#compagnie internationale des wagons-lits

[e-c-guyot-blog]

Orient-Express : le train

L’Express d’Orient, mieux connu sous son nom international Orient Express, est la première ligne traversant l’Europe de Paris à Constantinople (Istanbul) sans changement de train ou étape obligatoire dans un restaurant ou un hôtel. Du moins, il le sera en 1889. En 1883, il faut encore débarquer deux fois : à Giurgewo (Giurgiu, en Roumanie) pour traverser le Danube, puis à Varna (en Bulgarie) pour…

[the1920sinpictures]

1928 Rene Lalique train panels for the Cote D'Azur Pullman Express of the Compagnie Internationale De Wagons Lit, France.

[allthedesiredusernamesaretaken]

... blue ...

Interior of the Orient Express

Orient Express was a long-distance passenger train service created in 1883, by Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL) that operated in Europe until 2009.

[detournementsmineurs]

"Table Dressée" par Christofle pour l'Orient Express de la Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (circa 1929) à l'exposition "Christofle, une Brillante Histoire" au Musée des Arts Décoratifs (MAD), novembre 2024.

[furlantravelfashionblogger]

L'Orient Express fu inventato da Georges Nagelmackers, imprenditore figlio di una ricca famiglia di banchieri belgi. Nagelmackers venne ispirato dai famosi treni di lusso di George Mortimer Pullman, già attivi durante gli anni Sessanta e che il belga vide durante un viaggio negli Stati Uniti.

Era il 4 ottobre 1883 quando l'Orient Express iniziò il suo primo viaggio, inaugurando la tratta Parigi-Istanbul sul treno più lussuoso mai costruito. Nel tempo sono cambiate le tratte e le città toccate e il servizio originale della "Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits" non esiste più: ormai ci sono compagnie private che offrono viaggi di lusso su lunghe tratte internazionali e treni chiamati ancora Orient Express. Un nome che ha fatto sognare generazioni di viaggiatori e stuzzicato la fantasia di romanzieri, da Agatha Christie con Assassinio sull'Orient Express a Ian Fleming con 007, dalla Russia con amore. Ma è anche un nome che evoca storie di vere spie, intrighi e mistero.

DA PARIGI A INSTANBUL. La grande avventura iniziò nel 1883, quando, tra nuvole di vapore e fischio del via libera, il treno lasciò solennemente la Gare de l'Est di Parigi diretto a Istanbul (all'epoca Costantinopoli). Nella folla elegante che assisteva alla partenza non mancavano gli scettici, convinti che "andare da Parigi a Costantinopoli fosse insensato come pensare di andare sulla Luna"

scrisse nel suo articolo sul Figaro il giornalista Edmond About. Insieme ad altri scrittori e personalità, faceva parte dei 40 invitati saliti a bordo per il viaggio inaugurale. Tutti erano elettrizzati per questa nuova esperienza e la raccomandazione di portare con sé un revolver non faceva che aggiungere suspense.

[atotaltaitaitale]

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Thursday Throw Back… Rails with no train

Walking around the arcades on place des Vosges, away from the side with many art galleries and not far from the oldest graffiti, one will notice rails at the entrance to the porte cochère of the Hôtel de Rotrou. According to the Office de tourisme de Paris, "this building was simply the headquarters of the Compagnie internationale des wagons-lits, and this door gave access to the kitchens, which supplied the stations". Dishes were loaded onto the rails and then onto trucks in the square, before being transported all over Paris in these refrigerated trucks. Sandwiches and snacks for Paris stations and the Grands Hôtels des Wagons-lits were prepared and packaged at Place des Vosges until 1954.

The company was founded in 1872 by Belgian businessman Georges Nagelmackers. Inspired by the model of the night trains launched in the United States by Colonel Pullman's company, with whom he formed an early partnership, he built Europe's first sleeping and dining cars, and in 1883 launched the Grand Express d'Orient between Paris and Constantinople, which became the famous Orient-Express, and the Rome-Express between Calais and Rome, via Paris.

