Agatha Christie's Poirot: Murder on the Orient Express (DVD)

A number of fine actors--Albert Finney, Peter Ustinov, Ian Holm, Alfred Molina, Tony Randall--have portrayed detective Hercule Poirot, mystery author Agatha Christie's most popular creation. There have also been several filmed versions of Murder on the Orient Express, perhaps Christie's best-known tale, and although this 2010 made-for-TV adaptation, with David Suchet in the lead role, isn't the best of the lot (that distinction goes by general consensus to the 1974 feature film, with Finney), it's likely the most controversial. That's primarily because director Philip Martin and screenwriter Stewart Harcourt have been less than completely faithful to the source material. Scenes that Christie never wrote have been added (starting right off the top with a nasty bit of business in which Poirot observes a Turkish woman being stoned for allegedly committing adultery); other bits have been somewhat rearranged, while a few characters' motivations and dispositions have changed as well, and whi