Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989) s12e04 Episode Script
The Clocks
POIROT: No! Lieutenant, you lie to Poirot! You say that you were in the barracks by midnight.
But Poirot has proved this to be false! At a quarter to 1:00 in the morning, you were seen over two miles away in the company of the woman who died! General, this is not a murder, as is suggested by the Palestinian police.
But I do believe that the lieutenant lied about his whereabouts first, out of panic.
And then by sticking to this lie, by reinforcing it with lie after lie, through weeks and weeks of deception, he has heaped suspicion and the deep shame on himself, his regiment, and his wife.
General, the neck of this woman was not broken by the human hand but by a fall.
You see here where her neck, it is broken in not one but two places.
MAN: Put it down! [Gunshot.]
my commanding officer has once more asked me to impress upon you his thanks for solving our regimental difficulty.
If I may speak out of turn, sir I think it unjust that one mistake cost Lieutenant Morris so dearly.
He was a good man who was involved in an accident.
Unjust? He made an error of judgment.
He was a good man.
It did not have to end in suicide.
I think he believed he had no choice.
Oh.
A man like your friend, lieutenant, always has choice.
And it was his choice to lie that brought him into difficulty with the law.
[Knock on door.]
- [Knock on door.]
- [Gun cocks.]
MACQUEEN: Mr.
Ratchett, sir.
The details have arrived for the Italian properties, sir.
Downstairs.
Very good, sir.
[People speaking Turkish.]
WOMAN: We're almost there.
Don't rush.
- What time is the train again? - Down here.
What time is it, John.
We mustn't miss it.
It's 9:00.
Don't worry.
No, don't.
When it's all over then.
- [People shouting in Turkish.]
- John? - What's happening? - What's happening? Hey.
Hey! Leave this woman alone! What's happening here? [Shouting continues.]
She's pregnant another man's child.
The husband wants justice.
- We can't What can we do? - Mary.
Come here! Come here, Mary! - No! - Mary.
John, stop them.
What will they do to her? [Woman screams.]
- No! - Mary! Mary! Mary, please.
Please.
Mary.
Here.
Come away.
[Woman screams.]
Welcome to the Tokatlian, monsieur.
Merci.
And may I inquire if you have for me any messages? CONCIERGE: You may, and you do, monsieur.
Merci.
I am so sorry, but I will have to cancel my reservation.
I am called back to London but immediately.
Of course.
And if you would be so kind as to book for me a passage tonight on the Orient Express.
- Of course, sir.
- Merci.
Leave that alone.
Leave that alone.
If I'd needed assistance, boy, I'd have asked for it.
BOUC: [French accent.]
Hercule Poirot? Hercule Poirot, this is you.
What are you doing in Istanbul? Monsieur, I I travel from Palestine to London.
So, uh, you will be traveling back on the Orient Express? - Oui.
Tonight.
- So am I! I am the director of the line, you see? Oh, but Pardon.
Of course.
It's M.
Bouc.
Forgive me.
Now I remember.
- BOUC: Of course you do.
I'm - Monsieur.
I am sorry, monsieur.
This evening the Calais coach on the Orient Express is fully booked.
- BOUC: Is it? - But I will travel tomorrow.
No, no, no.
There will be a berth for you, Poirot.
We keep things back.
There is always room.
It is my business, and you will be fine.
He's with me.
He's with me.
- Good evening.
- Bonsoir, monsieur.
Nummer acht.
- Fräulein Schmidt, bitte.
- Thank you.
[Coughs.]
And you are in number 14, Princess Dragomiroff.
- Merci, Michel.
- Je vous en prie.
Eh, Michel! Ah! Bonsoir, M.
Bouc.
It's such a pleasure to see you again.
Ladies.
I hear you are full up tonight.
Yeah, it's incredible.
The train is fully booked.
The whole world elects to travel tonight.
Well, this gentleman here is a personal friend, and he can have the number 16.
But the first class is fully booked.
Even what is held back.
You're in number one, of course, but I'm afraid I DEBENHAM: Sorry.
Good evening.
Thank you, ma'am.
Number 11, Miss Debenham.
- Thank you.
- Please.
I am Xavier Bouc, director of the line.
He's a famous man.
The Hercule Poirot? Yes.
And the company will not allow him to travel with the luggage! Can I help you, madam? Number 11? That's down the far end.
Is it only me, or is it criminally hot in here? I think it might just be you, madam.
Would you mind if we kept it shut? Has anyone seen who's trying to get on the train? BOUC: At Belgrade tomorrow there will be an extra coach from Athens which is likely to be half empty.
- Is that not so, Michel? - That is correct.
So I can move compartment then.
The only problem is with tonight.
Is there no second-class berth free? I will travel tomorrow.
It is not a problem.
Am I not too late, am I? No, madame.
L-It's just my connection was delayed because of snow on the Taurus Express.
The snow is getting hard from the east, monsieur.
Miss Ohlsson, you are in berth 10.
Thank you.
I always kiss my St.
Christopher.
I kiss for you too, monsieur.
This Mr.
Harris is not checked in.
MICHEL: In berth seven? No, not yet.
He's a friend of mine.
Well, it's too late, madame.
The barrier will be closed.
But who are you to commandeer Mr.
Harris's berth? I'm sure he'll be arriving very shortly.
He's just a little delayed.
Yes, I am the director of the Wagon-Lit Company, madame.
That is just who I am.
He's paid your company for a ticket, monsieur.
- That should be respected.
- Absolutely.
And he will be able to transfer it without extra cost.
- POIROT: Pardon, madame.
- MICHEL: Sorry, Mrs.
Hubbard.
HUBBARD: [Sighs.]
This is a scandal.
That's what it is.
BOUC: No, a scandal would be if your friend were here, and I didn't let him on.
In America it would be considered as such.
[Woman crying.]
Your settler, Mr.
Ratchett.
Yes? Mr.
Macqueen? - What's going on? - This is Mr.
Poirot.
He'll be staying here tonight, and tomorrow he'll be moved to his own compartment.
No.
No, no.
This is what has to happen, so this is what is happening.
Monsieur.
[Train whistle blowing.]
[Coughing.]
No, your suitcase is too big, isn't it? No, no, no.
No.
Just have to put it on the floor.
M.
Macqueen, may Poirot rearrange some of your toiletries to make room for me? - Lf you must.
- Merci.
[Crossing bell dinging.]
- Antonio Foscarelli.
- Masterman.
FOSCARELLl: Taking the top bunk.
Hope you don't mind.
[Coughs.]
Mr.
Ratchett requests your attention, if you will.
I'll get there.
Thank you.
[Grunts.]
[Sighs.]
Pardon, monsieur.
- Oh! - Excusez-moi.
I've been calling you now for 10 minutes.
And I said I was coming, sir.
What's your name? Why are you asking? Well, Calais is three days away.
It's a long trip.
Is that all right? Does it work? My name's Ratchett.
Mr.
Ratchett.
[Door closes.]
Are you all right, mademoiselle? Yes.
Yes, I'm fine.
Thank you.
Hercule Poirot.
Mary Debenham.
I've been, uh I've been teaching in Persia.
I'm on my way home.
Yes, I saw you this afternoon in the streets of Istanbul.
- You saw that? - Oui.
Well, you are not too distressed by what happened, I hope? Yes, of course, I am.
And distressed I could do nothing to help.
Aren't you? Oui, bien sor.
But Justice is is often upsetting to witness.
Justice? It's like the gallows in England.
But, uh, in another culture it is best not to intervene, mademoiselle.
The woman was adulterous.
She had not killed anyone.
No, but she had broken the rules, and she knew what that would mean.
What is it you do, monsieur? If you don't mind me asking.
S'il vous plait.
I also found it upsetting, eh? - It is not pleasant.
- [Door closes.]
I am a detective, MIle.
Ohlsson.
In the police? No.
Private.
Private detective.
Hercule Poirot? Very good.
Very good.
[Sniffs.]
Hercule Poirot.
[Knock on door.]
What can I do for you, sir? Shut the door.
[Door closes.]
I need to know the people on this carriage.
Whatever you know about them.
Where they're going.
Where they're from.
I'm sorry, sir, but company policy Shut up.
What do you know about them, boy? [Train whistle blows.]
WAITER: Monsieur, coffee.
Yes, sir, of course.
- Madame, your change.
- [Clinks.]
HUBBARD: No, no.
What's this? What's a What's a "drachma"? Apart from a way of clearing your throat.
My daughter, who Poirot! Poirot! No, no, no, no, no.
Come here, my friend.
Please.
It's the director's table, you know.
If the country changes, you won't be able to spend any of it.
BOUC: Please.
This is a Greek fellow called Constantine.
- How do you do? - He's, um - What are you again? - I am a doctor.
- An obstetrician.
- BOUC: That's right.
I've been in Ankara, and now I go back to America.
Hercule Poirot.
M.
Poirot, how would you like your eggs? Two.
Boiled.
And exactly the same size, s'il vous plait.
We are playing a game, Poirot, and you'll like this.
Where, apart from my train my transcontinental train would you find, um Hungarian diplomats Count and Countess Andreyni; wealthy American businessmen Don't look.
It's rude.
[Chuckles.]
A Russian princess being looked after every step of the way by her maidservant.
please, which is made with parsley and no more cooked than 30 seconds.
- Thank you.
- MICHEL: C'est bon.
Merci.
- BOUC: Italian bachelors.
- M.
Poirot.
BOUC: Young missionary women from Scandinavia.
- Merci.
- Les Belges.
[Chuckles.]
Um English stiff people.
All nations, all classes and everything that goes in between eating and sleeping under one roof? Oh, Poirot, he would suggest America.
BOUC: Absolutely.
The great melting pot.
It took Constantine four guesses.
And even then I had to tell him the answer.
That is not true, monsieur.
BOUC: Michel! Michel! Champagne.
And he lives there.
Champagne for everyone, with compliments of the Wagon-Lit Company.
Ladies and gentlemen, please.
Have a safe journey, and, uh And to your good health! Do you believe in God, Mr.
Poirot? I never used to, but I do now.
I think he's like an extra gun.
An extra piece of protection.
And I think we all need some extra protection sometimes, don't we? You're gonna take a job on for me.
Why do you need protecting on this train? Because there are people who know where I am, what I'm doing.
And what is that? Penance.
I need to give something back before I'm forgiven.
But I could be killed before I do it.
By whom? I'm a rich man, Mr.
Poirot.
I have enemies.
But I need to get to Calais.
You start now.
Non.
I do not play poker with you, monsieur.
Non.
COUNT ANDRENYl: You're okay.
You're okay.
- COUNTESS ANDRENYl: [Gasping.]
- Shh.
You're doing fine.
You're doing fine.
Sacré! [Indistinct talking.]
Is this Belgrade, monsieur? Yes, it is.
It is also very cold.
And I think I will get back on the train, if I may.
