Complete Synopsis

Murder On The Orient Express

A Complete Synopsis

Act One begins with a little girl being put to bed by her mother, father, and nanny. Just as she has fallen asleep, the shadowy figure of a man enters the room. The little girl screams as the man rips her from her bed. Her screams turn into a train whistle as the scene fades and Hercule Poirot takes the stage. Poirot, the famous detective, sets the scene of a tragic murder and the greatest case of his career, the murder on the Orient Express.

The audience is transported to a cafe in Istanbul at the Tokatlian Hotel. The Head Waiter escorts Poirot to a table in the crowded cafe, where Poirot overhears the conversation of a young couple. English beauty Mary Debenham and Scottish Colonel James Arbuthnot are anxiously bickering over being late for their train, the Orient Express. Mary seems keen to leave early and “get it over with”. Poirot’s interest is piqued, but he returns to his newspaper as the couple leave the cafe. As the two leave, Mrs. Hubbard, an outspoken, flamboyant American housewife enters the cafe. She begins to chat up Hector MacQueen, a nervous American assistant. As Poirot listens in to their conversation, he discovers that they too are headed to board the Orient Express. As the two exit to catch the train, Monsieur Bouc enters and taps Poirot on the shoulder. Poirot is overjoyed to see his old friend, as the two used to work together as detectives in Belgium. Bouc has since retired from the police force and now runs Wagon-Lit, a train company that runs the Orient Express. Bouc invites Poirot to join him on the Orient Express as Poirot heads to Scotland Yard. However, the Orient Express is unusually full for this time of year. There are no compartments available in first class. Bouc offers Poirot his own personal compartment and the two head off to board the train.

As the passengers board the train, we are reintroduced to Mary Debenham, Colonel Arbuthnot, Mrs. Hubbard, and Hector MacQueen. Joining them are Russian Princess Dragomiroff and her Swedish travelling companion Greta Ohlsson, Hungarian Countess Andrenyi, and brash American businessman Samuel Ratchett. As Michael the conductor greets them aboard the Orient Express, Poirot senses a great deal of tension among all of the passengers.

As the train begins speeding down the track, the snow outside becomes heavier and heavier. Ratchett corners Poirot and demands him to take on a case. Ratchett has been receiving threatening letters and offers Poirot $10,000 to track down the sender. Poirot refuses the case, offended by the bribe and taken aback when he sees that Ratchett has a gun on him for protection. Ratchett is incredibly displeased by Poirot’s answer and takes it out on the Countess who is passing by. When he won’t let her leave the train compartment, she slaps him hard across the face.

As the passengers are beginning to turn in for the evening, we see Poirot, Ratchett, and Mrs. Hubbard in their train compartments. Poirot and Ratchett are next door to each other and Mrs. Hubbard has an adjoining room to Ratchett. Mrs. Hubbard has had quite a bit to drink and begins to dance and sing at the top of her lungs. Ratchett becomes increasingly annoyed and demands that Michael should make Mrs. Hubbard pipe down. Mrs. Hubbard is not one to be told what to do, and proceeds to sing even louder.

Michael heads to his two-way radio, trying to make contact with the Belgrade Station, The snow is getting heavier by the minute and he is concerned the train will become trapped in the mountains. He makes contact with the station but the connection fails as the train hurtles further down the track towards the mountain pass. Mary and James sneak onto the observation deck as the rest of the passengers are tucked into their beds, They kiss passionately, but are abruptly interrupted by Hector MacQueen as he enters the deck. The train suddenly screeches to a halt as it hits a snowdrift. Hector rushes off to tell Michael as Mary and James resume kissing.

Elsewhere on the train, Mrs. Hubbard screams for help. Bouc rushes to her aid as Hubbard explains a man in uniform had just broken into her room. Bouc is skeptical of her accusation, but Mrs. Hubbard is adamant and insists she doesn’t feel safe on the train. Not wanting his train company to receive a bad review from Mrs. Hubbard, Bouc reluctantly agrees to investigate the mysterious man.