[dd20century]

A.M. Cassandre: Master of the Twentieth Century Poster

“Designing a poster means solving a technical and commercial problem….in a language that can be understood by the common man”. --

Before A.M. Cassandre

A.M. Cassandre was one of Twentieth Century Europe’s most influential graphic designers and illustrators. Born on January 24, 1901, as Adolphe Jean-Marie Mouron to French parents living at the time in Kharkov, Ukraine. (1) “He spent his childhood years living and roaming between Russia and France, before he finally moved to Paris with his parents in 1915” (2) due to the political unrest in Ukraine at the time. (3) As a young man in Paris Cassandre studied at  École des Beaux-Arts and at the Académie Julian. (1)

Portrait of A. M. Cassandre (c. 1930). Photographer unknown. Image source.

Cassandre’s Early Career

In Paris during the 1910s, advertising posters were extraordinarily popular, and Cassandre had no trouble finding employment with a poster printer. While the designer took his inspiration from Cubism and Surrealism which were the predominant artistic movements of the period, he was a leader in the Art Deco movement, which is “characterized by the use of angular, symmetrical geometric forms’ and adulation of the modern machine. It was during the early 1920s that the designer began signing his posters as “Cassandre”. (2)

Cassandre’s posters were so successful that he was able to open his own design house in 1922, but the poster that made him famous was created several years later in 1925. The “Au Bucheron” poster created for a cabinet maker won first prize at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes and was widely reprinted. (2)

A. M. Cassandre, Au Bucheron (1925). Image source.

Cassandre’s Design Philosophy

In the late 1920s Cassandre “set up his own advertising agency called Alliance Graphique, serving a wide variety of clients” (1). Best known of those are Dubonnet and  Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. (1) Cassandre designed his posters so that they could be easily seen and understood from moving vehicles, using only capital letters in his posters as he believed them to be easier read from a distance. (3) “He … [initiated] the concept of the Serial Poster – a group of posters that conveys a whole interesting idea through rapid succession” (2).

A. M. Cassandre, poster for Dubonnet, (1932). Image source.

Cassandre as Type Designer and Innovator

He was also an innovator and master in the use of airbrush techniques.  Cassandre developed several famous typefaces: Acer Noir in 1935, and “Peignot, which was successfully exhibited at the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris” (2). For Cassandre, “type does not exist on its own, but is integrated with the image to create the unified concept of the design”(3). The Peignot typeface experienced a revival during the 1970s, when it was used for titles on several popular movies and television programs including “The Mary Tyler Moore Show (and its production company, MTM Enterprises)” (4). 

A. M. Cassandre, Peignot font ,(1937). Image source.

Cassandre’s Interests Beyond Poster Design

During the 1930s Cassandre not only “taught graphic design at the École des Arts Décoratifs and then at the École d'Art Graphique” (1) but became active in designing theatre sets and costumes. (2) In 1936, his works were exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. (1) The attention from the exhibition garnered Cassandre’s firm work designing covers for Harper's Bazaar in New York City. (2)

A. M. Cassandre, Cover for Harper's Bazaar (October, 1939). Image Source.

Cassandre’s Life During World War II

World War II had a dramatic effect on Cassandre’s life and a disastrous effect on his career. Just before the war he divorced his wife whom he married in 1924. At the age of 38, he joined the French Army and served until the fall of France after which he was demobilized. He lost his business and never again achieved the success he had prior to the war. (1)

Cassandre in the late 1940s and 1950s

After the war, Cassandre found work designing for the theater. During the remainder of the 1940s and throughout the 1950s, he worked with several Parisian fashion houses of his career most notably Hermès and Yves Saint Laurent. Cassandre designed scarves for Hermès and advertisements and posters for Yves Saint Laurent. (1,3) In addition, he was responsible for the iconic Yves Saint Laurent logo that is still in use today. (3)

