Murder on the Orient Express - Train departing

Clip for film music module.

[@SDHarvey100]

Sidney Lumet perfectly explains the complexity of this shot in his book, "Making Movies'. He said that they only had one take to do this. They could only use the rail station for one night because of the business of the station itself, which was in Paris. Most of that night was dedicated to the lighting, camera blocking, and holding their breaths. Lumet goes on to explain that by the time they were ready to start the take, it was 4:30am, and the sun was going to pop up at 5:00am, and they had to get it right, no re-take.

[@makropulos2010]

Thanks very much for that - I don't know Lumet's book but now I must read it!

[@pzez2781]

yea, I just read this part and came looking for this scene

[@lakshmanparthiban1339]

Reading that lart

[@lakshmanparthiban1339]

Part

[@goawayleavemealone2880]

It happens all the time when making movies, they're either chasing darkness or chasing sunset.

[@mOviEmAkEr267676]

The soundtrack getting faster while the train is also getting faster. Pure genius.

[@isaiahwilliams2642]

I love how the music matches the pace of the train. Slow start, then gradually gains speed and momentum.

[@TBStudios91]

I love how the train whistle seems like a woman screaming. The scene portrays both the majestic and beautiful journey and the foreboding sense of something about to happen

[@dyingember8661]

If you remember in one of the flashback scenes, when Cassetti got killed off, the train whistle actually makes that sound, it felt so creepy yet so fascinating at the same time.

[@JohnEDoey]

What you just saw WAS the actual Orient Express. Trains Magazine explained as well as a documentary online, that the locomotive DID pull the Orient Express regularly before. There never was a special engine for the train. Just a regular pool engine. The platform scene was not a station, it was the actual storage shed in the yard where the train was being kept in mothballs. As the movie crews were filming the scene, the railway crews were working to get the engine and train in service just for this one film. The train moved for the first time in over 5 years during that shot. There were NO movie sets, all the interior scenes were shot onboard the train. Rail historians around the world credit the this film to saving the Orient Express itself!

[@bloggaloggs]

Sorry, but that's nonsense. The train's interiors were filmed at Elstree Studios - anyone who knows about film production will tell you that filming inside the real train would be impossible. The director Sidney Lumet has also confirmed this scene was shot at a train station in Paris - not a storage shed. So I don't know whether you just made that up, or are getting your information from unreliable sources.

[@MarceloBenoit-trenes]

​@@bloggaloggsyes, it is nonsense, but that isnt a station, there is no platforms, it is a former locomotive depot.

[@JohnEDoey]

I said I quoted Trains Magazine which is THE rail news magazine in the US and Canada. Plus a documentary available online.

[@MarceloBenoit-trenes]

@@JohnEDoey Unsworth shot the film with Panavision cameras. Interiors were filmed at Elstree Studios. Exterior shooting was mostly done in France in 1973, with a railway workshop near Paris (La Chapelle) standing in for Istanbul station. The scenes of the train proceeding through Central Europe were filmed in the Jura Mountains on the then-recently-closed railway line from Pontarlier to Gilley, with the scenes of the train stuck in snow being filmed in a cutting near Montbenoît.[8] There were concerns about a lack of snow in the weeks preceding the scheduled shooting of the snowbound train, and plans were made to truck in large quantities of snow at considerable expense. However, heavy snowfall the night before the shooting made the extra snow unnecessary-just as well, as the snow-laden backup trucks had themselves become stuck in the snow.[9]

[@samuelfarris1949]

Truly wonderful piece of staging and composition that holds up as well today as it did on first release.

[@hektoreinpad5993]

This is my absolute favorite scene for film and film music. Started as a cinema engineer when I was 16 and no scene has been more powerful and made a bigger impression (I am from Sweden where the Chinese have taken over the largest cinema company and everything is digitized nowadays) (the clip could have been a bit longer, but ...)