Oh.
I thought you were getting off here.
POIROT: No, no.
I saw the conductor moving your valise.
Yes, because from tonight I have my own compartment.
M.
Poirot, compartment number one is now ready for you, sir.
Merci, Michel.
Merci.
RATCHETT: Did you leave this on my bed? Did you leave this on my bed? MASTERMAN: No, sir.
What is it? What it is, is of no importance.
Did you leave this compartment unlocked or unattended at any time today? No, sir.
"No, sir.
" Neither of you gonna take any responsibility for this? Neither of you were aware that anyone was trying to break into my compartment today? So why do I pay you?! Get out! Macqueen? Get out.
Was it another threatening note? Of course it was.
ARBUTHNOT: Is there a problem? No.
Mr.
Macqueen Would you like a drink? Yes.
I could do with a drink.
Pardon me for all evil I have done this day.
Watch over me while I take my rest.
And deliver me from danger.
Amen.
[Train whistle blowing.]
[Shouting in French.]
Amen.
MAN: Aaaaaaaaaah! [Knock on door.]
MICHEL: Mr.
Ratchett? Mr.
Ratchett, is everything all right? MAN: Ce n'est rien.
Je me suis trompé.
[Shouting in French.]
[Shouting continues.]
[Speaks French.]
[Glass breaks.]
[Indistinct shouting.]
HUBBARD: The man was in my compartment.
He was standing there.
He was looking at me as I lay in bed.
He was hovering over me like like the angel of death.
MICHEL: Mrs.
Hubbard HUBBARD: Oh, don't "Mrs.
Hubbard" me, you French person.
MICHEL: Mrs.
Hubbard, I assure you, no one was in your compartment.
How do you know that? Were you here? Yes, Mrs.
Hubbard.
Good night.
- Michel? - Monsieur.
Another bottle of mineral water, s'il vous plait.
Bien sor.
And, Michel, is everything all right? It's It's Mrs.
Hubbard.
She's a fantasist.
She She thinks men are after her.
Blind men, if you ask me.
[Chuckles.]
And Michel? The train, it does not move.
No.
We have hit a snowdrift.
Once we were stranded for nine days.
But hopefully not this time, not for us.
Oui.
[Knock.]
[Match strikes.]
ARBUTHNOT: Do you know where we are? You! Do you know where we are? - [Knock on door.]
- BOUC: M.
Poirot, are you there? One minute, if you please.
- M.
Poirot, please! - [Knocking on door.]
One minute, if you please.
You must come.
If you please, sir! I said one minute! You must come, now! Please.
MACQUEEN: I thought we would need a doctor as well, monsieur.
I brought him his pick-me-up, sir, at the usual time.
But when he failed to respond, I I became concerned.
Has anything been touched? No.
Michel, has anything been touched? No, monsieur.
Doctor.
Poirot, we are in Yugoslavia.
This is not a good place to have a problem.
This is the backside of Europe.
This is the Wild West.
And I have a carriage full of civilized, intelligent, beautiful people who spend money and who will not want to be delayed here by a brutal police.
And they will delay them.
Forever.
He has been stabbed.
Maybe 15 times.
In a frenzy.
BOUC: This is a disaster.
So how long has he been dead? Maybe seven or eight hours.
So 12:00, 1:00? If the door was bolted, then that is how the killer must have left.
Poirot, on behalf of the Wagon-Lit Company, please, sort this out for me.
No, it should be left to the to the authorities.
No.
No, no, no.
The police here, they will not be in your class.
When we get to Brod, let the world-famous detective, the genius, tell the police what happened, and there will be minimum delay.
Because no one is going to want to travel on my train when they hear they'll get murdered in their bed.
It's my business.
Are all the passengers present this morning? Merci.
Vraiment merci.
Michel, are all the passengers at breakfast? Not yet, sir.
And is Poirot right in assuming that the Calais coach at night, it is made secure? Oh, yes, sir.
Oui.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
There is no way anyone could have got through to this coach from another part of the train.
Good.
Well, keep it locked.
No one in and no one out.
The time we were stopped by the snowdrift was what? - 2:00.
- Ah.
Because the murderer, he did not leave by this window as they hoped to suggest.
How do you know? Because there are no marks in the snow.
So the murderer must still be with us gentlemen.
On the train.
Now.
Princess Dragomiroff? All the passengers have been summoned to the lounge car, if you please.
Immediately.
M.
Bouc! I wish to make a complaint.
I will be of assistance to you in the lounge car, but not here, madame.
I don't want assistance.
I want to kick someone up the ass! How long are we going to be stuck here? Until a snowplow arrives, digs us out.
And I have no idea yet when that will be.
Only God knows that answer.
Well, I wish he'd stop keeping it to himself.
As I thought.
You say there are 15 stab wounds Dr.
Constantine? - Yes.
- But Poirot can count only 12.
Unless there are some others on his back? No, no.
So, uh, the murderer must have crept in, yes, and stabbed and stabbed with all his might.
You are not a police surgeon, are you? No.
What are you? You are - An obstetrician.
- Bon.
You see some of these are just scratches delivered with little force, eh? But here and here, delivered with strength.
These are the ones that killed him, Doctor.
Princess Dragomiroff, please! My lady is not dressed, monsieur.
I apologize, but you must come to the lounge car now, Princess.
What is the problem, monsieur? I'm waiting for you.
Outside.
Oh.
If I stand here as the murderer, I find the wounds, some of them, they have an angle that is suited to my right hand.
So But others, you see? Impossible.
They need my left.
We have a left.
We have a right.
We have a weak, and we have a strong.
So is Ratchett trying to tell us that he was murdered by two people? He knew he was vulnerable.
He knew he had to be on his guard.
Voilà .
BOUC: Please.
Please, sit down.
Ah Well, ladies and gentlemen, I have to tell you that last night one of your fellow passengers, Mr.
Ratchett, was, um was murdered.
- Murdered? - Yes.
The detective Hercule Poirot believes that the murderer is still on the train with us.
[Passengers gasp.]
So please So we have sealed the Calais coach, and we request you do not try to leave.
Of course M.
Poirot will be wanting to interview you all.
How was he murdered? With a knife.
POIROT: And what is that? Eh? The letter "H.
" Well, but maybe Poirot believes this.
In the ash, you see? The flat matches.
And here there is the flat match of Ratchett, but here is a match made of wood and a piece of paper that is burned.
So? So perhaps Poirot, he is correct when he suggests that the match made of wood, it was struck by someone else and the piece of paper was burned because it was in some way incriminating.
HUBBARD: Why do we have to stay in this car? I don't under Uh, ladies and gentlemen, M.
Poirot would like one of you ladies to lend him a hatbox.
POIROT: Merci.
My old grandfather had one of these for the wax mustache also.
POIROT: Now, if this piece of paper that is burned is indeed incriminating then I am going to try to resurrect what was written on it.
"Aisy Arms.
" What does it mean? Aisy? Aisy? BOUC: Aisy Arms.
POIROT: Merci.
I think it's nonsense, isn't it, Poirot? It doesn't mean anything.
I do not know yet.
BOUC: Poirot.
BOUC: [Speaking indistinctly.]
Here are the passengers' passports you requested, monsieur.
POIROT: Merci, Michel.
Oh, Michel, if you please to remain and talk to me about last night.
Hey, don't worry.
Sit down.
Poirot, Michel is not involved.
Since his wife died, he is married to the company.
He's our hardest worker.
Ah, Michel, your wife How did she die? Out of grief.
My daughter died, and my wife followed.
When was this, Michel? Well, it wasn't last night, was it? Leave the poor man alone.
MICHEL: It was a few years ago.
CONSTANTINE: Tell us of last night, Michel.
[Sighs.]
Well, we stopped at Vincovci a little late.
A quarter to 12:00.
POIROT: Did you get off the train? MICHEL: Yes, for a chat, but it was so cold I didn't stay.
Did anyone else get off the train from the Calais coach? Yes.
Mr.
Macqueen and Colonel Arbuthnot.
But again, they do not hang around.
And afterwards they were talking politics in the colonel's compartment until, um, 2:00 in the morning.
And then [Sighs.]
Mr.
Ratchett cried out at about half past 12:00.
MAN: Ce n'est rien.
Je me suis trompé.
I really thought he was just having a nightmare.
And then, um, 2:15, Mrs.
Hubbard HUBBARD: He was hovering over me like like the angel of death.
You remember, monsieur? Yes, of course.
Michel, did you see later a woman in a red kimono? Yes.
At maybe 2:00, 2:30.
I didn't see who she was 'cause she was walking away from me.
And from which compartment had she come? I didn't see.
Well, she did not perhaps return from the toilettes? No.
Merci.
- BOUC: Merci, Michel.
- Je vous en prie.
And next time you request a transfer to the Calais coach, I'm sure it won't be so dramatic.
For this trip you request a transfer? A former colleague of mine lives in Calais.
I was to visit him.
Yes, Michel normally does the Paris coach.
- Bien.
- Monsieur.
Did you like your employer? Oh, I do not find it necessary to like an employer.
Oh, but I do.
Did you know that he offered to me a job? And I did not like him.
Was he, in your opinion, a gentleman? Nothing of the kind.
But he had money.
Put a sewer rat in a suit, and he's still a sewer rat He's just in a suit.
BOUC: [Chuckles.]
Et alors last night you shared your compartment with Signor Foscarelli? And did you stay there all night? I read until 4:00 in the morning.
Because it was a good book, eh? Because of toothache.
So you know for a fact that Signor Foscarelli, he did not leave the compartment either last night? No.
He snored.
Does this mean anything to you? Is it an arms firm? Was he an arms dealer? I don't know the name of that firm.
I met Mr.
Ratchett when I was on my uppers in Iraq, we call it now, don't we? He needed a personal assistant who was good with languages, which I am, and he paid well.
And he could not speak the languages? Not a word.
A little pidgin Italian.
Which even Italian pigeons would have found hard to understand.
And where in America was his home? He never spoke of it.
He was thinking of buying in Napoli, but, well, I don't know whether he'd have been allowed to go there.
Allowed? I don't delude myself by thinking Mr.
Ratchett was not on the run, from something dark in America, that he wasn't trying to buy his way back into society.
He didn't know that I kept these.
Or that I knew we were going to Calais to pay that money back.
POIROT: To whom? Underworld? Mafia? But they've set him up, haven't they? Smoked him out onto the train with the money and settled his debts in the night.
CONSTANTINE: How much was in the suitcase? - MACQUEEN: Over $200,000.
- [Exhales sharply.]
I stayed in his employment because I needed money to get home.
The name Ratchett It is an alias.
If you please to follow me.
$200,000? A penance.
He told to me.
Something dark in America from where he is ostracized, and $200,000 blood money for which he had to atone.
[Passengers gasp.]
MICHEL: Don't worry.
POIROT: This is not Samuel Ratchett.