In the late 1950s Cassandre turned down an offer to become “director of the French Arts Academy at the Villa Medici in Rome” (3). He left his home in Paris and moved to the French countryside where he had hoped to design and build his own home and establish “a world-class art institute” (3). Unfortunately, those ambitions were never realized as Cassandre continued to battle depression. After two years in the country, he returned to Paris. (2)

A. M. Cassandre, Logo for designer Yves Saint Laurent (c. 1958). Image source.

Cassandre’s Tragic End

In 1967 Cassandre’s depression caused him to attempt suicide. Sadly, his second attempt on June 17, 1968 was successful; Cassandre took his own life in his apartment. (2)

A. M. Cassandre’s Work in Books and Museums

A book on Cassandre’s work, The Poster Art of A. M. Cassandre was published in 1979, and Cassandre’s son, Henri Mouron published a study of his father's work in 1985.  In 2012, A.M. Cassandre’s work appeared in the “Shaping Modernity: Design 1880–1980" exhibition at MoMA. (2)

 In 2024 Cassandre’s posters were included in a show "Art Deco: Commercializing the Avant-Garde”  at Poster House in New York City. (1) In addition to the collections at MoMa is work can be found in Paris at Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris; in London at the Victoria and Albert Museum; and in Japan at the Hokkaido Obihiro Museum of Art.

Cassandre’s Legacy

A. M. Cassandre will be remembered for his iconic Art Deco posters, which celebrated luxury transport and modern machine technology of his time. He’ll also be remembered for helping to establish graphic design as a distinct professional discipline (3) and for the “belief that design should effectively communicate ideas, laid the groundwork for modern graphic design principles” (5).

References

Wikipedia. com, (22 May, 2024). Cassandre. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassandre

Retrographik.com, (n.d). A.M Cassandre, The Legendary Art Deco Poster Artist. https://retrographik.com/a-m-cassandre-art-deco-poster-artist/

Artyfactory.com, (n.d.). A. M. Cassandre (1901-1968). https://www.artyfactory.com/graphic_design/graphic_designers/cassandre.htm

Wikipedia. com, (31 March, 2024). Peignot (typeface)  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peignot_(typeface)

Scottishschools.info, (n.d.). Graphic Designer A.M Cassandre Facts. http://www.scottishschools.info/Websites/SchSecWhitehill/UserFiles/file/Higher%20Art%20Homework/Graphic%20designer%20AM%20Cassandre%20facts.pdf

[living400lbs]

Poirot interviews the murder victim's assistant.

“Who exactly are you? And where do you come in?”

“I represent the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons Lits.” He paused, then added, “I am a detective. My name is Hercule Poirot.”

If he expected an effect he did not get one. MacQueen said merely, “Oh, yes?” and waited for him to go on.

“You know the name, perhaps.”

“Why, it does seem kind of familiar—only I always thought it was a woman’s dressmaker.”

From Murder On The Orient Express by Agatha Christie

[prunus-mumes]

Once Upon a Time on the Orient Express

It remains to be seen when leisure travel across the borders will be possible again, but in the meantime, you can embark on a journey through time onboard the historic Orient Express.

Once Upon a Time on the Orient Express will satisfy your wanderlust as it brings to life the Orient Express experience with around 300 precious items and documents that showcase the rich and vibrant legacy of the train.

“ The artworks are classified as Historical Monuments. Weighing hundreds of tonnes, sailing the seas on such a long journey was unheard of, much less having to do so with additional safety measures in place. These all bring to mind the initial voyages of this legendary train designed by Georges Nagelmackers; voyages between Europe and the East,” 

Synonymous with luxury and intrigue—which inspired novels and films—The Orient Express is a long-distance passenger train service by Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL) that began in 1883, serving a selection of routes in Europe. It is most prominently associated with Paris, France and Constantinople, Istanbul.

The original train service ceased operation in 2009, “a victim of high-speed trains and cut-rate airlines”. However, its routes have been adopted by Belmond via the Venice-Simplon Orient Express train, which started running in 1982. The luxury train uses original CIWL carriages from the 1920s and 1930s.