[@dilipsainathan2107]

Cinema is indeed a huge canvas to be painted on. A mere departure of the train portrayed dramatically makes all the difference and THAT is the art of storytelling❤

[@christopherwelford8401]

One of my fav films of all time.....what a cast. True movie stars, not just actors all the way through....magical.

[@janeosborne5807]

Fantastic interpretation of an elegant train departing. Love the music and the movie.

[@goawayleavemealone2880]

There's a bit as the Wagons-Lits crest is passing the camera and you can hear the actual sounds of the train, but it almost sounds like part of the music - I do think that everyone involved in this production cared about the quality of the end product.

[@nicopavvi8494]

I heard somebody defining the Orient Express the "Titanic on rails", it's wrong, the Titanic was the Orient Express on water. The Orient Express started travelling in 1883, the Titanic entered in service in 1912.

[@sarahsnowe]

". . . the Titanic entered in service in 1912." And promptly left it.

[@gfsassi]

Every evening I hop off my commuter rail from Boston and watch the train depart my station I play this song in my head...

[@goawayleavemealone2880]

I might try that next time I have to get a trian, though the "Danger" music from the Labyrinth levels of Sonic the Hedgehog might be more appropriate for me personally.

[@simoncoxall3524]

very memorable sequence and glorious score from Richard Rodney bennett...much missed

[@sirpoopalot6420]

the music is half the scene!

[@danielsellers8707]

It has a Strauss sound...

[@angrya4pacific738]

Nothing can beat this scene not even the new movie

[@clairecopple4369]

Especially not the new one!

[@CharlieStudios]

maybe

[@aloofdefloof]

I like the newer one, it's much more lively and such.

[@Wandering1500]

@@aloofdefloof The new one looks fake. Because it is.

[@CXR-gk4lw]

Angry A4 Pacific Ikr

[@MonseigneurEB]

It's every time I see an old train locomotive I recall the words of my grandfather. He's told me that a True Man must be like a locomotive - goal-oriented, powerful, persistent, dedicated, with a flaming heart and being able to release steam sometimes. And he must always follow the track of honour and never leave it, if he doesn't want to turn into a heap of rubbish! Watched this movie so many times within the past 40 years and every time I see the image of my grandfather during this scene. he was so right!

[@mabel8880]

One of the best scenes in the whole movie. I absolutely love the music here.

[@goawayleavemealone2880]

I love how triumphant the music sounds, the dramatic flourishes as the engine light comes on and the way the music swells as the train gains speed - I know it's all intentional but it is beautifully crafted. It comes dangerously close to setting the wrong tone for what essentially a story about multiple murderers trying to get away with their crime.

[@mabel8880]

@@goawayleavemealone2880 Well, the 1974 movie focused on the luxury of the train. However, a 2010 episode from the TV series 'Poirot', where the titular Belgian detective is played by David Suchet, focuses on the crime and is much darker in nature.

[@goawayleavemealone2880]

@@mabel8880 - I very much enjoyed this version and the David Suchet version. Branagh's version is alright, but the departure scene is underwhelming for me... I just think that beautiful trains departing at night is more satisfying.

[@mabel8880]

@@goawayleavemealone2880 I didn't watch Branagh's remake of the 1974 movie, in my opinion, it pales in comparison compared to the 1974 movie. The cast for the 1974 movie was much better than the cast for the 2017 remake. I have, however, seen a few clips from the 2017 movie, one of these clips was the train departing from Istanbul. I would say the soundtrack during the train departure scene in the 2017 movie was ok, it wasn't horrible but not that great either, the soundtrack in the 1974 movie for the same scene was much better. I love the triumphant music in this video.

[@markusscheef3878]

Masterpiece. Te new one by Kenneth Branagh can't beat this one

[@SteamKing2160]

Locomotive in this scene (and main locomotive throughout the film) is SNCF 230 G 353, a 4-6-0 ten wheeler, originally was built for the Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris à Orleáns., basically the Paris-Orleans Railway Company. SNCF 230 G 353 was originally numbered PO 4353 and was a star hauling excursions in the 1980s and 1990s and is still around today.

