This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The worst Christie adaption ever, bar none. One of her best novels has been butchered beyond recognition. Suchet is superb, as usual, but even he can't save this fiasco.

Suchet is known for playing Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. I recommend reading _Murder on the Orient Express_ since the book will be mentioned. In this program, Suchet is our guide through the book, the characters and the most intriguing character--the actual train. We get to learn more about the train as he talks of various facts related to the Orient Express--from its storied past to its refurbished glory. If you have a wallet like mine, you can experience the extravagance of the Venice Simplon-Orient Express through this program. I love the joy that Suchet showed during his journey. He respected the history in a humble manner. As for the comment regarding a token employee, Suchet's porter is on the web site. He's on several pages within the web site. Also, Suchet did an abbreviated version of the trip (London to Venice). If you're independently wealthy, you can do the whole shebang that's mentioned in the book. This made me start saving for an abbreviated trip (Venice to Paris) and a pocket watch.

The title is self-explanatory: this 47-minute documentary focuses primarily on the Orient Express, but also tells us quite a bit about David Suchet himself. And it is actually still quite astonishing - not only for us, but also for the other passengers on the train! - to see - and hear - David Suchet as "himself", without the famous moustache, the characteristic Poirot voice, the French words and phrases dropped in nearly every sentence, etc; it shows how great an actor he is that he can make a transformation so complete. On the other hand, Suchet and Poirot do have some things in common: among them, is a love for all things elegant, tidy, high-class; Suchet recognized that he is lucky to be playing for so long a character whose surroundings usually have these qualities in abundance. Suchet also gets to live his boyhood dream - drive the Orient Express for a while. Speaking of the Orient Express, this documentary does a good job of putting it in a historical perspective: from a technological innovation at the turn of the 20th century to a symbol of glamor in the 1920s and from an outmoded relic after WWII to an icon of nostalgia in our days. This pleasant little film also includes a visit to one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Venice.

It was difficult to follow David Suchet's route on the Orient Express.At one point, seemingly in Switzerland, we are told he was leaving Innsbruck (Austria) for the Austrian border. Then he is in Venice! Onward to Vienna (really?), he finishes in Prague, but not at Prague Main Station (Hlavní Nádraži), but at the out-of-the-way suburban Praha-Smíchov. What happened to Austria & Vienna? Did I miss something?On board, we have Suchet talking from the point-of-view of the fictional Poirot. Surely, this is supposed to be a documentary about the actual Orient Express. He speaks of Poirot's wonderful brain. Excuse me – Poirot is the successful invention of Agatha Christie. He mentions Christie's accurate descriptions, but despite her supposed frequent travelling on the train, 'Murder on the Orient Express' contains virtually nothing to reflect this, especially in relation to geography. Her Orient Express could have been stuck in a snow-drift near Maidstone in England for all the reader can tell.Misguidedly, because the Orient Express has the reputation of being an upper-class white preserve, Suchet has the token black attendant in an attempt to somehow "correct" matters. Let's hope the poor man was rewarded financially by the production company.An undemanding, inaccurate, and ultimately disappointing programme for middle-class readers of newspaper colour supplements and wool-over-the-eyes Suchet/Poirot fans, who undoubtedly will enjoy it. Good photography though.