This is Lanfranco Cassetti who, for $200,000, kidnapped so notoriously from the home of her parents in Long Island, New York, the young child Daisy Armstrong.
This devil came for her.
And someone in the house tried to stop him, but they were hurt very badly.
Her parents paid the ransom money.
But young Daisy Armstrong she never returned home.
She had died Ionely, scared, at the hands of Cassetti less than one hour after he took her.
And after this discovery so terrible, Sonia Armstrong went into premature labor with a second baby she was carrying.
And, well, this baby, it did not live.
And neither did she.
Colonel Armstrong, his heart now broken beyond repair, could not bring himself to face another morning.
So four deaths at the hands of Cassetti.
Mais non.
Non, pardon.
Five.
Because the housemaid, who was French, I think, and whom the police were convinced had knowledge of this crime but was innocent, had also taken her own life in the police cell.
Cassetti was arrested.
But his Mafia family in Chicago had the prosecutors and judges in their pockets, and evidence, it was misplaced.
And Cassetti, he walked away.
Free.
Excuse me, but isn't anyone going interview me about the events of last night? I happen to have seen the murderer.
Quoi? Ladies and gentlemen, please.
First, I really want to apologize for the lights, but we are seeing to it now.
In the meantime, um, a scarlet negligee is key to solving the murder.
Negligee? So So I will need all your suitcase keys, please.
Poirot has just identified Samuel Ratchett as Lanfranco Cassetti.
Cassetti? BOUC: Yes.
Yes, that's right.
The The notorious murderer.
- And l-I don't know what to do.
- What do you mean, Mr.
Macqueen? My father was the D.
A.
In the Cassetti case.
He was the prosecutor.
There is a link now between my name Macqueen and the murder.
It's only a matter of time before Poirot remembers this from the papers.
He has an encyclopedic knowledge of Cassetti's crime.
So, uh, you knew Cassetti? But you didn't recognize him when you worked for him, did you? And the detective is going to believe that? If it is the truth.
Is that not right, M.
Bouc? Oh, yes.
Yes.
Absolutely right.
Poirot is all about the truth.
I was lying there.
Lie here like me, Dr.
Constantine.
- Uh - Lie down.
Yes.
Now open your eyes.
He was standing here.
A dark figure.
- Could you make out his face? - I couldn't.
Then how do you know it was a man? [Chuckles.]
If you've lived the life I have, Inspector, you know when there's a man in your bedroom.
Do you know what I'm getting at, Doctor? - Y-Yes, I do.
- What happened next? I closed my eyes and pressed for the conductor.
And your visitor, where did he go? He went back through here.
Madame, why is it that you had not bolted the door between your compartments? I had.
Madame Hubbard, in your life in America, were you acquainted with the family of the young Daisy Armstrong? Well, I'd heard of their tragedy, of course.
But they were of the highest society, and I am not.
This man is the man who murdered Daisy Armstrong.
Well, if I'd known that, then, like any American mother, I'd have ripped the bastard's heart out.
Pardon my French.
POIROT: It is indeed a French word.
CONSTANTINE: What's this? It's a button.
From a conductor's uniform.
What is it doing here? If If Michel is not missing a button, then It certainly wasn't here yesterday.
Then it must be the assassin's, surely.
Maybe Maybe he could have got on on at Vincovci yes, yes disguised as a conductor, then into Mrs.
Hubbard's compartment with a stolen pass key, and left in the kimono.
[Chuckles.]
He got all this from a button.
Well, we know Cassetti was alive at half past 12:00 because he called out to Michel, "Ce n'est rien.
" Non, non.
Non.
M.
Cassetti, he could not speak French, which is why M.
Macqueen worked for him.
Brilliant! Brilliant, monsieur! So that must have been the voice of the assassin.
Which fits with the watch and the time of death.
No, but there were at least two murderers.
Well, he he could have just stabbed like a crazy man.
Left hand, right hand.
It is all coming together in my mind.
I'm very pleased for you, monsieur.
[Men speaking French.]
This is the Mafia the Mafia for sure.
The knife It is the Italian way.
They want the money, and there will be a thing about revenge for some reason.
- It makes sense.
- Of course it does! Let me ask you something.
Who is Italian on this train? Who has been in America? Huh? Signor Foscarelli.
So you share with MIle.
Debenham in berths 10 and 11? Ja.
That Englishwoman does not pray.
I prayed she needs to pray.
Neither of you left the compartment last night? Nej.
You have been to America? Oh, ja.
America.
That is right.
To work? To speak.
For Jesus.
To raise funds for the mission in India.
Of course.
To help the children.
Poirot, the money, it has either been spent which I can assure you it hasn't or it's not on S'il vous plait mademoiselle? You are Catholique? Oh, no.
I prayed for Catholics.
Because they have it all wrong, don't they? - Miss Ohlsson - In what way? The Catholic penance and forgiveness is false, isn't it, M.
Poirot? Because there are certain things that God will never forgive? Ja.
Like when you violate his law? Ja.
Violence against children.
Violence against the children.
This man who is dead Maybe God came last night on this train and refused to forgive.
You have been religious a long time? I saw Jesus who protects me now, as I protect the children.
Five years ago.
Five years I have been with him.
And I'm sure he's enjoyed every moment.
Well, Poirot.
No money.
No satin negligee.
Kimono.
Unless the Princess Dragomiroff wears negligees, which I think unlikely.
- Don't you, Doctor? - I do.
Kimono.
Have you seen the outfit she's wearing today? Pbbt! It's enormous.
She waddles down the corridor like the battleship Bismarck.
Well, however, I know who did the murder.
This Cassetti trial It must have brought the press, the FBI, down heavily on the Mafia, hurt their interests which they hate so they put one of them on the train, give him a knife, and and get payback.
Signor Foscarelli.
How unfortunate, then, that the English valet has the toothache and knows that Signor Foscarelli did not leave his compartment all night.
On the night of the murder, monsieur, my maid read to me until 11:00.
And you slept through till the morning? No.
At 20 to 1:00 I rang for the conductor to call Fräulein Schmidt, as I had not settled, and I requested a massage.
POIROT: Ah, oui.
I left her asleep at half past 2:00.
I gave my lady a massage and read more Goethe.
And you did not hear anything untoward in the carriage? That is correct.
Princess Dragomiroff, were you acquainted with the family of Daisy Armstrong? - Yes.
- My lady.
Hildegarde, please.
Leave.
I stayed many times at the Armstrong house on Long Island, as I was privileged to be the godmother of Daisy's mother, Sonia.
Sonia was the daughter of the great tragic actress Linda Arden, of whom I had been an admirer for many decades.
Yeah, if my memory is correct, Linda Arden, it was a stage name, oui? Taken from the Shakespeare.
So, what was her actual name? The name was Waterstone.
Ah, yes, I am remembering now.
Linda Arden, she had two daughters Sonia Armstrong, oui, and also a younger daughter.
You are correct.
Do you know what happened to this younger daughter? Mm, she married someone, somewhere.
I do not know what happened to her.
You know it is Lanfranco Cassetti who has been murdered? Monsieur, if I had recognized that man, do you know what I should have liked to have done? I should have liked to have called my servants, flogged this man to death, and throw him on the rubbish heap.
That is what was done with such a man when I was young, monsieur.
Make no mistake.
I would have stabbed him as he slept and been proud to confess.
FOSCARELLl: Monsieur? Poirot.
Poirot.
Do you think she did it? No, that woman was frail.
She would not have the strength - Monsieur? - Signor Foscarelli.
I hear talk of the Mafia being responsible.
BOUC: Yes.
Yes, that's true.
I was talking to the gentleman.
Monsieur, not all Italian-Americans are Mafia.
Most of us spit on them.
Now, I'm in the motor trade.
I'm a good salesman.
But it's hard to be trusted when you're Italian.
Men like Cassetti, they make people hate us.
Monsieur, if these gangsters are involved, do not mess with them.
Understand me? For they are ruthless to anyone, anyone who crosses them, and you are no exception! - You understand that? - Hey, is that a threat? It is advice, monsieur.
Merci.
- [Knock on door.]
- Come in.
BOUC: How dare you threaten M.
Poirot? The water.
The water is not working.
- I wasn't threatening anybody.
- SCHMIDT: What is happening? Fräulein Schmidt, does this belong to your lady? No.
- She's Natalia.
- Ah.
It's her style but not her initial.
Merci.
And tell to me if you please Were you also the frequent visitor to the Armstrong house in Long Island? Yes.
No.
I knew the Long Island home, but I've worked at an adjacent property, another family.
That was how I met my lady.
And you are a good cook, eh? Yes.
[Laughs.]
All my ladies have said that.
Bon.
N-No.
I'm a maid.
Ah, forgive me, but you appear to be more expert in the food.
which is made with parsley and no more cooked than 30 seconds.
No.
I'm a lady's maid.
The reason The reason I'm so nervous, monsieur, and get things wrong is that I saw the murderer.
I saw him with my eyes when I finished my lady's massage.
I came out of the compartment and passed a lady in a kimono, but she had a man's face.
I also saw her.
And, well, she looked like a woman from the back.
No.
A man.
Ja? So when did you see him? Because I did not notice you when I saw him.
Um At 2:30.
And can you describe him? He was small, round, and dark.
And when I heard his voice as he said "pardon," it was a woman's voice weak like a woman.
Merci.
There is no power, no power at all.
And it will be minus-10 degrees tonight.
And they cannot get here with the plow until the morning.
MICHEL: What are you doing? - BOUC: How will they cook food? - MICHEL: Hey.
- BOUC: How will we stay warm? - All his buttons are here.
And sewn with old thread, so this button must have come from a second uniform, Poirot.
Well, so who do you want me to call now? Miss Debenham? Non, non, non, non.
Not MIle.
Debenham.
Not yet.
Last night, Count Andrenyi, I saw you and your wife trying to disembark at Belgrade.
My wife can be claustrophobic.
It is difficult for her on the train.
No.
Last night she took a draft of Trional.
My word of honor.
I did not question your honor.
I am afraid, Poirot, neither of us can be of use to you in this sad investigation.
Non, monsieur.
COUNT ANDRENYl: I spent two years in Washington at a posting to the embassy.
You were there five years ago, I see.
Yes.
I remember the Armstrong murder in the papers, if that's what you're alluding to.
So this spot of grease is the result of an official who was careless, eh? Why does she have to write her name? S'il vous plait, as it appears in the passport.
Merci.
Doctor, what is the latest? The German maid said she saw the murderer.
Gave Poirot a description.
DEBENHAM: Why have you not yet questioned me, monsieur? MIle.
Debenham, why do you and Colonel Arbuthnot pretend not to know each other when it was quite clear in Istanbul that you were intimate? No, don't.
When it's all over then.
When what was all over, huh? Hmm? What? - I'm not at liberty to say.