The collection of artefacts on showcase includes two original 1930s train carriages—classified as National Treasures of France—and a locomotive made in France 158 years ago. Other items include posters, menus, crockery, cutlery, suitcases, stained glass windows and furniture—displayed in evocative giant trunks—that testify to the Orient Express’ centuries-old history and touch on social, cultural and technical themes linked to the train.

Documentaries, newsreels and film clips that will elicit the rich literary and cinematographic heritage inspired by the Orient Express will also be showcased, and you can experience it yourself in the immersive escape room experience, inspired by film and novel Murder on the Orient Express.

That’s not all—relive the luxury rail experience by dining in the replica restaurant car for breakfast, lunch or dinner, or stop by the Orient Express road cafe for a breather and savour coffee blends from destinations where the Orient Express once disembarked. As you depart, don’t forget to bring home souvenirs from your journey at the merchandise section, which will feature children’s toys as well as exquisite collectors’ items.

Once Upon a Time on the Orient Express 

[pablolarah]

Quarentine diaries:

The Orient Express was a long-distance passenger train service created in 1883 by Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL). The Venice-Simplon Orient Express train, a private venture by Belmond using original CIWL carriages from the 1920s and 1930s, continues to run from London to Venice and to other destinations in Europe.

@belmond

#OrientExpress #berlin #deutschland #germany #europe #architecture #arquitectura #arquitetura #StreetPhotography #StreetPhotographyInColors #IG_StreetPhotography #StreetPhotographyCommunity #StreetPhoto  #PeopleInFrame #PhotoDocumentary  #StreetPhotographyInternational #StreetPhotographyWorldwide  #CandidShots . . . . . Made with ❤ & @photoshop .

[stephensmithuk]

Railway to the Danger Zone

Or "Wagon-Lit to Varna".

The 15 October entry includes a brief mention of one of the most famous trains in the world, the Orient Express. I apologise in an advance for any errors.

So, it might be worth discussing this service and giving an idea of what it would be like, part based on my own limited experiences with sleeper trains. A return trip on the Caledonian Sleeper in 2016 and an Amsterdam to Munich ride on Nightjet last year.

The Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (et des grands express européens) or The International Sleeping-Car (and European Great Expresses) Company, usually referred to by "train fiends" as CIWL, was established in 1874 by a Belgian called Georges Nagelmackers, who inspired by the Pullman sleeping cars in the United States, decided to set up a European operation. Being the son of a powerful banker and with connections with royalty (especially King Leopold II of Belgium - yes, that guy), he was able to get his first operation going in 1872.

The Orient Express from Paris Est to the Sirkeci terminus in Constantinople (now Istanbul), which initially started just going as far as Vienna in 1882 and finally got there in 1889, was just one part of a large network of trains operated by CIWL. They eventually operated services in Africa, the Middle East and East Asia too. Even Britain got in on the action with the Night Ferry.

A photo of the modern day Paris Gare de L'Est I took last month is below. This is a roughly 10-minute walk from Gare du Nord, where boat trains from the Channel ports arrived and I am sure they could have found a taxi or something to carry their baggage.

CIWL would either attach its carriages to regular trains or do their own dedicated "Trains de Luxe" of which the Orient Express was initially the latter, charging a supplement to the regular First Class fare. Locomotives were provided by the various railway companies, changing at national frontiers or at terminus stations, like Munich Central or Vienna West. Their main network was in Western Europe - travel to the Mediterranean or to various spa towns (like, well, Spa) by the upper classes being their main source of business. They also managed to corner the restaurant car business in mainland Europe for several decades.

It's worth mentioning that the Orient Express service here is not the more famous train from the Agatha Christie novel. That was the Simplon Orient Express, a post-First World War train routed via Switzerland (the Simplon Tunnel), Italy and Yugoslavia to avoid going through the losing countries of the Great War - for one thing, the Germans had seized a good deal of CIWL's rolling stock and set up a rival operation called Mitropa.

