Lumet (pronounced with a hard t) had an interesting career - I'm slightly surprised he got the job, not really being his sort of thing, noted for New York pictures... Twelve Angry Men his first feature, and he made several with Connery, including the British The Offence, The Hill, The Anderson Tapes... plus Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, Running on Empty...
Denis Quilley as the Italian was the one I didn't recognise, Bergman won the Oscar, several performances are nicely nuanced (Rachel Roberts, Gielgud) but Finney owns the train...
Paul Dehn (pronounced 'Dane') made a good, entertaining job of adapting Agatha's 1934 novel (which followed Greene's 'Stamboul Train' and the film Rome Express, both 1932 - there's certainly some similarities to the latter, in particular). Roger Deakins is catching up with DP Geoffrey Unsworth's five BAFTAs (nominated for this but lost to Douglas Slocombe for The Great Gatsby); Anne Coates also lost to Richard Chew and Walter Murch for The Conversation. Richard Rodney Bennett's score is perfect (at least he won). production design and costumes by Tony Walton.
But what's this going on in the credits - Colin Blankey - in the opening titles - and Wendy Miller in the end credits (where I didn't notice Finney has gone missing altogether)? According to IMDB these were just mistakes, but I think someone was having a bit of fun...
Because it was snowing a lot.
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