- Oh, liberty.
Mademoiselle, you will give me a good answer.
Or when the Yugoslav police arrive, you will not be at liberty.
- Now, give me an answer.
- Steady on, Poirot.
I am not at liberty to tell you.
POIROT: Mademoiselle, do not cross me.
A murder has been committed, and I have seen you behaving suspiciously both before and after the crime took place.
- You leave her alone! - John.
- Sir.
- Teddy, sit down.
POIROT: Colonel Arbuthnot.
Maybe you can explain what was meant by her words.
I met Miss Debenham in Baghdad.
She was a governess in a house of an AOC, a friend of mine.
And you fell in love? Yes.
HUBBARD: What is it with these men who go around falling in love with the staff? Will you shut up? Why the secrecy? I am currently suing my unfaithful wife of 20 years for divorce.
In English law, if she sees me with another woman, then she can sue me.
Can't believe I'm telling you people this.
If that happens, I will lose my house, my reputation, my commission.
"When it's all over," Miss Debenham said.
When the divorce is all over.
When that is behind us.
Colonel, in all your years of service, did you know Colonel Armstrong, father to the young Daisy Armstrong? By reputation, yes.
He was a fine man.
Military Cross.
Passchendaele.
Now, you listen, Poirot.
By all accounts, this man deserved to die last night.
But I would have been happier if he'd been convicted by a jury.
POIROT: I see.
The civilized way.
[Knock on door, door opens.]
Poirot, I have moved the little gas stove from the galley to the lounge, and, well, I propose we should stay there for the night.
Bon.
Gather them all there.
M.
Bouc, I have been thinking of the theory of Dr.
Constantine, of the assassin who got on disguised as a conductor.
Yes.
At Vincovci, yes.
And the uniform of this conductor must have been discarded somewhere.
And Poirot, he thinks he knows where.
It must be amongst the possessions of the one person it could not possibly be.
The witness who says she saw the assassin.
Fräulein Schmidt.
Do you have the button he lost? Oh, yes.
Please.
Bon.
Please to keep watch.
[Singing in Swedish.]
[Sighs.]
[Singing continues.]
Monsieur, I found this in my sponge bag.
It's certainly the kind of knife that would have made the wounds.
Oui.
He must have hidden it in my sponge bag when he passed through my compartment.
That must be the case.
I think it proper to save my conclusions for the police at Brod.
[Crying.]
But when I sleep, I I see his face.
I can't keep his face out of my mind.
- Mary, please.
- It's all right.
She sees the face of the man she saw last night.
The murderer.
Full of anger, like like he wants to kill you? SCHMIDT: I see his face.
Was he still wearing his red kimono? This murder, it would have been perfect, eh? If it had not been for the snowdrift.
Is that not so, Fräulein Schmidt? I think that there are two solutions to this murder.
In the first, the Mafia assassin gets on the train at Vincovci, off at Brod with the money, Cassetti killed.
But one or two of you notice a different conductor in the corridor, notify the police.
But the assassin would have gone.
Vanished.
But because of the delay, there had to be an improvisation.
And so a second solution proposes itself to me.
Elena Wasserstein.
With a careless smudge on "Elena.
" COUNTESS ANDRENYl: Oui.
Enough, eh? Because maybe maybe Poirot should not be looking at your first name but your second Countess Wasserstein.
Waterstone.
The family name to Sonia Armstrong and her younger sister, Helena.
My wife does not understand English.
Let's stop this right now.
Yes.
Let us stop this.
You had the handkerchief with an "H.
" That would have pointed to me.
And you would have found my connection to Daisy.
- Your niece.
- My sweet niece.
This girl hasn't done anything wrong.
You know nothing, monsieur.
You don't touch her.
Shall I tell you what I know? Huh, MIle.
Debenham, shall I? I know, because Fräulein Schmidt told me, that the Christian name of Princess Dragomiroff is She's Natalia.
And is it not so, Princess, that in the Russian alphabet the capital letter "N" is written like the Western letter "H"? So I know that there is more than just one connection with Daisy Armstrong on this train.
The godmother, the the aunt and the son to the prosecutor, who Poirot remembers from the papers ended his career in shame because he rigged the trial.
Cassetti's connections threatened to kill me his son if he didn't do what they asked.
W-What was he supposed to do? He was supposed to have ensured that justice was done in an open court, monsieur.
This girl did not murder that man.
Not in a frenzy, no.
This was a cold crime, was it not, MIle.
Debenham? One long in the planning.
But it was you, M.
Bouc, who first suggested to Poirot that only in America could such a society as this all be found together.
But maybe also in the house of a rich man in Long Island.
Because Ah.
Here we have the cook.
And that is Fräulein Schmidt, is it not so, Michel? Hmm? And next to her is your daughter, the French housemaid, MIle.
Francoise, who fell under the suspicion of the police for her complicity in the death of Daisy Armstrong but who actually was innocent, eh, and committed suicide.
Signor Foscarelli, what were you? - The chauffeur? - The chauffeur.
And also the lover to MIle.
Francoise.
All she did was talk to a stranger in a shop.
She let slip some details about the house, what time the nursemaid took off.
She didn't know she was talking to a man like Cassetti.
Yes, and all this in 1933.
Five years ago.
How long have you been with Jesus, MIle.
Ohlsson? Five years I have been with him.
So Poirot, he suspects that you were that nursemaid.
Some crimes God does not forgive.
And you, MIle.
Debenham.
The professional governess, eh? With paralysis down one side of your body.
How, I wonder, could you possibly have sustained such an injury? At first I thought that you, M.
Masterman, you were the butler to the Armstrong household, but no.
Then I observed how familiar the Colonel Arbuthnot was with you.
And now I believe you served together in the army, alongside the Colonel Armstrong.
Teddy was his batman throughout the war.
He was the best of gentlemen.
And he was my closest friend.
[Chuckles.]
And then Linda Arden.
So famous that there was a danger of you being recognized if you were to board the train as yourself, eh? You even fooled Poirot.
And 12 wounds in the body of Cassetti.
But I do believe that the Count Andrenyi was a man of honor, and his wife had been protected and was not involved in the killing, and took her Trional as he had said.
That's correct.
So who, then, was the 12th? Could it possibly be the man who tried to deflect Poirot at every turn? That is how the killer must have left.
The obstetrician from America who Poirot suspects counted among his clients a family on Long Island, and who he watched how they suffered.
We have Miss Debenham to thank for our plan.
It was her fortitude that brought us all together and channeled our determination.
The plan had great beauty.
Cassetti's whiskey was drugged so that he was awake but could not react to anything.
We needed him to know of his execution.
[Groaning softly.]
[Glass breaks.]
Aaaaaaaaaah! [Knock on door.]
MICHEL: Mr.
Ratchett? Mr.
Ratchett, is everything all right? Ce n'est rien.
Je me suis trompé.
DRAGOMIROFF: After you had heard that, all we needed was for you to go to sleep, M.
Poirot.
[Breathing heavily.]
I could tell you who we are.
[Gasping softly.]
But all you need to know, is that the people that you killed are all in heaven, Mr.
Cassetti, while you are going to hell.
[Groaning.]
That baby must have been so scared when you killed her.
Did you not think that we would not search the world to get justice for those good people that we loved? [Sighs.]
So the whole business of this trip The berth bought for a "Mr.
Harris" so no outsider bought it.
The red kimono.
The watch! All but a farce, was it not, Linda Arden, to make the mockery of Poirot?! You were our first piece of bad luck.
And then the snow, which meant we couldn't get to Brod.
But how will the assassin leave the carriage? Just through the window.
Yes.
Yes, he could have tried to go through my room, and I've I've woken up and he's had to come back in here.
You people! With your kangaroo jury, your kangaroo justice! You have no right to take the law into your own hands! [Crying.]
M.
Poirot.
She was 5 years old! ARDEN: We were good, civilized people.
And then evil get over the wall, and we looked to the law for justice.
And the law let us down.
No, no.
No, you behave like this, and we become just savages in the street! Where juries and executioners, they elect themselves! No, it is medieval! The rule of law, it must be held high! And if it falls, you pick it up and hold it even higher! For all society, all civilized people, will have nothing to shelter them if it is destroyed! There is a higher justice than the rule of law, monsieur.
Then you let God administer it, not you! And when he doesn't, when he creates a hell on earth for those wronged, when priests who are supposed to act in his name forgive what must never be forgiven? Jesus said let those without sin throw the first stone.
Oui.
Well, we were without sin, monsieur.
I was without sin.
When we get to Brod if we ever get to Brod let these good people go, monsieur.
Hand me over to the police.
My world has gone.
Let these people live.
Non.
ARBUTHNOT: The worst kind of murderer, Poirot! - Monsieur.
- The devil incarnate! You can't stand here and defend him to us.
You're as bad as a crook in the courthouse, sir.
Lock the door.
It is true, monsieur.
You can tell these people are good people that Cassetti that Cassetti, he deserved to be executed for what he did, and the world knows it was a travesty that he was not! Non! Lock the door! We can present the conductor's uniform to the police in Brod and let these people go free.
Non! MICHEL: What are you doing? I can't be seen here.
I won't be seen here.
ARDEN: Colonel We have assigned one murder to the assassin.
- We can assign two more.
- We are not murderers, Colonel.
Open the door! - Killing Cassetti was God's law.
- Open the door! If you kill them, you're no better than Cassetti! - Get out of my way! - No! No! No.
If we kill them, we will have become like gangsters, just protecting ourselves.
God knows how hard it will be to carry Cassetti's murder through our lives.
But how unconscionable will it be to carry murders that are wrong? I'm proud of you, John.
I'm proud of you for getting justice for your friend.
And I love you.
I love you.
But we don't do what is wrong, my darling.
We don't do what is wrong.
[Train whistle blowing in distance.]
[Men speaking French.]
[Train chugging.]
- [Knock on door.]
- DEBENHAM: Monsieur? - May I come through? - BOUC: Of course.
DEBENHAM: I have some tea.
- Can I take it to him? - Oh, yes.
Yes.
Can I ask if there will be police arriving with the snowplow? Yes.
They will be there, yes.
Princess Dragomiroff is making everyone tea on the stove.
One thing you didn't solve was where we hid the money we were going to give back to the Armstrong trust.
Non.
[Clears throat.]
But I think the princess put on much weight from one day to the next.
To have been so well insulated would have been useful last night.
You said of the woman in Istanbul that she knew the rules of her culture and knew what breaking them would mean.
So did Cassetti.
And so do you.
When you've been denied justice you are incomplete.
It feels that God has abandoned you in a stark place.
I asked God I think we all did what we should do.
And he said do what is right.
And I thought if I did, it would make me complete again.
And are you? But I did what was right.
[Men speaking native languages.]
The name of the captain is? Djavidatza.
Merci.
Capitaine.
As you know [Speaking indistinctly.]