The Orient Express here had the routing of Paris-Munich-Vienna-Budapest-Bucharest-Varna-Istanbul, at least initially. The 1888 timetable can be found here:

As you can see, it only went through to Constantinople (via ship from Varna at this time) twice a week; most of the carriages would have only go as far as Vienna. I am not sure of the actual arrangements in 1893 and if a change would be required at Bucharest. The train would not be massively long - maybe six carriages total.

While luxurious and elegantly decorated, the provisions of your 1890s sleeper compartment were limited and the compartments rather small. The 2000s-built Nightjet version from Amsterdam to Munich might serve as a useful illustration. This is the standard compartment; the deluxe ones with toilet and shower had sold out. Sleepers are very popular right now!

The seats convert into bunk beds for sleeping, something still done done by a smartly dressed conductor. You got a sheet and a branded woolen blanket. Indeed, the modern-day successor to CIWL, Newrest Wagons-Lit, provides the staff for the Nightjet network. This compartment has three beds total - the 1890s train had a mix of 2-berth and four-berth compartments.

More photos of the modern-day carriage can be found here:

While there was an en-suite washbasin provided in each compartment with a mirror for shaving, if you needed to go to the toilet, you had to go down the corridor. This would have been something familiar to Lord Godalming from his boarding school days. No WiFi - even on most trains today that's the case.

Most of the photographs of CIWL rolling stock are from the 1920s onwards, when they used steel carriages painted blue; the 1890s carriages were in teak and looked roughly like this:

Space for larger luggage is limited and these trains had dedicated luggage cars. In Western Europe, customs/passport inspections would be handled by the conductor during the night, because the last thing you want to do is wake up someone like Baron Renfrew. Especially as that guy was the Prince of Wales travelling incognito and he could have a ferocious temper. Although to be fair, he would usually be extra nice afterwards.

Restaurant coaches were generally only found on trains with significant daytime portions (frequently only for those bits), a waste of money and coal otherwise. Otherwise, you would have a tray brough to your room. A carafe of water was provided, and the conductor could sell you something a bit stronger. The food would have been rather good in any event; my Nightjet and Caledonian Sleeper meals made up for a lot of the problems.

Then it would be a case of riding through the night, the clickety-clack of jointed track hopefully helping you sleep.

The OG service, soon being routed via Belgrade instead, continued to run except for wartime interruptions, gradually contracting after the Second World War as the Iron Curtain and air travel put people off it, until 2009, ending as just a Strasbourg-Vienna EuroNight.

However, Nightjet now do a thrice-weekly Paris to Vienna service, which as a nice nod to the past uses the same numbers (469/468) the Orient Express used in its final years.

The First World War saw CIWL's carriages requisitioned for military use and the Armistice would be signed on one of their carriages used as part of Ferdinand Foch's staff train at Compiègne in France on 11 November 1918. Hitler would then use that same carriage for the surrender of France in 1940, taking it back to Germany where it was destroyed - a modified vehicle from the same class stands on the site today.

CIWL itself would go on (despite the loss of its Russian operations in particular) to reach its peak in the early 1930s before the Second World caused more loss of rolling stock. After that, their Central and Eastern European operations were nationalised and with the market in decline, they eventually sold or leased their carriages in 1971 to a consortium of Western European operators. They continued to build and maintain carriages until 1998 and some of their stuff can still be found in Europe today, especially on the private sleeper operators like the Alpen-Sylt Express. They also continued to staff these trains and still do with Newrest Wagons-Lit.

My trips did not see me get the greatest night's sleep and I had a big delay on the Nightjet, but it was a memorable experience and I intend to do another overnight train next year.

More details of that can be found here if interested:

So, yes. A good train ride ahead of a dangerous operation.

[publicite-francaise]

Sud-Express. Compagnie internationale des wagons-lits. Londres, Paris, Madrid, Lisbonne, 1890.

