1974 film “Murder on the Orient Express” was the first film adaptation of Agatha Christie’s beloved 1934 novel of the same name, and it was also perhaps the best of them. The movie earned more than 10 times its budget at the box office, and in the years since, it’s become the gold standard for Christie film adaptations. It seemed like nobody had a bad thing to say about the movie, except, of course, for Agatha Christie herself.
“It was well made except for one mistake,” Christie reportedly said. “It was Albert Finney as my detective Hercule Poirot. I wrote that he had the finest mustache in England — and he didn’t in the film. I thought that a pity — why shouldn’t he have the best mustache?”
Looking back, it’s hard to argue with this critique. Finney’s mustache in this movie is respectable, sure, but it is not impressive enough to stick out to the average viewer, let alone impressive enough to be called the finest mustache in all of England. Finney made for a fine Poirot, but his mustache should be at least twice as big and twice as imposing. It should be big enough to bring a smile to the viewer’s face when they see it for the first time. It should spark conversation among viewers as they’re leaving the theater. Perhaps director Sidney Lumet wanted to keep the story grounded, but Poirot’s mustache is always supposed to be larger than life.
