Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

If this film is evidence of anything, it's that a collaboration among the best & brightest doesn't always produce the greatest result. Story by Agatha Christie. Directed by Sidney Lumet. An all-star cast, including Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, and Richard Widmark. This thing can't fail.

And it doesn't, exactly, but it really doesn't succeed either. There are a few of the standard Poirot lines ("What a funny little man", "You're Belgian? I'd thought you were French."), but no real wit. Nothing popped; the movie just plods along through a fairly routine (and largely telegraphed) whodunit. From that entire cast of stars, there's not a single noteworthy performance. The best thing you can say is that some of them managed to really disappear into their roles (Finney & Bergman, especially). But what a movie like this wants is some sparkle, some charm. Only Perkins, of all people, brings any of that, and it's certainly not enough to go around.

And finally, I have to mention the two lengthy scenes near the end—the re-enactment of the deed, and the champagne toasts. Both were given entirely too much time and attention. I can't say much more without a spoiler, but they really drew out the end of an already too-long film, and to no positive effect.

Notorious (1946)

I was a bit underwhelmed by this movie. I didn't have a lot of expectations going in, other than knowing it was Hitchcock and so would have some real suspense. I also expected some great passion between Grant & Bergman, of course. On the first point, I wasn't disappointed. On the second, I was. I like both Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, but there didn't seem to be much chemistry between them here. Part of it might have been inordinate amount of time & energy that Hitchcock spent flirting with the Code. It may have been shocking or amusing or otherwise interesting in 1946 to see the two leads in a 3-minute embrace with one 3-second kiss after another. But with the Code long gone, and not knowing about that aspect of the scene beforehand, it looks pretty ridiculous. They seem like a couple of high-schoolers too awkward to really lock lips. And in this context, that clumsiness really detracts from the story. Awkward, after all, is the last word that should apply to these two characters.

So for me, the movie really picked up steam once the two protagonists were torn apart. Watching Bergman go toe-to-toe with Claude Rains was a lot of fun. He's another actor I've always enjoyed, and never more so than here. Hitchcock is a master of tension, and he keeps it drawn very taut between them for long periods of time. His visual style is also very potent in the last half. I loved the shot introducing Sebastian's mother—she's terrifying before she ever says a word. I'm also a big fan of the way Hitchcock can make a single image say so much—the Unica key on Sebastian's keyring, for example, or the 1940 wine label.

All in all, I enjoyed the movie. Not the sizzling love affair everyone talks about, which left me quite cold. But the suspense, and the tension among the triangle of Alicia, Sebastian, and his mother, were very good. It hasn't made me a huge Hitchcock fan, but it hasn't hurt either.