Movie Review: Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

***^Murder on the Orient Express (1974)  This is Agatha Christie and Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney) at their best.  There is murder upon the train, this after the victim had asked Poirot to be his body guard, which he refused.  In this movie everyone is a suspect; and only after piecing everything together does the true nature of the movie come out.  I previously reviewed the version that came out this past year.  In this version, in addition to Finney there are Sean Connery, Vanessa Redgrave, Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam, Ingrid Bergman, Anthony Perkins and Michael York among others.  A great cast, a tricky plot and overall a good movie.

Movie Review: ****^The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958)

This movie tells the heroic story of Gladys Aylward (Ingrid Bergman), missionary to China.  It was a struggle for her to get there, as no one thought she could survive, and then after arriving it was a struggle to stay, and tell her story, especially when the missionary who was her mentor passed away in a fall.  However she stuck, and became the inspector of feet.  The government was combating a custom of binding the feet of women, thereby making them crippled and dependent on a man.
The most important thing about this movie is Aylward escaping with over 100 orphans when the Japanese attack China at the start of WWII.  Aylward falls in love with a Chinese military officer, Captain Lin Nan (Curd Jurgens).  Her relationship with the ruling magistrate of the area where she spreads the gospel is very interesting.  Robert Donat portrays the Mandarin of Yang Cheng.  I very much enjoyed this movie, which is based on a true story.