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 Willows in Winter

***^ The Willows in Winter (1996) This is the sequel to the 1995 Wind in the Willow.  It is based on a sequel book written by William Horwood.   The movie starts with children asking grandmother, Vanessa Redgrave, will you tell us another story about the river.  This river story has more excitement and energy than the 1995 "Wind in the Willow."  Mole is lost on the river, Rat is dumped from a plane, Toad crashes the plane but saves the city, Badger misses Toad.  The exploits of Toad are more entertaining, but have the same result and land him in court.  The movie misses the part about Rat and Mole wanting to see the great beyond which are in the book.
For the book review
http://mmboebillywardle.blogspot.com/2014/01/book-review-willows-in-winter.html

Movie Reviews: The Wind in the Willow

**^ The Wind in the Willow 1995 Vanessa Redgrave
I loved reading the "The Wind in the Willow" by Kenneth Grahame as a youth, and hoped this movie would have the same magic.  However for me it came up short.  I just seemed like the whole thing was just characters going through the motions, with no real energy or pleasure.  I didn't see mole being so crazed for motor cars as he needed to be, and the capture and escape from jail just didn't have excitement of the book.