Murder on the Orient Express

Factual error: In the Bosphorus scenes, as the ferry crosses from the Asian to the European side of Istanbul, in the distance large trucks can be seen speeding along the coastal road opposite. Well before their time.

Factual error: The same locomotive is used for the entire run of the train, from Istanbul to northern Yugoslavia. This is impossible - locomotives would have been changed at the Greek, Bulgarian, and Yugoslav borders, at Belgrade, and perhaps at Nice.

Factual error: The Locomotive pushing the snowplow close to the end of the movie is a French 141 R. They entered service from 1945 on, ten years after the movie is set.

Factual error: In Istanbul we hear the standard Arabic-language call to prayer (beginning "Allahu Akbar!"), but the film is set during the 1930s when Kemal Atatürk was in power and muezzins were required to use a Turkish-language call to prayer (beginning "Tanrı Uludur!") instead.

George Carty

Continuity mistake: When Poirot and Mr. Ratchett first meet in the restaurant car, Poirot has to correct Ratchett's pronunciation of his name. Poirot then points with his right hand toward Ratchett, but when it cuts to a close-up of Poirot, both his hands are on the table. The angle changes back, and Poirot's hand is once again lifted.

Twotall

More mistakes in Murder on the Orient Express

Mrs. Hubbard: Don't you agree the man must have entered my compartment to gain access to Mr. Ratchett?
Princess Dragomiroff: I can think of no other reason, madame.

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Question: Who was the person Poirot saw wearing the white dressing gown? And why did this person place it in his compartment? To plant "red herrings" like these do not draw attention away from the people on the train, but tells Poirot plain and simple that the murderer did NOT leave the train, but it still on board. So why bother doing it at all, as it only goes against their carefully planned cover story?

Twotall

Chosen answer: They planted this red herring not to divert Poirot's attention away from them - they were the only passengers on the train - they wanted to divert him from the fact that they were ALL involved in the murder, because they all had a common bond with the child whom the victim murdered. Each one made out like they didn't really know anyone else on the train, but they were all in on it.

Kimberly Klaus

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