Julie's Journal : Murder on the Orient Express

As someone who considers herself fairly well-read, I am ashamed to admit that I haven't read much Agatha Christie.  According to AgathaChristie.com and wikipedia, Christie is the best selling novelist of all time, having been outsold only by the Bible and William Shakespeare.  Christie is most well-known for her detective novels featuring Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.  I read one of her novels, And Then There Were None, a few years ago and enjoyed it, but didn't pick up any more of her work for some time.

When the Murder on the Orient Express movie came out in 2017, I wanted to see it, but was determined to read the book first.  Even though we have a traditional copy of the book in the library, I put myself on hold for it on Overdrive and waited and waited and waited for it to become available.  I finally read it at the beginning of March.  Surprisingly, in spite of the book being 85 years old and extremely famous, I had very little idea of the story line going in.  I won't get into too many of the details in case you, like me, aren't familiar with the story and want to go into it blind; but I thought the murder, the varied cast of characters, the unique setting, and Detective Poirot's handling of the case was ingenious. 

Last week, my husband was out of town and I needed something to watch, so I took the movie home.  It stays very close to the story in the book, which is important to me, but I understood the need to make the few changes that I saw.  I'm not able, like Chance, to discuss the cinematography and costumes, but I did find some of the camera work interesting.  I've not been on a passenger train of the sort in the story, but I can see where filming in such a way as to portray the tight quarters would be difficult. 

The cast is quite star-studded, including Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, and Michelle Pfieffer.  However, the star was definitely Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot.  His amazing mustache should have been a character in its own right.  I had never before heard of such a device as a mustache protector for sleeping, but saw one in action in the movie!

Overall, I really enjoyed my dip into Agathie Christie's World and characters.  I think next, I'll try Death on the Nile.  It looks like it will be the next movie made, with Branagh reprising his role as Detective Hercule Poirot!