this film will be very good.

Murder on the Orient Express hits screens November 10^th.

All photos: IMDb