[@goawayleavemealone2880]

I'm so glad to hear that, I know that carriages still exist but you never hear anything about the Locomotives because there wasn't one dedicated engine.

[@Danthehorse]

Was it actually used on the Orient Express in real life ?

[@SteamKing2160]

im not sure maybe not but this is probably just one of those cases where they needed an engine to fill a spot.

[@Danthehorse]

@@SteamKing2160 just read that the SNCF 241p operated on the Orient Express line that went to Bucharest. But you are probably right. There just isnt enough info to go on.

[@SteamKing2160]

yea best would be to contact anybody from the people who made this movie who are still alive, since its a mid 1970s movie, but there is a behind the scenes documentary on this film somewheres

[@drmarkcthompson6504]

This movie was pure class

[@gerardmccuskin8199]

One of the greatest films of all time and the music wounderfull actors and actress

[@iDontShareMyData]

One of my favorite songs, from one of my favorite scenes, from on of my favorite movies.

[@alexeynickonov646]

One of best conjugation sounds, music and video in movies. I tears.

[@jamesgale2147]

i tears too

[@gerardosalazar161]

@@jamesgale2147and I three.

[@ewaf88]

I think the USS Enterprise coming to life and leaving dry dock in STMP with its relationship to the atmospheric music by Gerry Goldsmith owes a lot to this.

[@RailsOfTheSouthProductions]

Idk, TSFS escape from space dock was up there too

[@ewaf88]

@@RailsOfTheSouthProductions But filmed in 1984 - this was filmed in 1974

[@ClasicosdeRolando]

To be honest, after reading this scene in Sidney´s book. I imagine this a lot better.

[@sirpoopalot6420]

Did you see it in the cinema on the big screen? I saw it the week it premiered 35mm. Accompanied by the music it was glorious! This youtube clip is crap resolution and too dark! He made so many good movies: Failsafe, The Anderson Tapes, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico.

[@adrian_83am]

Me too. I think this isn't such a difficult shot as he told in his book. Not very impressive really... I'm dissapointed.

[@goawayleavemealone2880]

@@adrian_83am - Yes, it's a simple shot... but the problem lay in the fact that regardless of the complexity of the shot they weren't going to get another attempt at it. They didn't have time to reset... it was a literal One and Done, which most film makers wouldn't dare to attempt.

[@steamandsmoke97]

Don't get me wrong, a 230G is a very nice engine, but for a passenger consist as prestigious as the Orient Express, an engine like a 241A would have been Far more elegant and impressive. Yes they did use 241A-65 in the "New" version, but it was just to make a replica engine that looked quite goofy and didn't do the real locomotive justice at all. I wish they'd used her in THIS version which in my opinion was much better anyway, and they would have used the ACTUAL engine for the whole thing, not a mock up that they made once they filmed the real one running to get an idea of how it works.

[@Trainlover4472]

This man speaks the truth

[@johndeco]

I love the 241A engine, and I would’ve love to see it in this adaptation. But considering this film’s budget was under 7 million dollars, the fact that they got an actual engine with perfect replicas of the Simplon Orient Express is astonishingly lucky for them. And not only that, at the time, the actual 241 A 65 was just being restored, so the chances of getting a proper locomotive that did run on the Orient Express were very low.

[@JohnEDoey]

@@johndeco What you just saw WAS the actual Orient Express. Trains Magazine explained as well as a documentary online, that the locomotive DID pull the Orient Express regularly before. There never was a special engine for the train. Just a regular pool engine. The platform scene was not a station, it was the actual storage shed in the yard where the train was being kept in mothballs. As the movie crews were filming the scene, the railway crews were working to get the engine and train in service just for this one film. The train moved for the first time in over 5 years during that shot. Most the interior scenes were shot onboard the train. Rail historians around the world credit the this film to saving the Orient Express itself!