[gracie-bird]

Bidders on the Orient Express

The grand international trains of the early 20th century were the meeting places of the famous and infamous. As Sotheby’s catalogue notes: “Aristocrats and diplomats, spies and adventurers, globe-trotters and writers passed each other in the long mahogany corridors as on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice or on Kurfurstendamm in Berlin.”

The five Art Deco carriages, from the rolling stock of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, were barrelling hotbeds of luxury and mystery: cocktail hour in the dining-car, gossip in the parlour-car and all manner of thrills in the sleeping car. The ambience was golden – interiors included inlaid panelling and upholstery by René Lalique while sleeping compartments were furnished with embossed velvet couches and carafe holders. Here was a haven for travellers riding between Paris, Rome, Istanbul and St Petersburg.

The rarified atmosphere extended to the auction, which was staged at Gare de Monte Carlo in the presence Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco (the latter elegantly arrived in a cream poplin Yves Saint Laurent suit). Before the sale the cars made a final journey from Nice to Monte Carlo.

Passengers included reporters, railway enthusiasts, potential buyers and Princess Grace’s entourage, who all enjoyed breakfast as the train picked up steam. “Waiters in starched white jackets poured café au lait from silver pots into white Limoges cups with gold monograms,” reported The New York Times. “Each table had a silver bud vase filled with red roses.”

All five carriages sold. They reflected an era of train travel lost to time, found today only in the well-thumbed pages of whodunits – and one classic Sotheby’s catalogue.

SOURCE: SOTHEBY’S.

[ljones41]

"MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS" (2001) Review

"MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS" (2001) Review There have been more adaptations of Agatha Christie's 1939 novel, "And Then There Were None" than any of her other novels. That is quite an achievement. The only other novel that comes close to producing this number of adaptations is her 1934 novel, 'Murder on the Orient Express".

Christie's 1934 novel managed to produce four adaptations, as far as I know - two movie releases and two television movies. The least famous of this quartet of adaptations was the television movie that aired on CBS in 2001. This version is famous or infamous for one thing - it is the only one that is not a period drama and set in the present day. "MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS" made a few other changes to Christie's narrative. The television movie's beginning established a complicated romance between Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot and a sexy younger woman named Vera Rossakoff. The number of suspects was reduced from twelve to nine. And the Orient Express was stalled by a mudslide due to heavy rain and not a snowbank caused from an avalanche. Due to the film's setting, some of the characters' backgrounds and professions had been changed to reflect the late 20th century and early 21st century setting. "MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS" begins in Istanbul, Turkey; where private detective Hercule Poirot had just solved the murder of a dancer at a local nightclub. After a brief quarrel with his lady love, Vera Rossakoff, Poirot sets out to fly back to London. But an encounter with his old friend Wolfgang Bouc, an executive with the the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, leads Poirot to return to London via the famed Orient Express train. During the eastbound train journey, an American millionaire named Samuel Ratchett tries to hire Poirot to protect him from a potential assassin who has sent him threatening letters. However, Poirot refuses the job due to his dislike of Ratchett. During the second night of the journey, heavy rain causes a landslide, blocking the train to continue its journey. And Rachett is found stabbed to death inside his compartment, the following morning. Bouc recruits Poirot to solve Rachett's murder. I have a confession to make. I had disliked "MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS" when I first saw it on television all those years ago. My main reason for disliking the television movie was the fact that it had a modern setting, instead of one set in the 1930s. It was not a period movie. And for a story like Christie's 1934 novel, I resented it. However, I do believe the film's modern setting provided one major flaw for its narrative. Since the late 20th century, passengers for the Simplon Orient Express have to book passage on the train long before the date of its departure - six months to a year, more or less. The idea of Poirot managing to get a compartment aboard the Orient Express at such short notice in 2001 strikes me as pretty implausible. And when one adds to the fact that the train travels to and from Istanbul at least once a year, makes this narrative in a modern setting even more implausible. Another problem I had with "MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS" was it made the same mistake as the 2010 adaptation from "AGATHA CHRISTIE'S POIROT". They used the wrong rail cars. The 2010 television movie used the blue and cream Pullman cars for the journey from Istanbul to Calais. The 2001 movie used the brown and cream Pullman cars, usually reserved for the Orient Express from London to Folkstone, as the main train, as shown below:

Do I have any other problems with "MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS"? Well . . . yes, I have one further problem. But I will address it later. Aside from these problems, did I enjoyed this recent re-watch of the television movie? Yes, I did. More than I thought I would. Which is ironic, considering that I disliked the movie so much when I first saw all those years ago. I finally realized that I had automatically resented the film for not being a period drama. And over the years, I had erroneously believed that the movie was set aboard a modern train and not on a restored one from the past. It took my recent viewing of the television movie for me to realize I had been wrong. However, I did noticed that the sleeping compartments did look surprisingly bigger than usual. Despite some modern updating in the film's visual look, the characters' background and dialogue; "MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS" did a first-rate job of adapting Christie's novel. What many might find surprising is that screenwriter Stephen Harrigan and director Carl Schenkel did not inflict any drastic changes to Christie's plot, unlike some recent Christie adaptations from the "AGATHA CHRISTIE'S POIROT" series and one or two miniseries produced by Sarah Phelps. Harrigan and Schenkel did not drastically change the movie's narrative, aside from reducing the number of suspects and having the train delayed by a mud slide, instead of a snow drift. Yes, the backgrounds and professions of the characters were changed due to the modern setting. And characters also change nationalities - like Bob Arbuthnot, an American tech CEO (British Army colonel in Christie's novel); Senora Alvarado, a widow of a South American dictator (a Russian princess in the novel); Phililp and Helena von Strauss, a German or Austrian couple traveling the world (the husband was a Hungarian diplomat in the novel); and even Wolfgang Bouc, the Franco-German Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits executive (who was solely French in the novel). This version of "Murder on the Orient Express" was not the first or last time when some of the characters' backgrounds and nationalities were changed. All four adaptations (including the highly regarded 1974 version) were guilty of this. But despite these changes, Harrigan and Schenkel stuck to Christie's narrative. And thanks to Harrigan's direction, this version proved to be a lot better than I had originally surmised. I certainly had no problems with most of the film's performances. "MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS" provided solid performances from Amira Casar, Kai Wiesinger, Dylan Smith, Nicolas Chagrin, Adam James, Tasha de Vasconcelos, and Fritz Wepper, who managed to create an effective screen team with star Alfred Molina as the investigative pair of Poirot and Monsieur (or Herr) Bouc. I thought David Hunt did an excellent job of conveying the aggressive, overprotective and slightly arrogant traits of American CEO, Bob Arbuthnot. I enjoyed Leslie Caron's colorful, yet autocratic portrayal of Senora Alvarado, the widow of a South American dictator. Meredith Baxter was equally colorful as an American character actress, traveling around Europe as a tourist. Her portrayal of Mrs. Hubbard reminded me of a younger version of a character she had portrayed in the 1980 miniseries, "BEULAH LAND" - but without the Southern accent. And I was really impressed by Natasha Wightman's performance as British tutor Mary Debenham. What really impressed me about Wightman's performance is that her portrayal of Miss Debenham was the closest to the literary character than any of the other versions. There was one performance that fell flat with me and it came from Peter Strauss, who portrayed the victim, Samuel Rachett. If I must be brutally honest, I found it rather hammy. Strauss, whom has always struck me as a first-rate actor in other productions, seemed to be screaming in nearly every scene. However, there is one scene in which I found his performance impressive. The scene involved Rachett's attempt to hire Poirot as his bodyguard and with a performance that permeated with subtlety and menace, Strauss reminded audiences of the excellent actor that he had always been through most of his career. I have never come across any real criticism of Alfred Molina's portrayal of Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. Well . . . I did come across one article that discussed Molina's performance from Vulture magazine. But the critic seemed more focused on the movie's modern setting and Poirot's relationship with Vera Rossakoff, than Molina's performance. Personally, I thought the British actor did a superb job in portraying the detective. He managed to capture all of Poirot's intelligence, mild eccentricities, slight pomposity and talent for emotional manipulation. One thing I can say about Molina's portrayal is that his performance as Poirot was probably the most subtle I have seen on a movie or television screen. Whether someone would regard this as good or bad, is in the eye of the beholder. But I feel that this subtle performance suited Molina's style. Some have commented that Molina's Poirot was more "youthful" than other portrayals. Hmmmm . . . how odd. Molina was in his late 40s when he shot the television movie (perhaps 47 or 48 years old). Yet, Albert Finney was a decade younger when he portrayed Poirot in the 1974 film and his Poirot came off as a middle-aged man. David Suchet was five or six years younger when he began his twenty-four years stint portraying the detective for ITV's "AGATHA CHRISTIE'S POIROT". And during those early years, his Poirot also seemed slightly middle-aged. Because of this, I find this observation of Molina's Poirot as "youthful" rather questionable. It is a pity that the "official" opinion of "MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS" is so negative. I used to share this opinion until I did a re-watch of the television film with a more open mind. Like others, I had been dismissive of the 2001 version, due to its modern setting. I now realize I had been rather narrow-minded and prejudiced. Despite its flaws - and it had a few - "MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS" proved to be a lot better than I had originally surmised, thanks to director Carl Schenkel, Stephen Harrigan's teleplay and an excellent cast led by the superb Alfred Molina. I hope that one day, other Christie fans would dismiss their prejudices against the movie's setting and appreciate it for the entertaining production it truly is.

