Murder on the Orient Express

Istanbul: In the hotel lobby, master detective Hercule Poirot (Alfred Molina) is persuaded by his friend Wolfgang Bouc (Fritz Wepper) to take a trip on the Orient Express. At this point, nobody could have guessed that the Belgian's little gray cells would soon have a lot to do. The train gets stuck due to a landslide. Shortly afterwards, the American millionaire Samuel Ratchett is found dead in his compartment, murdered by several stab wounds. As no one was able to leave the train, the murderer must still be on board. Bouc asks Poirot to take on the case... "I found myself surprisingly absorbed, even though I’ve known whodunit since I was prenatal. Partly this is because Molina is a fine Poirot – more melancholy than foolish or foppish, shadowed by an unhappy love affair, taller than usual, and much less given to excessive fidgets than a Finney or a Ustinov. [...] But Stephen Harrigan’s screenplay also deserves credit, updating Agatha nicely with sitcoms, laptops, and DNA evidence, as well as witty references to Ross Perot and a Salt Lake City dinner-theater production of The Mousetrap." (John Leonard, in: New York Magazine)