I have here the uniform, Capitaine.
And in the committing of the murder, he left behind a button.
But Poirot has proved this to be false! At a quarter to 1:00 in the morning, you were seen over two miles away in the company of the woman who died! General, this is not a murder, as is suggested by the Palestinian police.
But I do believe that the lieutenant lied about his whereabouts first, out of panic.
And then by sticking to this lie, by reinforcing it with lie after lie, through weeks and weeks of deception, he has heaped suspicion and the deep shame on himself, his regiment, and his wife.
General, the neck of this woman was not broken by the human hand but by a fall.
You see here where her neck, it is broken in not one but two places.
MAN: Put it down! [Gunshot.]
my commanding officer has once more asked me to impress upon you his thanks for solving our regimental difficulty.
If I may speak out of turn, sir I think it unjust that one mistake cost Lieutenant Morris so dearly.
He was a good man who was involved in an accident.
Unjust? He made an error of judgment.
He was a good man.
It did not have to end in suicide.
I think he believed he had no choice.
Oh.
A man like your friend, lieutenant, always has choice.
And it was his choice to lie that brought him into difficulty with the law.
[Knock on door.]
- [Knock on door.]
- [Gun cocks.]
MACQUEEN: Mr.
Ratchett, sir.
The details have arrived for the Italian properties, sir.
Downstairs.
Very good, sir.
[People speaking Turkish.]
WOMAN: We're almost there.
Don't rush.
- What time is the train again? - Down here.
What time is it, John.
We mustn't miss it.
It's 9:00.
Don't worry.
No, don't.
When it's all over then.
- [People shouting in Turkish.]
- John? - What's happening? - What's happening? Hey.
Hey! Leave this woman alone! What's happening here? [Shouting continues.]
She's pregnant another man's child.
The husband wants justice.
- We can't What can we do? - Mary.
Come here! Come here, Mary! - No! - Mary.
John, stop them.
What will they do to her? [Woman screams.]
- No! - Mary! Mary! Mary, please.
Please.
Mary.
Here.
Come away.
[Woman screams.]
Welcome to the Tokatlian, monsieur.
Merci.
And may I inquire if you have for me any messages? CONCIERGE: You may, and you do, monsieur.
Merci.
I am so sorry, but I will have to cancel my reservation.
I am called back to London but immediately.
Of course.
And if you would be so kind as to book for me a passage tonight on the Orient Express.
- Of course, sir.
- Merci.
Leave that alone.
Leave that alone.
If I'd needed assistance, boy, I'd have asked for it.
BOUC: [French accent.]
Hercule Poirot? Hercule Poirot, this is you.
What are you doing in Istanbul? Monsieur, I I travel from Palestine to London.
So, uh, you will be traveling back on the Orient Express? - Oui.
Tonight.
- So am I! I am the director of the line, you see? Oh, but Pardon.
Of course.
It's M.
Bouc.
Forgive me.
Now I remember.
- BOUC: Of course you do.
I'm - Monsieur.
I am sorry, monsieur.
This evening the Calais coach on the Orient Express is fully booked.
- BOUC: Is it? - But I will travel tomorrow.
No, no, no.
There will be a berth for you, Poirot.
We keep things back.
There is always room.
It is my business, and you will be fine.
He's with me.
He's with me.
- Good evening.
- Bonsoir, monsieur.
Nummer acht.
- Fräulein Schmidt, bitte.
- Thank you.
[Coughs.]
And you are in number 14, Princess Dragomiroff.
- Merci, Michel.
- Je vous en prie.
Eh, Michel! Ah! Bonsoir, M.
Bouc.
It's such a pleasure to see you again.
Ladies.
I hear you are full up tonight.
Yeah, it's incredible.
The train is fully booked.
The whole world elects to travel tonight.
Well, this gentleman here is a personal friend, and he can have the number 16.
But the first class is fully booked.
Even what is held back.
You're in number one, of course, but I'm afraid I DEBENHAM: Sorry.
Good evening.
Thank you, ma'am.
Number 11, Miss Debenham.
- Thank you.
- Please.
I am Xavier Bouc, director of the line.
He's a famous man.
The Hercule Poirot? Yes.
And the company will not allow him to travel with the luggage! Can I help you, madam? Number 11? That's down the far end.
Is it only me, or is it criminally hot in here? I think it might just be you, madam.
Would you mind if we kept it shut? Has anyone seen who's trying to get on the train? BOUC: At Belgrade tomorrow there will be an extra coach from Athens which is likely to be half empty.
- Is that not so, Michel? - That is correct.
So I can move compartment then.
The only problem is with tonight.
Is there no second-class berth free? I will travel tomorrow.
It is not a problem.
Am I not too late, am I? No, madame.
L-It's just my connection was delayed because of snow on the Taurus Express.
The snow is getting hard from the east, monsieur.
Miss Ohlsson, you are in berth 10.
Thank you.
I always kiss my St.
Christopher.
I kiss for you too, monsieur.
This Mr.
Harris is not checked in.
MICHEL: In berth seven? No, not yet.
He's a friend of mine.
Well, it's too late, madame.
The barrier will be closed.
But who are you to commandeer Mr.
Harris's berth? I'm sure he'll be arriving very shortly.
He's just a little delayed.
Yes, I am the director of the Wagon-Lit Company, madame.
That is just who I am.
He's paid your company for a ticket, monsieur.
- That should be respected.
- Absolutely.
And he will be able to transfer it without extra cost.
- POIROT: Pardon, madame.
- MICHEL: Sorry, Mrs.
Hubbard.
HUBBARD: [Sighs.]
This is a scandal.
That's what it is.
BOUC: No, a scandal would be if your friend were here, and I didn't let him on.
In America it would be considered as such.
[Woman crying.]
Your settler, Mr.
Ratchett.
Yes? Mr.
Macqueen? - What's going on? - This is Mr.
Poirot.
He'll be staying here tonight, and tomorrow he'll be moved to his own compartment.
No.
No, no.
This is what has to happen, so this is what is happening.
Monsieur.
[Train whistle blowing.]
[Coughing.]
No, your suitcase is too big, isn't it? No, no, no.
No.
Just have to put it on the floor.
M.
Macqueen, may Poirot rearrange some of your toiletries to make room for me? - Lf you must.
- Merci.
[Crossing bell dinging.]
- Antonio Foscarelli.
- Masterman.
FOSCARELLl: Taking the top bunk.
Hope you don't mind.
[Coughs.]
Mr.
Ratchett requests your attention, if you will.
I'll get there.
Thank you.
[Grunts.]
[Sighs.]
Pardon, monsieur.
- Oh! - Excusez-moi.
I've been calling you now for 10 minutes.
And I said I was coming, sir.
What's your name? Why are you asking? Well, Calais is three days away.
It's a long trip.
Is that all right? Does it work? My name's Ratchett.
Mr.
Ratchett.
[Door closes.]
Are you all right, mademoiselle? Yes.
Yes, I'm fine.
Thank you.
Hercule Poirot.
Mary Debenham.
I've been, uh I've been teaching in Persia.
I'm on my way home.
Yes, I saw you this afternoon in the streets of Istanbul.
- You saw that? - Oui.
Well, you are not too distressed by what happened, I hope? Yes, of course, I am.
And distressed I could do nothing to help.
Aren't you? Oui, bien sor.
But Justice is is often upsetting to witness.
Justice? It's like the gallows in England.
But, uh, in another culture it is best not to intervene, mademoiselle.
The woman was adulterous.
She had not killed anyone.
No, but she had broken the rules, and she knew what that would mean.
What is it you do, monsieur? If you don't mind me asking.
S'il vous plait.
I also found it upsetting, eh? - It is not pleasant.
- [Door closes.]
I am a detective, MIle.
Ohlsson.
In the police? No.
Private.
Private detective.
Hercule Poirot? Very good.
Very good.
[Sniffs.]
Hercule Poirot.
[Knock on door.]
What can I do for you, sir? Shut the door.
[Door closes.]
I need to know the people on this carriage.
Whatever you know about them.
Where they're going.
Where they're from.
I'm sorry, sir, but company policy Shut up.
What do you know about them, boy? [Train whistle blows.]
WAITER: Monsieur, coffee.
Yes, sir, of course.
- Madame, your change.
- [Clinks.]
HUBBARD: No, no.
What's this? What's a What's a "drachma"? Apart from a way of clearing your throat.
My daughter, who Poirot! Poirot! No, no, no, no, no.
Come here, my friend.
Please.
It's the director's table, you know.
If the country changes, you won't be able to spend any of it.
BOUC: Please.
This is a Greek fellow called Constantine.
- How do you do? - He's, um - What are you again? - I am a doctor.
- An obstetrician.
- BOUC: That's right.
I've been in Ankara, and now I go back to America.
Hercule Poirot.
M.
Poirot, how would you like your eggs? Two.
Boiled.
And exactly the same size, s'il vous plait.
We are playing a game, Poirot, and you'll like this.
Where, apart from my train my transcontinental train would you find, um Hungarian diplomats Count and Countess Andreyni; wealthy American businessmen Don't look.
It's rude.
[Chuckles.]
A Russian princess being looked after every step of the way by her maidservant.
please, which is made with parsley and no more cooked than 30 seconds.
- Thank you.
- MICHEL: C'est bon.
Merci.
- BOUC: Italian bachelors.
- M.
Poirot.
BOUC: Young missionary women from Scandinavia.
- Merci.
- Les Belges.
[Chuckles.]
Um English stiff people.
All nations, all classes and everything that goes in between eating and sleeping under one roof? Oh, Poirot, he would suggest America.
BOUC: Absolutely.
The great melting pot.
It took Constantine four guesses.
And even then I had to tell him the answer.
That is not true, monsieur.
BOUC: Michel! Michel! Champagne.
And he lives there.
Champagne for everyone, with compliments of the Wagon-Lit Company.
Ladies and gentlemen, please.
Have a safe journey, and, uh And to your good health! Do you believe in God, Mr.
Poirot? I never used to, but I do now.
I think he's like an extra gun.
An extra piece of protection.
And I think we all need some extra protection sometimes, don't we? You're gonna take a job on for me.
Why do you need protecting on this train? Because there are people who know where I am, what I'm doing.
And what is that? Penance.
I need to give something back before I'm forgiven.
But I could be killed before I do it.
By whom? I'm a rich man, Mr.
Poirot.
I have enemies.
But I need to get to Calais.
You start now.
Non.
I do not play poker with you, monsieur.
Non.
COUNT ANDRENYl: You're okay.
You're okay.
- COUNTESS ANDRENYl: [Gasping.]
- Shh.
You're doing fine.
You're doing fine.
Sacré! [Indistinct talking.]
Is this Belgrade, monsieur? Yes, it is.
It is also very cold.
And I think I will get back on the train, if I may.
Oh.
I thought you were getting off here.
POIROT: No, no.
