Mystery Month: Murder on the Orient Express

Murder on the Orient Express (1974, 2017)
I hoped there would be a railway chaplain. Before I starting writing this post, I found out there is indeed a railway ministry that puts chaplains on trains, and they’ve been around for 100 years, covering the 1930’s setting of this film. Sadly, there is no chaplain in either version of Murder on the Orient Express that I watched, but both have a missionary -- so I have something to write about for Mystery Month at Movie Churches.

If you don’t know the story of this Agatha Christie classic, you might want to stop reading right here, because the solution to the mystery is rather ingenious, and some of things I write may give away part of that solution. So you might want to stop reading this and pick up one of the many filmed versions to watch (or, you know, read the book). We’re reviewing the more famous 1974 & 2017 versions, but there are others (including a 2015 Japanese telling of the tale).

If you’re still with me, let’s start with director Sidney Lumet’s 1974 telling of the story. The film begins with flashbacks from the 1930 kidnapping and murder of the “Armstrong Baby,” Daisy, the child of a famous aviator. (In her novel, published in 1934, Christie was quite transparently retelling the story of the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh's son.) The film then moves to “the present,” several years later. A number of passengers are seen preparing to board the Orient Express, a luxury passenger train running from Istanbul to Paris. They seem to have very diverse backgrounds, but it becomes clear that all have a connection to that world-famous crime from 1930, and that the kidnapper is one of the passengers. Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney), who modestly describes himself as perhaps the world’s greatest detective, is also on the train.*

At the train station we see a woman searching desperately for her St. Christopher medal. It’s Greta Ohlsson (Ingrid Bergman in an Oscar winning performance), a Swedish missionary. (I wondered about the accuracy of this, thinking only Catholics would have St. Christopher medals. But never wrong Wikipedia says that Lutherans also honor St. Christopher, so go figure.)

Since the film is, after all, a mystery, it’s only a matter of time before someone is murdered. The kidnapper, Ratchet (Richard Widmark), is killed. When Greta hears the news, she says, “God’s laws have been trounced, thou shalt not kill.” A railway executive, a friend of Poirot’s, hires him to solve the murder. He suspects everyone that has a connection to the the Armstrong family.

Does that include Greta? She claims to work in Africa as missionary “teaching little brown babies more backward than myself.” She claims to be going to Europe on a fundraising tour.

Poirot uses his “little gray cells” to deduce that Greta was the Armstrongs’ governess, who was bound and gagged during the kidnapping. On the train, she pretends to have limited English language ability. It becomes obvious that she wasn’t a missionary before working for the Armstrongs, before the kidnapping.

Now here’s where the real plot spoiling comes to play. Greta played a part in Ratchett’s murder. She commited the crime “for their Daisy and for mine; God forgive me.”

Kenneth Branagh went in a very different direction casting the nursemaid/missionary character for his 2017 version of Murder on the Orient Express. Penelope Cruz plays Pilar Estravados. This is one of many changes Branagh made with his film, though the basic story is intact.

The film opens with a very different little mystery, Poirot solving a case in the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. An official tells Poirot he has narrowed the suspects to a Rabbi, a Priest, and an Imam. Poirot, of course, solves the crime, and it is not the work of one of the holy men.

We first encounter Pilar, the missionary, on the train. She is offered wine and replies, “I do not drink.”
When asked if it doesn't agree with her, she replies, “Sin does not agree with me. Vice is where the devil finds his darlings.”

Again, there is the murder of the kidnapper, Ratchett (Johnny Depp). When Pilar is told of the death she says, “God rest his soul.” Again, Poirot must investigate her along with all the other suspects.

Hercule Poirot: You are a missionary but you trained as a nurse.

Pilar: I owed it to God.

HP: You owed Him a debt?

P: There were indulgent times in my life when I took more than I gave.

Later, from HP: Your hands are those of a boxer.

P: I train to fight. I work in dangerous places.

HP: Don’t you trust God?

P: He might be busy

HP: He is always busy.

Again, Poirot discovers the true identity of the missionary. He also discovers the true reason for her aversion to alcohol. She’d had one too many drinks the night of the kidnapping, and she blames herself for not being alert enough to put a stop to it.

And again Poirot discovers the missionary played a part in the murder. He talks to her about what he should do with what he has learned.

Pilar: You said your role was to find justice.

Hercule Poirot: What is justice here?

P: Sometimes the law of man is not enough

HP: Where does conscience lie?

P: Buried with Daisy.

HP: May you find your peace with this. May we all.

As you can see by this interchange, the 2017 version wrestles a little more with moral and theological issues than the former, which we’re in support of here at Movie Churches. Our Steeple rating for both missionaries, Greta and Pilar, is the same: one steeple, our lowest rating. Murder does that to Steeple ratings. Part of the justice doled out for the crime.