[my-name-is-dahlia]

Vocabulary (pt.dclxxxiv)

Words taken from Lonely Planet Egypt, 13th ed., by Anthony Sattin, Jessica Lee, and Lonely Planet:

Aristotle (384–322 BC) Athenian philosopher; a pupil of Plato and tutor of Alexander the Great, Aristotle founded a school and library (the Lyceum) in Athens in 335 BC. He maintained that knowledge is derived from the experience of the sense and advocated inductive reasoning. His writings on logic, physical science, zoology, psychology, metaphysics, ethics, politics, and rhetoric have been immensely influential in Western thought.

hallmark (n.) any distinctive feature especially of excellence.

triclinium (n.) a dining table with couches along three sides, used in ancient Rome.

loculus (n.) each of a number of small separate cavities.  

Orient Express (n.) a long-distance passenger train service created in 1883 by Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL). It ran for the last time from Paris on Friday, June 8, 2007.

moussaka (n.) a Greek and eastern Mediterranean baked dish of ground meat, eggplant, etc. with white sauce.

awning (n.) a sheet of canvas, plastic, etc. sloping outward from the top of a window, storefront, or doorway or suspended above a ship’s deck or other area to provide protection from the sun or rain.

triumvirate (n.) Roman history. a committee of three public officers overseeing administrative departments. The term is used specifically of the unofficial coalition of Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus in 60 BC (the First Triumvirate) and of the office to which Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian were appointed in 43 BC (the Second Triumvirate).

exodus (n.) a mass departure of people.

en masse (adv.) in a mass, all together, or as a group.

[fotografiakolejowa]

Fotografie fabryczne z Zakładów Cegielskiego w Poznaniu - część I

Fotografie fabryczne z Zakładów Cegielskiego w Poznaniu – część I

Dziś przedstawiamy Państwu wagon restauracyjny zbudowany w Zakładach Cegielskiego w 1932 roku dla Międzynarodowej Kompanii Wagonów w Paryżu – Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits w skrócie CIWL.

Spółka ta zajmowała się obsługą wagonów sypialnych, restauracyjnych oraz luksusowymi pociągami złożonymi z wagonów typu Pullman. Działalność firmy datowana na lata 1926-39, obecna była w wielu…