[@goawayleavemealone2880]

@@JohnEDoey - On top of that both this and the new "Murder on the Orient Express" show the train pulling 5 maybe 6 coaches. But a full rake of coaches on the Orient Express in real life is about 15 coaches, for all of it's grandeur the Orient Express needs a powerful engine rather than an elegant one.

[@MarceloBenoit-trenes]

​@@JohnEDoeythat is nonsense.

[@markmelchin4310]

Came here after reading making movies

[@EricNorcross]

Same. Just getting through my second reading of it.

[@kuock]

Me too. Just one chance for an elaborated shot.

[@simonneo6220]

Mark Melchin same, what a fascinating book and "writer" !

[@braverytv1476]

@@kuock yep. fucking nature, disturbs every time round xD

[@alexsolakian6345]

my dad remembered that train in turkey he lived right next to the track but never to a pic of the train he didn't have a camera I have a model of the train made by ravarossi with a 2-8-0 I build from seeing the train in the 2008 movie with the train. to bad they don't use steam for that train now

[@kevp9601]

I Love this Music so Much, and I Love this KZbin Video :-D

[@geraldojorgedalmaschio9648]

The music of this film is superb.

[@ewaf88]

Not unlike the departure scene of the USS Enterprise from the space dock in STMP. Perhaps the creative artists on STMP had taken some inspiration from it.

[@peterfranks6243]

As Sean Connery is to Bond, This murder on the orient express is the best. You can't beat the original.. The atmosphere of this classic version is unique and unforgettable.

[@mabel8880]

Not to mention that Sean Connery plays Colonel Arbuthnot in this movie.

[@peterfranks6243]

@@mabel8880 "twelve men, good and true" .... yes, I think I remember him being in it

[@rileykernaghan]

This is what plays in my head every time I catch a train and it leaves the first stop

[@qjsound]

One of my favourite film moments

[@larramenpa]

Alright so in that book of Sidney Lumet, he’s explaining how complex this mise en scene was but I really don’t think that the lighting is good at all, it was another era than today where arc lights where mainly used, but anyhow this is not a good lighting at all, you barely can’t see the Wagon-Lits logo while it’s passing through and the whole train gets dark almost instantly after. I know that outside of that hangar they could see Paris, but they should have managed to put at least a sort of set light onto that logo or a fill light onto the whole side of the train ! And also, knowing how long a shot like this would take, they should have taken two days at least to shoot it, the pressure was not helping for the DP and the electricians resulting in a so-so work ! Otherwise the movement itself is smartly chosen, and the choice of the soundtrack is wise because it starts up like a train engine !

[@enriqueconde7528]

His cinematographer lit it in 6 hours. It’s amazing considering his time limitations as Sidney Lumet states and how vast the space seems. I see like a dozen practicals and what looks like lights that are reflected in a way that you can see columns of dark followed by light followed by dark. The wall to the left side of the screen is also lit. Overall, it’s a pretty dynamic environment specially seen at 0:37 if you ask me.

[@larramenpa]

​@@enriqueconde7528A couple of things : -first, what a mistake to only plan to light and shoot that scene in a less than a day. The production knew that they were going to use that location, and therefore they should have, as they did for the shots, planned the lights by, for instance, designing a light plan from the blueprint of the location. If that could have helped even more, they could have built a scale model to plan everything beforehand, therefore allowing some time to better install all the lighting equipment on set. -second, the environment is not dynamic, but the lighting at 0:37 is just OK so that we get a sense of how deep the hangar is. But that's all. The front of the train, at which the camera zooms, is completely dark, and and then in the end the whole train gets dark. Once again, what could have helped to create depth, would have been to utilize lights to reflect onto that metallic & shiny train. -Also after considering the staging is not good at all. In fact, the only time we believe this is a train hangar is at the very beginning when we, the audience, see several extras moving in the station, but then they get lost in the mist. This scene depicts the start up of a train for a long journey, therefore the environment should act the same way by also starting to move around, but instead the extras get lost, and we do not see other characters moving around. The space becomes cold and stationary.