*I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you that a church is mentioned in this portion of the film. While waiting to board the train in Istanbul, a British soldier tells Poirot, “The Church of Santa Sophia is magnificent!”

“You’ve seen it?” Poirot asks.

The soldier says, “No.”

Comedy Movie Churches 4: Except for the Twist

Keeping Mum (2005)
Many of us first encountered Rowan Atkinson as a vicar. In 1994’s Four Weddings and a Funeral he was the officiant at half of the film’s more cheerful ceremonies -- he was the one with a tendency toward malaprops (“in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spigot,” for example). Many others already knew Atkinson from his television roles as the Blackadder and Mr. Bean, but Father Gerald was the first time he stood out on the big screen.

He was back to being a vicar again in 2005’s Keeping Mum, playing the Rev. Walter Goodfellow, pastor of a rural, English parish. He’s not very good at his work. His sermons bore the small congregation, which seems to be mostly a bickering assortment of old biddies.

He may be worse as husband and father. His wife (Kristin Scott Thomas) feels neglected and is considering having an affair. He seems oblivious to his daughter’s promiscuous behavior and that his son is the target of bullies.

Until a housekeeper turns his life around.

You may be thinking, “A housekeeper turns his life around? Kind of like Mary Poppins and Mr. Banks?” Well, yeah, sort of. Except the housekeeper, Grace Hawkins (Maggie Smith) isn’t magical, and she’s a murderess recently escaped from a mental health facility. We soon see that she wasn’t “cured.”

Grace helps the Reverend in some very positive ways. She encourages him to put humor in his sermons, directing him to an MSN search of religious jokes websites, particularly, “Giggling with God.” (I want to point out that putting “humor” in sermons is not always a good thing. I grew up in a church pastored by a very good, humble man, Bill Miller, who preached the Word in truth and sincerity. To liven up his sermons, he added jokes, usually opening with a Reader’s Digest gem I had read in the restroom the previous month. Even as a grade schooler, I found the humor lame.

Grace’s advice helps the vicar to do more than tell jokes, though. He learns to truly incorporate humor into his sermons, shining a different light on Biblical truth. In this way, he becomes a better pastor.

Grace points out that the Bible is “full of sex.” I found it baffling that a minister who received any kind of Biblical training wouldn’t realize this as a fact, but Goodfellow seems to have been oblivious. Grace points him to the Song of Solomon, which he’d thought of as “a declaration of a devout man’s love for God.” She (rightly) points out that it’s about a man’s love for a woman, expressed in erotic poetry.

Walter reads this passage of Scripture, silently and aloud. And it changes his relationship with his wife. He once again begins to give full attention to his wife, Gloria, showing love, affection, and passion. She returns his affection and ends her affair with her golf instructor (Patrick Swayze) before it is consummated.

Another problem with the Reverend Goodfellow and his ministry is that he gives too much attention to things that are of no consequence. Mrs. Parker (Liz Smith) is the chairman of the Flower Arranging Committee, and she’s constantly demanding attention. Pretty decorations in the front of the church are swell, but they’re a minor concern compared to say, feeding the hungry, addressing injustice, reaching the lost… You know, stuff Jesus cared about. (He made it quite clear in Matthew 6: 28 that God takes care of the flowers.)

But Grace, um, takes care of Mrs. Parker in another way. And at Mrs. Parker’s funeral, the Reverend introduces his convention lecture on “God Works in Mysterious Ways” in a rather tacky fashion. Still, God does seem to use Grace to change the vicar’s life and ministry in good ways. In fact, his ministry is changed in such a positive way that though I’d rate his ministry with 2 Steeples at the beginning of the film, by the end of the film, it’s reached a 3 Steeple rating.

(Actually, that 3 Steeple rating holds if you exclude the twist in the last couple of minutes of the film which was utterly gratuitous. I’m never in favor of making murder a part of a ministry.)

Confession Movie Churches: "The Confessor (AKA "The Good Shepherd"), 2004

As a rule, if a movie stars Christian Slater, and it was made in this century, avoiding that movie is a safe choice. "The Confessor" (also known at IMDB as "The Good Shepherd") isn't really an exception. Like so much of Slater's recent fare, this was direct to video rather than a theatrical release, but it's confession month here at Movie Churches, and the film does have that title, so I didn't really see a choice here.

Christian Slater plays Father Daniel, a priest whose specialty is fundraising. I don't remember that being listed in Scripture as one of the spiritual gifts, but I might have to give it another look. Another priest, Father Andrew, is accused of murder and asks for Father Daniel's help. Father Andrews claims innocence. He also claims to know who the real killer is, but says he can't reveal it because he can't reveal what was told him in confession. So it's up to Father Daniel to find the real killer, as priests do, you know. (I don't remember homicide investigation being listed as a spiritual gift either, but again, I'll have to check.)