The next morning, all the passengers are greeting each other at breakfast in the dining car. Hector knocks on Ratchett’s door to bring him to breakfast, but there is no answer. Becoming more concerned, Hector, Bouc, Greta, and Poirot break down Ratchett’s door. They find Ratchett sitting up in his bed, his pajamas stained in blood. The rest of the guests rush into the room at the sound of Greta’s screams. Poirot begins to examine the crime scene. He finds eight stab wounds on Ratchett’s chest, a wine glass that has residue of drugs, an open window with no footprints in the snow, a pocket watch in his pajamas stopped at 1:15AM and a handkerchief with the initial H embroidered on it. Countess Andrenyi, formerly a doctor, assists Poirot in his investigation of the body, They discover that the stab wounds are very inconsistent. Some are quite deep while others are very shallow. In the ashtray beside the body, Poirot finds a partially burnt note. He deciphers that the note says “Remember little Daisy Armstrong”. Poirot, Bouc, and the Countess reminisce about the horrible murder case of Daisy Armstorng. A little girl who was kidnapped from her room and a ransom of $200 was paid to get her back. Unfortunately, little Daisy was not returned and was found dead in the woods near her house three days later. The police caught the man responsible, Bruno Cassetti, however he escaped prosecution because the evidence was tampered with. Poirot remembered that Hector had stated Ratchett was fleeing America and concludes that Ratchett was really Bruno Cassetti on the run from the Daisy Armstrong murder. Poirot demands Bouc to have all passengers return to their compartments and collect their passports as he investigates the murder.

Poirot begins his investigation by interrogating Princess Natalya Dragomiroff and Greta Ohlsson. Poirot has set the time of the murder between midnight and two o’clock. The Princess insists she was with Countess Andrenyi reading a book together during that time and Greta was with Miss Debenham chatting. During his investigation, Poirot discovers that the Princess is good friends with Linda Arden, the grandmother of Daisy Armstrong. The Princess reveals that Daisy was not the only one to die as a result of the murder. Daisy’s mother was pregnant with a second child and died in childbirth. Her father could not take the pain and ended his life. Their maid also took her own life after she was wrongfully accused of committing the kidnapping. For these reasons, Princess Dragomiroff has no sympathy for the murder of Bruno Cassetti.

Poirot moves on to investigate Hector MacQueen, Ratchett’s assistant. MacQueen seems to have no idea of Ratchett’s true identity and is outraged at the news. He reveals to Poirot that his father was the district attorney for the state of New York and was in charge of prosecuting Ratchett in the Armstrong case. MacQueen knew the Armstrong family personally, especially Daisy’s aunt Helena who went to graduate school to become a doctor and then moved to Europe after she married a European. He also knew of a governess that worked for the family. When Poirot asks about his alibi, Hector tells him he was with Mary and James on the observation deck, and then with Michael and a second conductor to tell them about the snowdrift. Poirot is confused as there is no second conductor on the Orient Express. Hector's description of the second conductor matches the description Mrs. Hubbard gave of the man who broke into her room. Poirot is not yet convinced that this second conductor really exists, but Mrs. Hubbard produces a button from her room that had fallen off of the mysterious man’s uniform. Mrs. Hubbard is adamant that she woke up at 1:15 to find the man in her room. Hubbard’s alibi for the time of the murder is that she was in her bed asleep until the mysterious man scared her. As Poirot is interrogating Mrs. Hubbard, Colonel Arbuthnot bursts into the room looking for Mary. He is very distressed that he cannot find her, given the circumstances of last night. Just then, a gunshot is heard offstage and Mary screams.

Act Two begins with Poirot and the passengers finding Mary Debenham in Ratchett’s room, shot in the arm. The Countess attends to Mary’s wound and Poirot begins to investigate the crime scene. Mary recounts her attack to Poirot. She had been rummaging through Mrs. Hubbard’s makeup bag looking for aspirin for a headache. But instead of finding aspirin, she found a knife covered in blood. She was frightened by the knife and backed into Ratchett’s room. She was startled by the body and screamed. Then she saw a man with a gun and doesn’t remember anything after that. Poirot retrieves the knife to test it for fingerprints as the other passengers speculate who could have shot Mary. Poirot is agitated and has all of the passengers separated to wait for further questioning. Michael tries to radio the closest town of Zagreb for help, but the snow is still obstructing their radio communication.

Poirot and Bouc have a tête-à-tête to try and review the facts of the case. Poirot is frustrated. Everytime he thinks he has figured out the case, the facts don’t add up! He is out of suspects and, now with another passenger shot, he is at his wit’s end. Poirot brings Mary in to question her about her attack privately. He confronts her about overhearing her conversation with James at the hotel cafe. She assures Poirot that she was just nervous about missing her train and that she had only met James a few days ago. She denies ever being to the States and that she works as a governess for a family in Istanbul. Poirot lets her go, but doesn’t believe a word she has told him. Mary and James are much too close to have only known each other for a few days and the gunshot wound on her arm is very close to her blouse, leading Poirot to believe Mary shot herself in the arm.