I saw the conductor moving your valise.
Yes, because from tonight I have my own compartment.
M.
Poirot, compartment number one is now ready for you, sir.
Merci, Michel.
Merci.
RATCHETT: Did you leave this on my bed? Did you leave this on my bed? MASTERMAN: No, sir.
What is it? What it is, is of no importance.
Did you leave this compartment unlocked or unattended at any time today? No, sir.
"No, sir.
" Neither of you gonna take any responsibility for this? Neither of you were aware that anyone was trying to break into my compartment today? So why do I pay you?! Get out! Macqueen? Get out.
Was it another threatening note? Of course it was.
ARBUTHNOT: Is there a problem? No.
Mr.
Macqueen Would you like a drink? Yes.
I could do with a drink.
Pardon me for all evil I have done this day.
Watch over me while I take my rest.
And deliver me from danger.
Amen.
[Train whistle blowing.]
[Shouting in French.]
Amen.
MAN: Aaaaaaaaaah! [Knock on door.]
MICHEL: Mr.
Ratchett? Mr.
Ratchett, is everything all right? MAN: Ce n'est rien.
Je me suis trompé.
[Shouting in French.]
[Shouting continues.]
[Speaks French.]
[Glass breaks.]
[Indistinct shouting.]
HUBBARD: The man was in my compartment.
He was standing there.
He was looking at me as I lay in bed.
He was hovering over me like like the angel of death.
MICHEL: Mrs.
Hubbard HUBBARD: Oh, don't "Mrs.
Hubbard" me, you French person.
MICHEL: Mrs.
Hubbard, I assure you, no one was in your compartment.
How do you know that? Were you here? Yes, Mrs.
Hubbard.
Good night.
- Michel? - Monsieur.
Another bottle of mineral water, s'il vous plait.
Bien sor.
And, Michel, is everything all right? It's It's Mrs.
Hubbard.
She's a fantasist.
She She thinks men are after her.
Blind men, if you ask me.
[Chuckles.]
And Michel? The train, it does not move.
No.
We have hit a snowdrift.
Once we were stranded for nine days.
But hopefully not this time, not for us.
Oui.
[Knock.]
[Match strikes.]
ARBUTHNOT: Do you know where we are? You! Do you know where we are? - [Knock on door.]
- BOUC: M.
Poirot, are you there? One minute, if you please.
- M.
Poirot, please! - [Knocking on door.]
One minute, if you please.
You must come.
If you please, sir! I said one minute! You must come, now! Please.
MACQUEEN: I thought we would need a doctor as well, monsieur.
I brought him his pick-me-up, sir, at the usual time.
But when he failed to respond, I I became concerned.
Has anything been touched? No.
Michel, has anything been touched? No, monsieur.
Doctor.
Poirot, we are in Yugoslavia.
This is not a good place to have a problem.
This is the backside of Europe.
This is the Wild West.
And I have a carriage full of civilized, intelligent, beautiful people who spend money and who will not want to be delayed here by a brutal police.
And they will delay them.
Forever.
He has been stabbed.
Maybe 15 times.
In a frenzy.
BOUC: This is a disaster.
So how long has he been dead? Maybe seven or eight hours.
So 12:00, 1:00? If the door was bolted, then that is how the killer must have left.
Poirot, on behalf of the Wagon-Lit Company, please, sort this out for me.
No, it should be left to the to the authorities.
No.
No, no, no.
The police here, they will not be in your class.
When we get to Brod, let the world-famous detective, the genius, tell the police what happened, and there will be minimum delay.
Because no one is going to want to travel on my train when they hear they'll get murdered in their bed.
It's my business.
Are all the passengers present this morning? Merci.
Vraiment merci.
Michel, are all the passengers at breakfast? Not yet, sir.
And is Poirot right in assuming that the Calais coach at night, it is made secure? Oh, yes, sir.
Oui.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
There is no way anyone could have got through to this coach from another part of the train.
Good.
Well, keep it locked.
No one in and no one out.
The time we were stopped by the snowdrift was what? - 2:00.
- Ah.
Because the murderer, he did not leave by this window as they hoped to suggest.
How do you know? Because there are no marks in the snow.
So the murderer must still be with us gentlemen.
On the train.
Now.
Princess Dragomiroff? All the passengers have been summoned to the lounge car, if you please.
Immediately.
M.
Bouc! I wish to make a complaint.
I will be of assistance to you in the lounge car, but not here, madame.
I don't want assistance.
I want to kick someone up the ass! How long are we going to be stuck here? Until a snowplow arrives, digs us out.
And I have no idea yet when that will be.
Only God knows that answer.
Well, I wish he'd stop keeping it to himself.
As I thought.
You say there are 15 stab wounds Dr.
Constantine? - Yes.
- But Poirot can count only 12.
Unless there are some others on his back? No, no.
So, uh, the murderer must have crept in, yes, and stabbed and stabbed with all his might.
You are not a police surgeon, are you? No.
What are you? You are - An obstetrician.
- Bon.
You see some of these are just scratches delivered with little force, eh? But here and here, delivered with strength.
These are the ones that killed him, Doctor.
Princess Dragomiroff, please! My lady is not dressed, monsieur.
I apologize, but you must come to the lounge car now, Princess.
What is the problem, monsieur? I'm waiting for you.
Outside.
Oh.
If I stand here as the murderer, I find the wounds, some of them, they have an angle that is suited to my right hand.
So But others, you see? Impossible.
They need my left.
We have a left.
We have a right.
We have a weak, and we have a strong.
So is Ratchett trying to tell us that he was murdered by two people? He knew he was vulnerable.
He knew he had to be on his guard.
Voilà .
BOUC: Please.
Please, sit down.
Ah Well, ladies and gentlemen, I have to tell you that last night one of your fellow passengers, Mr.
Ratchett, was, um was murdered.
- Murdered? - Yes.
The detective Hercule Poirot believes that the murderer is still on the train with us.
[Passengers gasp.]
So please So we have sealed the Calais coach, and we request you do not try to leave.
Of course M.
Poirot will be wanting to interview you all.
How was he murdered? With a knife.
POIROT: And what is that? Eh? The letter "H.
" Well, but maybe Poirot believes this.
In the ash, you see? The flat matches.
And here there is the flat match of Ratchett, but here is a match made of wood and a piece of paper that is burned.
So? So perhaps Poirot, he is correct when he suggests that the match made of wood, it was struck by someone else and the piece of paper was burned because it was in some way incriminating.
HUBBARD: Why do we have to stay in this car? I don't under Uh, ladies and gentlemen, M.
Poirot would like one of you ladies to lend him a hatbox.
POIROT: Merci.
My old grandfather had one of these for the wax mustache also.
POIROT: Now, if this piece of paper that is burned is indeed incriminating then I am going to try to resurrect what was written on it.
"Aisy Arms.
" What does it mean? Aisy? Aisy? BOUC: Aisy Arms.
POIROT: Merci.
I think it's nonsense, isn't it, Poirot? It doesn't mean anything.
I do not know yet.
BOUC: Poirot.
BOUC: [Speaking indistinctly.]
Here are the passengers' passports you requested, monsieur.
POIROT: Merci, Michel.
Oh, Michel, if you please to remain and talk to me about last night.
Hey, don't worry.
Sit down.
Poirot, Michel is not involved.
Since his wife died, he is married to the company.
He's our hardest worker.
Ah, Michel, your wife How did she die? Out of grief.
My daughter died, and my wife followed.
When was this, Michel? Well, it wasn't last night, was it? Leave the poor man alone.
MICHEL: It was a few years ago.
CONSTANTINE: Tell us of last night, Michel.
[Sighs.]
Well, we stopped at Vincovci a little late.
A quarter to 12:00.
POIROT: Did you get off the train? MICHEL: Yes, for a chat, but it was so cold I didn't stay.
Did anyone else get off the train from the Calais coach? Yes.
Mr.
Macqueen and Colonel Arbuthnot.
But again, they do not hang around.
And afterwards they were talking politics in the colonel's compartment until, um, 2:00 in the morning.
And then [Sighs.]
Mr.
Ratchett cried out at about half past 12:00.
MAN: Ce n'est rien.
Je me suis trompé.
I really thought he was just having a nightmare.
And then, um, 2:15, Mrs.
Hubbard HUBBARD: He was hovering over me like like the angel of death.
You remember, monsieur? Yes, of course.
Michel, did you see later a woman in a red kimono? Yes.
At maybe 2:00, 2:30.
I didn't see who she was 'cause she was walking away from me.
And from which compartment had she come? I didn't see.
Well, she did not perhaps return from the toilettes? No.
Merci.
- BOUC: Merci, Michel.
- Je vous en prie.
And next time you request a transfer to the Calais coach, I'm sure it won't be so dramatic.
For this trip you request a transfer? A former colleague of mine lives in Calais.
I was to visit him.
Yes, Michel normally does the Paris coach.
- Bien.
- Monsieur.
Did you like your employer? Oh, I do not find it necessary to like an employer.
Oh, but I do.
Did you know that he offered to me a job? And I did not like him.
Was he, in your opinion, a gentleman? Nothing of the kind.
But he had money.
Put a sewer rat in a suit, and he's still a sewer rat He's just in a suit.
BOUC: [Chuckles.]
Et alors last night you shared your compartment with Signor Foscarelli? And did you stay there all night? I read until 4:00 in the morning.
Because it was a good book, eh? Because of toothache.
So you know for a fact that Signor Foscarelli, he did not leave the compartment either last night? No.
He snored.
Does this mean anything to you? Is it an arms firm? Was he an arms dealer? I don't know the name of that firm.
I met Mr.
Ratchett when I was on my uppers in Iraq, we call it now, don't we? He needed a personal assistant who was good with languages, which I am, and he paid well.
And he could not speak the languages? Not a word.
A little pidgin Italian.
Which even Italian pigeons would have found hard to understand.
And where in America was his home? He never spoke of it.
He was thinking of buying in Napoli, but, well, I don't know whether he'd have been allowed to go there.
Allowed? I don't delude myself by thinking Mr.
Ratchett was not on the run, from something dark in America, that he wasn't trying to buy his way back into society.
He didn't know that I kept these.
Or that I knew we were going to Calais to pay that money back.
POIROT: To whom? Underworld? Mafia? But they've set him up, haven't they? Smoked him out onto the train with the money and settled his debts in the night.
CONSTANTINE: How much was in the suitcase? - MACQUEEN: Over $200,000.
- [Exhales sharply.]
I stayed in his employment because I needed money to get home.
The name Ratchett It is an alias.
If you please to follow me.
$200,000? A penance.
He told to me.
Something dark in America from where he is ostracized, and $200,000 blood money for which he had to atone.
[Passengers gasp.]
MICHEL: Don't worry.
POIROT: This is not Samuel Ratchett.
