Murder on the Orient Express (1974 film) movie 40 years ago (when it was published here as "Murder on the Calais Coach"), it would have been photographed in black-and-white on a back lot in Burbank or Culver City, with one or two stars and a dozen character actors and studio contract players. Its running time would have been around 67 minutes and it could have been a very respectable B-picture. "Murder on the Orient Express" wasn't made into a movie 40 years ago, and after you see the Sidney Lumet production that opened yesterday at the Coronet, you may be both surprised and glad it wasn't. An
Murder on the Orient Express Murder". In December 2014, the novel was included in "Entertainment Weekly"'s list of the Nine Great Christie Novels. The kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh's son in 1932 inspired that element in Christie’s novel two years later. An innocent, but perhaps loose-lipped, maid employed by Lindbergh's parents was suspected of involvement in the crime. After being harshly interrogated by police, she committed suicide. Two less notable events helped inspire her novel: Agatha Christie’s first journey on the Orient Express in late 1928, and a blizzard near Cherkeskoy, Turkey, that marooned an Orient Express for six days just a few months