The Guinness Book of World Records has Agatha Christie as the best-selling novelist of all time. She is also neck-and-neck with Shakespeare for second place behind The Bible for best-selling—period. I really like just about anything British, and I fell in love with Agatha Christie in the seventh grade when we read And Then There Were None in English class. I remember my jaw literally dropped when I read the last paragraph of the last chapter and thinking, “What?! How can this be?! This cannot be a thing.” Then I read on in the epilogue to find the solution that no one could possibly have figured out. While And Then There Were None is her most sold stand-alone work, her most popular character is Hercule Poirot (that’s pronounced “pwa-ro” to those who may not know); and his most well-known case in general pop culture is Murder on the Orient Express.
Agatha Christie’s writing style lends very well to film and television, so it’s no surprise to find quite a few of her works adapted for the screen. However, she was not at all a fan of the productions that had been made of her works, so after a while, she stopped agreeing to release film rights. You can’t blame her… I mean, I wouldn’t appreciate it if I felt like someone was butchering my work, either. Oh, but Murder on the Orient Express was just too good to pass up! One of the producers of the film was a cousin of the Queen (so obviously of high influence), and it was his job to convince Mrs. Christie to allow the film to be made. He asked her if she had seen the movie called The Tales of Beatrix Potter, which another producer for Murder on the Orient Express had recently made. Mrs. Christie had seen that movie, and enjoyed because it remained true to its source material. She agreed to give film rights for Murder on the Orient Express to be made if it were made in the same manner… and thankfully, it was.
It was an all-star cast for the 1974 film version of Murder on the Orient Express, but a perfect split of stage actors and screen actors. During the first table read, everyone was rather quiet, and not reading with the full gusto they would normally display. The director realized that the stage actors were in awe of the screen actors, and the screen actors were in awe of the stage actors, so they were all rather shy in their delivery! Five of the actors in the film were actively performing in live stage productions on the West End during the filming of the movie, one of whom being the man playing Poirot himself: Albert Finney.
Albert Finney was in his 30s at the time of filming, but the character of Hercule Poirot was in his 50s. The world of makeup is a fascinating one, and this situation presented a rather unique challenge. It is relatively simple to make someone up to appear much older, as that it is a rather common thing to occur in media; however, aging someone so slightly is not so commonplace. Bravo to those who worked on him! Not only was the makeup itself a challenge, but the application process must have been one those folks will remember forever. As already mentioned, Mr. Finney was performing in a live show on the West End during filming, so he was understandably tired and pressed for time between these two engagements. Plus, being the main character of the movie, he had a lot of screen time, and was therefore required to be on set a LOT. To help accommodate Mr. Finney, the production team hired an ambulance to pick him up and take him to the set. Mr. Finney would try to remain as still as possible and not wake too much while entering the ambulance, then as he got in a little extra sleep on the 35 minute ride to the set, the makeup team was working to apply portions of his prosthetics and do base makeup work. Fine touches were completed on set, of course, but he still slept during a lot of it. This system worked to help the man get those precious extra bits of sleep without delaying production.
The movie was a remarkable success! Agatha Christie was so happy with the finished product, that she made a rare public appearance to attend the premiere out of respect for that they had done. It was her last public appearance, as she passed away about a year and a half after this event.
Whenever I play this film for new people, I promise a prize of $100 to anyone who can tell me “whodunit” before the solution is revealed on screen. I have never been able to award this prize, nor will I ever. It simply isn’t possible. Well, I suppose anything is possible, but it isn’t very likely. Oh, and I only show the 1974 version… do not EVEN get me started on that monstrosity made in 2017… ugh! I am one to always enjoy a media for what it is. I do not walk into a movie expecting it to be just like it’s book or original feature. I wait until after I have taken in the media in itself, then I allow myself to do the comparisons afterward. With the 2017 version of Murder on the Orient Express, the basic is this: it wasn’t just a lousy adaptation of a book, it wasn’t just a poor remake of a film, it was just a straight-up BAD MOVIE all on its own. Oh man, I can’t get into that or this blog will take 500 years to read.
Anyway… One of the things that is frustrating, yet awesome about Agatha Christie is that while you do technically have all the clues you need to solve the mystery, there is often some element brought in during the reveal that you didn’t/couldn’t know going into it. You start these books knowing full-well that she may do some sneaky foolishness like that, yet we love her. It can be frustrating as all-get-out, but it doesn’t seem to bother anyone because she is still the best-selling novelist of all time.
God can be like that on occasion, too. We’ve got something going on and are working through our story to get to the end reveal in the situation. All along the way, we’ve had clues and guidance, adventure and suspense, but maybe we don’t see how it all comes together until God pulls out this one bit of information we couldn’t have known going into the resolution as He makes the big reveal. Do you get upset when this happens? I do! I’m not going to lie. But why do I get frustrated and upset with God over something that doesn’t really bother me in Agatha Christie novels?
God tells us in Isaiah 55:8-9 that His ways and thoughts are nothing like ours, and are, indeed, higher than ours. We can’t possibly know everything about how and what He plans, and it’s crazy for us to try to make Him conform to our thoughts and plans. We just need to conform to His thoughts and plans. Jeremiah 29:11 says that the Lord knows His plans for us, and that they are for good, and to give us a future and a hope… so why become frustrated, angry, or otherwise upset just because we don’t know every detail of His plans and what is going on in whatever situations we have? Remember Job? Ol’ Job had all kinds of awful stuff happen! His kids died, his wealth depleted, his physical body was a misery beyond words, etc. That poor guy NEVER found out the details of what all that was about, but overall he still trusted the Lord because he knew that God’s ways are better and higher. Things worked out well for Job… God gave him back everything he had before and then some.
Can you remain faithful and trust God in your circumstances? It’s tough, man. Definitely. But Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.” Our understanding doesn’t even come close to God’s. We seek God as we walk through our situations, and then He gives us our reveal. It may not be what we want to hear. It may be easy. It may be difficult. It may produce more questions. Sometimes God and Agatha Christie make it easier to spot the solution; then other times, we have to wait until the very end for that last bit we couldn’t have known to be brought to light in order to tie it all together. No matter what, it’s a great story, and we can trust that the authors know exactly what they are doing. We don’t need to know every detail because the One Who does know every detail is looking out for us. “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them” (Romans 8:28)… so be encouraged, brothers and sisters in Christ, that even when bad stuff happens (and it will because we live in a sinful and fallen world), God will still make everything work out for your good.
