Best movie of this year hands down!

Simply Perfect

Masterful Movie

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

This review comes on the heels of having just viewed the 2017 abortion directed by and starring Kenneth Branaugh and is more a comparison of the two cinematic versions than a simple review of the 1974 Sidney Lumet version. First of all, Agatha Christie's novel takes place in the 1930s. Lumet acknowledges this is a "period piece" and treats it as such. Glamour was a big thing in films set before the end of the studio system in Hollywood, and Lumet gives us plenty of it here (Branagh gives us little). The dramatic score for Lumet's 1974 film was composed by Richard Rodney Bennett, who is also the pianist on the soundtrack, which is lushly orchestrated and fits this production quite nicely. The all-star cast here is composed of well-known, proven actors, beginning with Albert Finney as Christie's sleuth, Hercule Poirot. It's unnecessary to list the entire star-studded cast here, as it's on the main page for the film, but the whole cast gives exemplary performances. The cinematography is exquisite, with Geoffrey Unsworth's excellent use of Panavision cameras and lenses. In fact, there's nothing bad to be said about the film. This was followed by several other Brabourne-Goodwin productions of Agatha Christie novels ("Death on the Nile," and "Evil Under the Sun," both with all-star casts with Peter Ustinov as Poirot and "The Mirror Crack'd" with Angela Lansbury as Christie's female sleuth, Miss Jane Marple), but none of the successors were as well-done as this one. The Kenneth Branaugh remake tells us that Branaugh's portrayal of Poirot was more important to him than the development of any of the other characters. The viewer gets the impression that Branaugh focused more on Poirot's obsessive-compulsive side than any other characterization in his film. In one word each, here's a description of the two versions: Lumet, 1974: magnificent; Branaugh, 2017: pedestrian.

First being based on an Agatha Christie novel makes it interesting, but if one looks at all the Top Tier actors/actresses results in an exceptional movie.

I really like this movie, the casting was very intersting with very good actor. It was quite long at the end, but there was very good suspens. I'm don't very like the end of the movie even if is not common of the other detectiv movie.

Normally, when you put this kind of "star studded casts" together, you wind up with a messy collection of scenes with each actor trying to outdo the others. Instead, legendary director Sidney Lumet has created a tight, fast paced, eerie, whodunnit, with a claustrophobic atmosphere that makes the locked room murder more than a puzzle to be solved. Excellent performances from a unbeatable cast, this film is a must for any mystery buff, or film buff for that matter. Keep an eye out for the under the radar performances by Redgrave and Balsam; but Finney's Poirot is pure genius.