[@larryphilby4918]

Trains do not leave from hangars. A roofed-over space over the tracks in a railway station is called the train shed.

[@larramenpa]

@@larryphilby4918 D'accord mon fréro quand tu devras parler une autre langue que ta langue natale et sans faire de fautes tu me feras signe

[@unowen-nh9ov]

Thank gawd this became an Oscar nominated hit film because no 1 gives a poop

[@SteamKing2160]

2:02 sounds like I heard that whistle somewhere before...

[@victorgattis]

I heard this in a movie called "The Train", which tells a true history of a Nazi who stoled some well-known pictures of French artist from a museum in Paris. The movie is black and white and from 1962, if I'm not wrong

[@SteamKing2160]

@@victorgattis yea I've seen that film many times and its from 1964

[@victorgattis]

@@SteamKing2160 EXACTLY!!!! 🙃

[@johnsplayworld2402]

Lady's whistle!

[@ericscotsman7253]

More Like 46512

[@anitadeal668]

All the comments about the music speeding up with the train they did that in the 1974 movie murder on the orient express also.

[@Yanmotion]

This is truly Majestic!

[@popat918]

This wasn't recommended to you, you looked this up after reading Sidney Lumet's book.

[@maurovalenti6323]

Adoro questa musica 🇮🇹

[@huntinglightning3507]

That's a nice-looking Stean Locomotive, as well as very elegant looking Railway Carriages. I wonder what Class of Steam Engine is that and types of Coaches are those.

[@stevenpayne9063]

Ah, now:Carl Davis knew how to write a score….☺️

[@Romcom356]

The music is inspired.

[@RogueRail]

Is the engine used in this movie still around today?

[@Freudenland]

What type of locomotive is that

[@jannisb.7643]

A french SNCF 230G

[@Vextrix739]

Can anyone say what class of locomotive is this?

[@warragulbogan]

Cooooooool

[@RailPreserver2K]

Does the locomotive and passenger equipment used fir the film still exist ?

[@goawayleavemealone2880]

They are actual carriages from the Orient Express, so they definitely still exist, the Locomotive is a tougher call... but I certainly hope so.

[@MarceloBenoit-trenes]

​@@goawayleavemealone2880the locomotive is preserved. Cars perhaps...

[@ludwigtails]

The platform is just too quiet man

[@pufferkuesser97]

Why should there be more?

[@goawayleavemealone2880]

It's a sleeper train departing at night, this is most likely the last non-freight train leaving the station.

[@ludwigtails]

@@goawayleavemealone2880 guess that’s fair lol

[@paddymcglone3942]

Whats the peice called

[@goawayleavemealone2880]

It was composed specifically for this movie, I think it's called "The Departure".

[@alanabyss9246]

Why dos this remind me of galaxy express 999

[@johnsplayworld2402]

Because of this? 0:59

[@alanabyss9246]

@@johnsplayworld2402 your right also the music and the look of the locomotive looks like 999

[@eltfell]

There are several things I don't like: This doesn't even look like Sirkeci Station. The headlights should have been turned on all the time the train is standing at the platform. At least, the attention wistle wouldn't sound before the headlights are on.

[@MarceloBenoit-trenes]

That is a former loco shed at Paris. No platforms, tracks in concrete.

[@eltfell]

@@MarceloBenoit-trenes Ah, thank you. Very interesting.

[@DROWYNAUT55]

so is everyone here from the book

[@nellyhoccarzh6083]

Классная музыка

[@brittoverbaugh4035]

0:59

[@akirasolettanus6560]

impossibile che Keanu Reeves non è abile con le punture è capace mio padre che ha 7 anni

[@akirasolettanus6560]

degli attori quella che somiglio di più sotto il nome Ingrid Bergaman non sono austriaca

[@suncicamiksi1018]

Prevod😪

[@paris_______]

존나좋아

[@SantiagoQuinto]

Que horterada. La música, la imagen...

[@Ciganys]

I love this thx 🥰