The Curious Case of Istanbul! – On “Murder on the Orient Express” by Kenneth Branagh

The problem with the remakes is not much different from the problem of the adaptations. Hence, when you see a remake of a beloved movie like Murder on the Orient Express with that glamorous cast and dashingly beautiful direction of Sidney Lumet, you are hoping something more has motivated the persons behind it, or maybe they tried to achieve a different reading of sources. Don’t get your hopes high here, Kenneth Branagh added nothing to the original text and that dream ensemble of players couldn’t bring more life to it as it was managed before. The Hercule Poirot is a lost cause and apart from some passages here and there we are not getting close to him in that journey, let alone the infamous Beddoes from the first movie who is missing here. I think everybody remembers this line from the first adaptation:

Beddoes: Oh, yes sir. the Italian person.
Poirot: Does he speak english?
Beddoes: A kind of English sir, I think he learnt it in a place called Chicago sir.
Poirot: You talk together much?
Beddoes: Oh, No sir. I prefer to read.
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Foscarelli: Hey, What are you reading Mr. Beddoes?
Beddoes: ‘Love`s Captive’ by Mrs. Annabella Richardson.
Foscarelli: Is it about sex?
Beddoes: It is about 10:30 Mr. Foscarelli.

Writing these lines, right next to the room that Agatha Christie has created that masterpiece i can imagine why it was so fascinating in the first place to compose such a mystery. The mysterious Istanbul as it was, The holy gate of the East for westerners emblemised a peculiarly addictive pride and glory as such that everybody have only heard from books like Arabian Nights. Unfortunately, those images are far dusted and gone in the history now and there is not much essence left to it. The movie itself resonates that judgement – Take the mise-en-scene of the sequence that Poirot exposes the killer and the setting in both movies as an example. It is shallow, superficial and tasteless in an entertaining way!