We have been waiting for this one for 10 years~the Albert Finney film performance was wonderful, but Suchet is the master, Agatha Christie must beam from heaven each time David Suchet films another novel or short story!
check your local listing for the air time tonight on PBS’ Masterpiece Mystery ~ it is airing on KAET in Metro Phoenix~
Poirot investigates the murder of a shady American businessman stabbed in his compartment on the Orient Express when it is blocked by a blizzard in the Serbian mountains.
Oh I am sooo jealous they have seen this overseas a year ago!! ARRGLE! It will air this season in the US on PBS and is coming soon on DVD! Available for preorder now at AMZN- Poirot : The Movie Collection, Set 5, releases August 31.
Murder on the Orient Express — Onboard the Orient Express, an unsavory traveler (Toby Jones) requests Poirot’s protection; after the man is stabbed to death, Poirot searches for the killer on the now snowbound train. The star-studded cast includes Barbara Hershey, Hugh Bonneville, and Dame Eileen Atkins.
Third Girl — Poirot collaborates with crime novelist Ariadne Oliver (Zoë Wanamaker) to help a young heiress who thinks she may have committed a murder. When the woman’s childhood nanny is found dead, Poirot believes he has the victim–but he still has a long list of suspects. Peter Bowles and James Wilby guest star.
Appointment with Death–Hercule Poirot is visiting an archaeological dig in the Syrian Desert when the wife of Lord Boynton (Tim Curry) is murdered. Poirot carefully sorts through the woman’s many enemies to unearth the truth about her death. Also starring John Hannah and Elizabeth McGovern.
Edward Gorey’s theme is like Pavlov’s bell for fabulous television..
…Why is this such a genuinely exciting find? Partly because the story is so unusual for her. It is one of her rare excursions into making direct political comment, which is why it was never published.
The Capture Of Cerberus (she wrote a completely different short story with the same title in 1947) revolves around a dictator called August Hertzlein, who is clearly Adolf Hitler…
Excerpt:
Hercule Poirot sipped his apéritif and looked out across the Lake of Geneva. He sighed. He had spent his morning talking to certain diplomatic personages, all in a state of high agitation, and he was tired. For he had been unable to offer them any comfort in their difficulties.
The world was in a very disturbed state – every nation alert and tense. At any minute the blow might fall – and Europe once more be plunged into war.
Hercule Poirot sighed. He remembered 1914 only too well. He had no illusions about war. It settled nothing. The peace it brought in its wake was usually only the peace of exhaustion – not a constructive peace.
I keep expecting to get tired of the new Miss Marple every time the role is recast. They keep surprising me and keeping me entertained though and Agatha Christie is of course timeless… I am enjoying Julia McKenzie’s interpretation of the role, after growing up on Joan Hickson. I enjoyed Geraldine McEwan as well…For the purists I suspect Miss Marple will always be Margaret Rutherford….Does anyone else remember the 80s TV version of this novel with Bill Bixby and LesleyAnn Warren?
SCTV, 12/31/78 – …- Parody of “Murder on the Orient Express”, as directed by William Castle (Dave Thomas), featuring Hercule Poirot (John Candy), Agatha Christie, (Andrea Martin), and the “usual suspects.” Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Joe Flaherty, Dave Thomas, Tony Rosato
CoStarring Tim Curry, Elizabeth McGovern, John Hannah…Be warned I see comments that this diverges from the novel!!! (I love Piper Laurie and Lauren Bacall but that Ustinov version of this book needed a make over, YARM that I love okay I confess, I am glad to see Suchet take it on with ITV!!!)…
Moderate in the Middle 