This is Lanfranco Cassetti who, for $200,000, kidnapped so notoriously from the home of her parents in Long Island, New York, the young child Daisy Armstrong.
This devil came for her.
And someone in the house tried to stop him, but they were hurt very badly.
Her parents paid the ransom money.
But young Daisy Armstrong she never returned home.
She had died Ionely, scared, at the hands of Cassetti less than one hour after he took her.
And after this discovery so terrible, Sonia Armstrong went into premature labor with a second baby she was carrying.
And, well, this baby, it did not live.
And neither did she.
Colonel Armstrong, his heart now broken beyond repair, could not bring himself to face another morning.
So four deaths at the hands of Cassetti.
Mais non.
Non, pardon.
Five.
Because the housemaid, who was French, I think, and whom the police were convinced had knowledge of this crime but was innocent, had also taken her own life in the police cell.
Cassetti was arrested.
But his Mafia family in Chicago had the prosecutors and judges in their pockets, and evidence, it was misplaced.
And Cassetti, he walked away.
Free.
Excuse me, but isn't anyone going interview me about the events of last night? I happen to have seen the murderer.
Quoi? Ladies and gentlemen, please.
First, I really want to apologize for the lights, but we are seeing to it now.
In the meantime, um, a scarlet negligee is key to solving the murder.
Negligee? So So I will need all your suitcase keys, please.
Poirot has just identified Samuel Ratchett as Lanfranco Cassetti.
Cassetti? BOUC: Yes.
Yes, that's right.
The The notorious murderer.
- And l-I don't know what to do.
- What do you mean, Mr.
Macqueen? My father was the D.
A.
In the Cassetti case.
He was the prosecutor.
There is a link now between my name Macqueen and the murder.
It's only a matter of time before Poirot remembers this from the papers.
He has an encyclopedic knowledge of Cassetti's crime.
So, uh, you knew Cassetti? But you didn't recognize him when you worked for him, did you? And the detective is going to believe that? If it is the truth.
Is that not right, M.
Bouc? Oh, yes.
Yes.
Absolutely right.
Poirot is all about the truth.
I was lying there.
Lie here like me, Dr.
Constantine.
- Uh - Lie down.
Yes.
Now open your eyes.
He was standing here.
A dark figure.
- Could you make out his face? - I couldn't.
Then how do you know it was a man? [Chuckles.]
If you've lived the life I have, Inspector, you know when there's a man in your bedroom.
Do you know what I'm getting at, Doctor? - Y-Yes, I do.
- What happened next? I closed my eyes and pressed for the conductor.
And your visitor, where did he go? He went back through here.
Madame, why is it that you had not bolted the door between your compartments? I had.
Madame Hubbard, in your life in America, were you acquainted with the family of the young Daisy Armstrong? Well, I'd heard of their tragedy, of course.
But they were of the highest society, and I am not.
This man is the man who murdered Daisy Armstrong.
Well, if I'd known that, then, like any American mother, I'd have ripped the bastard's heart out.
Pardon my French.
POIROT: It is indeed a French word.
CONSTANTINE: What's this? It's a button.
From a conductor's uniform.
What is it doing here? If If Michel is not missing a button, then It certainly wasn't here yesterday.
Then it must be the assassin's, surely.
Maybe Maybe he could have got on on at Vincovci yes, yes disguised as a conductor, then into Mrs.
Hubbard's compartment with a stolen pass key, and left in the kimono.
[Chuckles.]
He got all this from a button.
Well, we know Cassetti was alive at half past 12:00 because he called out to Michel, "Ce n'est rien.
" Non, non.
Non.
M.
Cassetti, he could not speak French, which is why M.
Macqueen worked for him.
Brilliant! Brilliant, monsieur! So that must have been the voice of the assassin.
Which fits with the watch and the time of death.
No, but there were at least two murderers.
Well, he he could have just stabbed like a crazy man.
Left hand, right hand.
It is all coming together in my mind.
I'm very pleased for you, monsieur.
[Men speaking French.]
This is the Mafia the Mafia for sure.
The knife It is the Italian way.
They want the money, and there will be a thing about revenge for some reason.
- It makes sense.
- Of course it does! Let me ask you something.
Who is Italian on this train? Who has been in America? Huh? Signor Foscarelli.
So you share with MIle.
Debenham in berths 10 and 11? Ja.
That Englishwoman does not pray.
I prayed she needs to pray.
Neither of you left the compartment last night? Nej.
You have been to America? Oh, ja.
America.
That is right.
To work? To speak.
For Jesus.
To raise funds for the mission in India.
Of course.
To help the children.
Poirot, the money, it has either been spent which I can assure you it hasn't or it's not on S'il vous plait mademoiselle? You are Catholique? Oh, no.
I prayed for Catholics.
Because they have it all wrong, don't they? - Miss Ohlsson - In what way? The Catholic penance and forgiveness is false, isn't it, M.
Poirot? Because there are certain things that God will never forgive? Ja.
Like when you violate his law? Ja.
Violence against children.
Violence against the children.
This man who is dead Maybe God came last night on this train and refused to forgive.
You have been religious a long time? I saw Jesus who protects me now, as I protect the children.
Five years ago.
Five years I have been with him.
And I'm sure he's enjoyed every moment.
Well, Poirot.
No money.
No satin negligee.
Kimono.
Unless the Princess Dragomiroff wears negligees, which I think unlikely.
- Don't you, Doctor? - I do.
Kimono.
Have you seen the outfit she's wearing today? Pbbt! It's enormous.
She waddles down the corridor like the battleship Bismarck.
Well, however, I know who did the murder.
This Cassetti trial It must have brought the press, the FBI, down heavily on the Mafia, hurt their interests which they hate so they put one of them on the train, give him a knife, and and get payback.
Signor Foscarelli.
How unfortunate, then, that the English valet has the toothache and knows that Signor Foscarelli did not leave his compartment all night.
On the night of the murder, monsieur, my maid read to me until 11:00.
And you slept through till the morning? No.
At 20 to 1:00 I rang for the conductor to call Fräulein Schmidt, as I had not settled, and I requested a massage.
POIROT: Ah, oui.
I left her asleep at half past 2:00.
I gave my lady a massage and read more Goethe.
And you did not hear anything untoward in the carriage? That is correct.
Princess Dragomiroff, were you acquainted with the family of Daisy Armstrong? - Yes.
- My lady.
Hildegarde, please.
Leave.
I stayed many times at the Armstrong house on Long Island, as I was privileged to be the godmother of Daisy's mother, Sonia.
Sonia was the daughter of the great tragic actress Linda Arden, of whom I had been an admirer for many decades.
Yeah, if my memory is correct, Linda Arden, it was a stage name, oui? Taken from the Shakespeare.
So, what was her actual name? The name was Waterstone.
Ah, yes, I am remembering now.
Linda Arden, she had two daughters Sonia Armstrong, oui, and also a younger daughter.
You are correct.
Do you know what happened to this younger daughter? Mm, she married someone, somewhere.
I do not know what happened to her.
You know it is Lanfranco Cassetti who has been murdered? Monsieur, if I had recognized that man, do you know what I should have liked to have done? I should have liked to have called my servants, flogged this man to death, and throw him on the rubbish heap.
That is what was done with such a man when I was young, monsieur.
Make no mistake.
I would have stabbed him as he slept and been proud to confess.
FOSCARELLl: Monsieur? Poirot.
Poirot.
Do you think she did it? No, that woman was frail.
She would not have the strength - Monsieur? - Signor Foscarelli.
I hear talk of the Mafia being responsible.
BOUC: Yes.
Yes, that's true.
I was talking to the gentleman.
Monsieur, not all Italian-Americans are Mafia.
Most of us spit on them.
Now, I'm in the motor trade.
I'm a good salesman.
But it's hard to be trusted when you're Italian.
Men like Cassetti, they make people hate us.
Monsieur, if these gangsters are involved, do not mess with them.
Understand me? For they are ruthless to anyone, anyone who crosses them, and you are no exception! - You understand that? - Hey, is that a threat? It is advice, monsieur.
Merci.
- [Knock on door.]
- Come in.
BOUC: How dare you threaten M.
Poirot? The water.
The water is not working.
- I wasn't threatening anybody.
- SCHMIDT: What is happening? Fräulein Schmidt, does this belong to your lady? No.
- She's Natalia.
- Ah.
It's her style but not her initial.
Merci.
And tell to me if you please Were you also the frequent visitor to the Armstrong house in Long Island? Yes.
No.
I knew the Long Island home, but I've worked at an adjacent property, another family.
That was how I met my lady.
And you are a good cook, eh? Yes.
[Laughs.]
All my ladies have said that.
Bon.
N-No.
I'm a maid.
Ah, forgive me, but you appear to be more expert in the food.
which is made with parsley and no more cooked than 30 seconds.
No.
I'm a lady's maid.
The reason The reason I'm so nervous, monsieur, and get things wrong is that I saw the murderer.
I saw him with my eyes when I finished my lady's massage.
I came out of the compartment and passed a lady in a kimono, but she had a man's face.
I also saw her.
And, well, she looked like a woman from the back.
No.
A man.
Ja? So when did you see him? Because I did not notice you when I saw him.
Um At 2:30.
And can you describe him? He was small, round, and dark.
And when I heard his voice as he said "pardon," it was a woman's voice weak like a woman.
Merci.
There is no power, no power at all.
And it will be minus-10 degrees tonight.
And they cannot get here with the plow until the morning.
MICHEL: What are you doing? - BOUC: How will they cook food? - MICHEL: Hey.
- BOUC: How will we stay warm? - All his buttons are here.
And sewn with old thread, so this button must have come from a second uniform, Poirot.
Well, so who do you want me to call now? Miss Debenham? Non, non, non, non.
Not MIle.
Debenham.
Not yet.
Last night, Count Andrenyi, I saw you and your wife trying to disembark at Belgrade.
My wife can be claustrophobic.
It is difficult for her on the train.
No.
Last night she took a draft of Trional.
My word of honor.
I did not question your honor.
I am afraid, Poirot, neither of us can be of use to you in this sad investigation.
Non, monsieur.
COUNT ANDRENYl: I spent two years in Washington at a posting to the embassy.
You were there five years ago, I see.
Yes.
I remember the Armstrong murder in the papers, if that's what you're alluding to.
So this spot of grease is the result of an official who was careless, eh? Why does she have to write her name? S'il vous plait, as it appears in the passport.
Merci.
Doctor, what is the latest? The German maid said she saw the murderer.
Gave Poirot a description.
DEBENHAM: Why have you not yet questioned me, monsieur? MIle.
Debenham, why do you and Colonel Arbuthnot pretend not to know each other when it was quite clear in Istanbul that you were intimate? No, don't.
When it's all over then.
When what was all over, huh? Hmm? What? - I'm not at liberty to say.
- Oh, liberty.
Mademoiselle, you will give me a good answer.