As always, we're here to critique the churches in the movie rather than the movie itself. And the churches in the movie are pretty awful. The Roman hierarchy over Father Daniel is a duplicitous bunch. They are much more concerned about the image of the church than the young man who was murdered or the priest accused of the murder.

Spoiler alert! (Which perhaps isn't possible with a Christian Slater direct-to-video film. It's like being concerned about spoiling a quart of milk that's been out in the sun for a month.) Father Andrew is murdered in prison (though it's made to look like a suicide). Father Daniel takes over Andrew's church.

Now there are things to be said in behalf of the church Father Andrews pastored. It's next to a halfway house for teenagers. So, yay for caring for the disadvantaged. Unfortunately, the halfway house is run by Lucy Gallagher, an abusive, middle aged heroin addict. She uses the kids as a part of a prostitution/drug ring. On the plus side, she does seem to be concerned about the spiritual lives of her charges. In fact, she requires that all who live in her halfway house go to confession at the church.

On the negative side, Ms. Gallagher tape records all of those confessions, and uses the information to abuse and blackmail the teens. I thought that tape recorder was the most interesting thing in the film; it's really the reason I decided to write this review. Though many churches don't have literal tape recorders around when we're confessing, we're still scared of 'em. The Catholic Church, through years of tradition, came up with a system for making confession as safe and private as possible. I do love the idea that a priest would rather go to prison than reveal what he heard in confession.

Many of us are afraid of sharing anything more personal than an allergy flare-up at a prayer meeting because we're afraid our information won't remain confidential. Our deepest secret shared as a prayer request might be used as a conversional filler when there's a lull during a friend's coffee break. And yet James 5:16 commands us to confess our sins to each other. I don't think James would have thought kindly of tape recording confessions.

I'd like to be in a church where I could confess my deepest secrets and know they won't be used for gossip, let alone for the purposes of blackmail. Perhaps I could find a place where I could even feel comfortable confessing I'd watched a Christian Slater movie without fear of rejection or judgment.

The church in the film gets one steeple.

Confession Movie Churches: "I Confess," 1953

Comparing this film with last year's "Calvary," another film coming up in Movie Churches' Confession Month, one sees a startling contrast between contemporary views of the church over the sixty year gap.

In "I Confess," everyone in the film seems shocked by the very notion that a priest might have committed a murder. Two young women spotted a man in a cassock at the scene of the murder (actually, the killer borrowed a priest's robe). The reaction of one of the police officers to this testimony? "It's absurd that a priest would be involved [in the murder.]" And the conversation in the district attorney's office?  "'The unpleasant part is a priest is suspected.' 'What nonsense!'" The very idea that a priest would be guilty of such a crime strikes the average character in the film (and, one assumes, the people in the audience) as outlandish.

Sixty years later, in the film "Calvary," after scandals with pedophile priests, the characters in the film and many people in the audience assume the very worst about priests and the Catholic Church. Killer priests have become a cliché in movies. Priests are even more likely to be the villain a film than CEOs and right wing politicians.

The priest of "I Confess" (actually, there are several priests in the film, but I'm talking about the featured priest, played by Montgomery Clift) is far from a villain.  Father Michael is widely respected in his community and quite trusted. He is so trusted, in fact, that when the monastery's caretaker, Keller (killer) commits a murder, he confesses the murder to Father Michael in full confidence that the priest will honor his vows and the sanctity of the confession and not reveal the truth.

His confidence proves to be well founded. Even when Father Michael is accused of the murder of a corrupt local lawyer; the priest will not reveal what he heard in confession.

The killer plants the bloody robe in the priest's car. When Father Michael testifies in court, he is asked, "Who might have put the robe in your car?" The Father takes a moment before answering. The film is set in Quebec, and a crucifix hangs above the Father's head. He answers the question truthfully but in keeping with his vows, "I can't say."

The prosecution in the trial must, of course, ascribe a motive for the priest to kill the lawyer. It is discovered that the lawyer was blackmailing the priest's former girlfriend, and the priest is alleged to continue to have a romantic relationship with the woman. This isn't true, but suspicion is planted in the mind of the public.

The priest is acquitted in the trial, but is still suspected of murder and adultery by many. Father Michael comes to know the experience of Christ: being despised and rejected by men. In time, (Hollywood being Hollywood) the true killer is revealed, but one suspects that Father Michael's experience will result in his being an even better priest.

Of course, we're here to review the Movie Church and not the movie. Which is just as well, because if you like movies, the fact that this film was directed by Alfred Hitchcock is reason enough to watch the film. Hitchcock was educated by Jesuits and many film study papers have been written about the themes and symbols of Catholicism and Christianity found in his films. In this film, those themes provide the text, rather than the subtext.

As for the Movie Church in this film...a Movie Church that has a priest with the integrity of Father Michael, willing to give his life to prison or the gallows rather than break his vows, gets this film four steeples.

-- Dean