15th of June, 2004 ANTE·MERIDIEM 10:04

Studio Canal made a version of Murder on the Orient Express in 1974, with Albert Finney as the inescapable ’ercule. Watched it last night, and I was dead impressed; Finney seems to be hamming it up mightily, and enjoying it, while avoiding the stuff that didn’t work for Peter Ustinov (disrespect for the role, conviction that “he’s better than this”—yeah, he was, but that does kill a role) and David Suchet (general enchantment with the British Army, though that will have been the writers more than him).