Or when the Yugoslav police arrive, you will not be at liberty.
- Now, give me an answer.
- Steady on, Poirot.
I am not at liberty to tell you.
POIROT: Mademoiselle, do not cross me.
A murder has been committed, and I have seen you behaving suspiciously both before and after the crime took place.
- You leave her alone! - John.
- Sir.
- Teddy, sit down.
POIROT: Colonel Arbuthnot.
Maybe you can explain what was meant by her words.
I met Miss Debenham in Baghdad.
She was a governess in a house of an AOC, a friend of mine.
And you fell in love? Yes.
HUBBARD: What is it with these men who go around falling in love with the staff? Will you shut up? Why the secrecy? I am currently suing my unfaithful wife of 20 years for divorce.
In English law, if she sees me with another woman, then she can sue me.
Can't believe I'm telling you people this.
If that happens, I will lose my house, my reputation, my commission.
"When it's all over," Miss Debenham said.
When the divorce is all over.
When that is behind us.
Colonel, in all your years of service, did you know Colonel Armstrong, father to the young Daisy Armstrong? By reputation, yes.
He was a fine man.
Military Cross.
Passchendaele.
Now, you listen, Poirot.
By all accounts, this man deserved to die last night.
But I would have been happier if he'd been convicted by a jury.
POIROT: I see.
The civilized way.
[Knock on door, door opens.]
Poirot, I have moved the little gas stove from the galley to the lounge, and, well, I propose we should stay there for the night.
Bon.
Gather them all there.
M.
Bouc, I have been thinking of the theory of Dr.
Constantine, of the assassin who got on disguised as a conductor.
Yes.
At Vincovci, yes.
And the uniform of this conductor must have been discarded somewhere.
And Poirot, he thinks he knows where.
It must be amongst the possessions of the one person it could not possibly be.
The witness who says she saw the assassin.
Fräulein Schmidt.
Do you have the button he lost? Oh, yes.
Please.
Bon.
Please to keep watch.
[Singing in Swedish.]
[Sighs.]
[Singing continues.]
Monsieur, I found this in my sponge bag.
It's certainly the kind of knife that would have made the wounds.
Oui.
He must have hidden it in my sponge bag when he passed through my compartment.
That must be the case.
I think it proper to save my conclusions for the police at Brod.
[Crying.]
But when I sleep, I I see his face.
I can't keep his face out of my mind.
- Mary, please.
- It's all right.
She sees the face of the man she saw last night.
The murderer.
Full of anger, like like he wants to kill you? SCHMIDT: I see his face.
Was he still wearing his red kimono? This murder, it would have been perfect, eh? If it had not been for the snowdrift.
Is that not so, Fräulein Schmidt? I think that there are two solutions to this murder.
In the first, the Mafia assassin gets on the train at Vincovci, off at Brod with the money, Cassetti killed.
But one or two of you notice a different conductor in the corridor, notify the police.
But the assassin would have gone.
Vanished.
But because of the delay, there had to be an improvisation.
And so a second solution proposes itself to me.
Elena Wasserstein.
With a careless smudge on "Elena.
" COUNTESS ANDRENYl: Oui.
Enough, eh? Because maybe maybe Poirot should not be looking at your first name but your second Countess Wasserstein.
Waterstone.
The family name to Sonia Armstrong and her younger sister, Helena.
My wife does not understand English.
Let's stop this right now.
Yes.
Let us stop this.
You had the handkerchief with an "H.
" That would have pointed to me.
And you would have found my connection to Daisy.
- Your niece.
- My sweet niece.
This girl hasn't done anything wrong.
You know nothing, monsieur.
You don't touch her.
Shall I tell you what I know? Huh, MIle.
Debenham, shall I? I know, because Fräulein Schmidt told me, that the Christian name of Princess Dragomiroff is She's Natalia.
And is it not so, Princess, that in the Russian alphabet the capital letter "N" is written like the Western letter "H"? So I know that there is more than just one connection with Daisy Armstrong on this train.
The godmother, the the aunt and the son to the prosecutor, who Poirot remembers from the papers ended his career in shame because he rigged the trial.
Cassetti's connections threatened to kill me his son if he didn't do what they asked.
W-What was he supposed to do? He was supposed to have ensured that justice was done in an open court, monsieur.
This girl did not murder that man.
Not in a frenzy, no.
This was a cold crime, was it not, MIle.
Debenham? One long in the planning.
But it was you, M.
Bouc, who first suggested to Poirot that only in America could such a society as this all be found together.
But maybe also in the house of a rich man in Long Island.
Because Ah.
Here we have the cook.
And that is Fräulein Schmidt, is it not so, Michel? Hmm? And next to her is your daughter, the French housemaid, MIle.
Francoise, who fell under the suspicion of the police for her complicity in the death of Daisy Armstrong but who actually was innocent, eh, and committed suicide.
Signor Foscarelli, what were you? - The chauffeur? - The chauffeur.
And also the lover to MIle.
Francoise.
All she did was talk to a stranger in a shop.
She let slip some details about the house, what time the nursemaid took off.
She didn't know she was talking to a man like Cassetti.
Yes, and all this in 1933.
Five years ago.
How long have you been with Jesus, MIle.
Ohlsson? Five years I have been with him.
So Poirot, he suspects that you were that nursemaid.
Some crimes God does not forgive.
And you, MIle.
Debenham.
The professional governess, eh? With paralysis down one side of your body.
How, I wonder, could you possibly have sustained such an injury? At first I thought that you, M.
Masterman, you were the butler to the Armstrong household, but no.
Then I observed how familiar the Colonel Arbuthnot was with you.
And now I believe you served together in the army, alongside the Colonel Armstrong.
Teddy was his batman throughout the war.
He was the best of gentlemen.
And he was my closest friend.
[Chuckles.]
And then Linda Arden.
So famous that there was a danger of you being recognized if you were to board the train as yourself, eh? You even fooled Poirot.
And 12 wounds in the body of Cassetti.
But I do believe that the Count Andrenyi was a man of honor, and his wife had been protected and was not involved in the killing, and took her Trional as he had said.
That's correct.
So who, then, was the 12th? Could it possibly be the man who tried to deflect Poirot at every turn? That is how the killer must have left.
The obstetrician from America who Poirot suspects counted among his clients a family on Long Island, and who he watched how they suffered.
We have Miss Debenham to thank for our plan.
It was her fortitude that brought us all together and channeled our determination.
The plan had great beauty.
Cassetti's whiskey was drugged so that he was awake but could not react to anything.
We needed him to know of his execution.
[Groaning softly.]
[Glass breaks.]
Aaaaaaaaaah! [Knock on door.]
MICHEL: Mr.
Ratchett? Mr.
Ratchett, is everything all right? Ce n'est rien.
Je me suis trompé.
DRAGOMIROFF: After you had heard that, all we needed was for you to go to sleep, M.
Poirot.
[Breathing heavily.]
I could tell you who we are.
[Gasping softly.]
But all you need to know, is that the people that you killed are all in heaven, Mr.
Cassetti, while you are going to hell.
[Groaning.]
That baby must have been so scared when you killed her.
Did you not think that we would not search the world to get justice for those good people that we loved? [Sighs.]
So the whole business of this trip The berth bought for a "Mr.
Harris" so no outsider bought it.
The red kimono.
The watch! All but a farce, was it not, Linda Arden, to make the mockery of Poirot?! You were our first piece of bad luck.
And then the snow, which meant we couldn't get to Brod.
But how will the assassin leave the carriage? Just through the window.
Yes.
Yes, he could have tried to go through my room, and I've I've woken up and he's had to come back in here.
You people! With your kangaroo jury, your kangaroo justice! You have no right to take the law into your own hands! [Crying.]
M.
Poirot.
She was 5 years old! ARDEN: We were good, civilized people.
And then evil get over the wall, and we looked to the law for justice.
And the law let us down.
No, no.
No, you behave like this, and we become just savages in the street! Where juries and executioners, they elect themselves! No, it is medieval! The rule of law, it must be held high! And if it falls, you pick it up and hold it even higher! For all society, all civilized people, will have nothing to shelter them if it is destroyed! There is a higher justice than the rule of law, monsieur.
Then you let God administer it, not you! And when he doesn't, when he creates a hell on earth for those wronged, when priests who are supposed to act in his name forgive what must never be forgiven? Jesus said let those without sin throw the first stone.
Oui.
Well, we were without sin, monsieur.
I was without sin.
When we get to Brod if we ever get to Brod let these good people go, monsieur.
Hand me over to the police.
My world has gone.
Let these people live.
Non.
ARBUTHNOT: The worst kind of murderer, Poirot! - Monsieur.
- The devil incarnate! You can't stand here and defend him to us.
You're as bad as a crook in the courthouse, sir.
Lock the door.
It is true, monsieur.
You can tell these people are good people that Cassetti that Cassetti, he deserved to be executed for what he did, and the world knows it was a travesty that he was not! Non! Lock the door! We can present the conductor's uniform to the police in Brod and let these people go free.
Non! MICHEL: What are you doing? I can't be seen here.
I won't be seen here.
ARDEN: Colonel We have assigned one murder to the assassin.
- We can assign two more.
- We are not murderers, Colonel.
Open the door! - Killing Cassetti was God's law.
- Open the door! If you kill them, you're no better than Cassetti! - Get out of my way! - No! No! No.
If we kill them, we will have become like gangsters, just protecting ourselves.
God knows how hard it will be to carry Cassetti's murder through our lives.
But how unconscionable will it be to carry murders that are wrong? I'm proud of you, John.
I'm proud of you for getting justice for your friend.
And I love you.
I love you.
But we don't do what is wrong, my darling.
We don't do what is wrong.
[Train whistle blowing in distance.]
[Men speaking French.]
[Train chugging.]
- [Knock on door.]
- DEBENHAM: Monsieur? - May I come through? - BOUC: Of course.
DEBENHAM: I have some tea.
- Can I take it to him? - Oh, yes.
Yes.
Can I ask if there will be police arriving with the snowplow? Yes.
They will be there, yes.
Princess Dragomiroff is making everyone tea on the stove.
One thing you didn't solve was where we hid the money we were going to give back to the Armstrong trust.
Non.
[Clears throat.]
But I think the princess put on much weight from one day to the next.
To have been so well insulated would have been useful last night.
You said of the woman in Istanbul that she knew the rules of her culture and knew what breaking them would mean.
So did Cassetti.
And so do you.
When you've been denied justice you are incomplete.
It feels that God has abandoned you in a stark place.
I asked God I think we all did what we should do.
And he said do what is right.
And I thought if I did, it would make me complete again.
And are you? But I did what was right.
[Men speaking native languages.]
The name of the captain is? Djavidatza.
Merci.
Capitaine.
As you know [Speaking indistinctly.]
I have here the uniform, Capitaine.
And in the committing of the murder, he left behind a button.