Michael is next to be questioned. The button Mrs. Hubbard found matches the buttons on Michael’s uniform, but he is not missing any buttons. He confirms that there is no second conductor working on the Orient Express and that the train is unusually full for this time of year. He also reveals that Miss Ohlsson and the Princess claim they also saw a second conductor this morning, bringing the total to 4 passengers who claim to have seen this mysterious man.

Poirot goes to the Princess and Greta’s room to investigate her suitcases. Poirot uncovers a conductor’s uniform in Greta’s suitcase that is missing a button. Poirot also finds a pass key that opens all the compartments on the train. Greta is hysterical, insisting she is not the murderer. Everyone is worked up over this new discovery and Bouc escorts them out of the carriage to calm down.

Poirot is increasingly concerned that he will not solve this case. He confides in Countess Andrenyi and begins to question her about the name on her passport. He discovers that her real name is Helena Goldenberg, and that she is the daughter of actress Linda Arden, the grandmother of Daisy Armstrong. She is Daisy’s aunt who studied medicine and moved to Europe after marrying a European. At this point, the Countess drops her Hungarian accent, revealing her American accent and denies murdering Cassetti, even though she is filled with rage.

Meanwhile, Bouc has finally managed to get a hold of the station in Zagreb and the authorities are on their way to assist the Orient Express. Poirot gathers all of the passengers in the dining car to reveal the findings of his investigation. The passengers are impatient and nervous to find out what Poirot has discovered. Poirot has a bit of a flair for the dramatic and asks if he can question James in front of the rest of the passengers. The Colonel is irritated, but agrees. He denies knowing Colonel Charles Armstrong personally or that Colonel Armstrong committed suicide after his daughter’s death. Poirot provokes James and announces that James and Colonel Armstrong were friends and fought on the northern frontier of the Indian war together. James explodes with anger and the other passengers try to calm him down. Poirot continues his speech, explaining how the original clues he found at the murder scene did not add up. There were too many confusing clues, purposely set to throw him off of the track of the killer. Now on a roll, Poirot dives into the real events of the murder of Bruno Cassetti.

The first clue that made Poirot suspicious was the fact that there were Hungarian, French, Russian, and Swedish passengers all on the same train leaving from Istanbul and a peculiar time of year. Once the violent murder was committed, the eight stab wounds on the body seemed to be of varing strengths. Then, he was offered a feast of clues by his fellow passengers, each more conflicting than the next. He also found Cassetti’s pocket watch in the pocket of his pajamas, set there intentionally to make Poirot believe that the time of the murder occured at 1:15AM, when every passenger had an alibi. Poirot announces that in fact Cassetti did not die until 2:00, when no passenger has an alibi. Poirot reveals the owner of the handkerchief is Princess Natalya. The embroidered H is actually an N in the Russian alphabet. Poirot also reveals to the passengers that Mary had shot herself in the arm. The passengers are confused as to why Mary would shoot herself, but Poirot insists that this makes total sense if she was totally committed to ensuring the success of a murder plot. Each of the passengers on the train other than Bouc and Poirot have a personal tie to the Armstrong family. Michael the conductor acted as an inside man to provide a uniform and a pass key to Cassetti’s room. His daughter was Suzanne, the maid to the Armstrong family who committed suicide after being a suspect in Daisy’s murder. Mrs. Hubbard is actually Linda Armstrong, the famous actress and grandmother to Daisy Armstrong; MacQueen’s father prosecuted the case; the Princess is a friend of the family; the Countess was Daisy’s aunt; Mary was Daisy’s governess; James was a friend of Daisy’s father; and Greta Ohlsson was Daisy’s nurse. All eight of the passengers took a turn stabbing Burno Cassetti as he lay drugged in his bed. Some of the killers were stronger than others. Some were left handed, while others were right handed. This is why the stab wounds didn’t match one another. They collectively decided to take justice into their own hands. Realizing the jig is up, James tries to defend their actions. He insists that Cassetti would have murdered again if they hadn’t put a stop to him. Poirot is irate, insisting that people cannot take justice into their own hands. Mrs. Hubbard comes clean about the plot and tries to persuade Poirot into letting everyone go. She believes justice has been served and if Poirot turns them into the police, even more lives will have been ruined by Bruno Cassetti. Bouc takes Hubbard’s side, saying that they can give the authorities the solution of the mysterious intruder who posed as a conductor and slipped away into the mountains. Poirot is morally conflicted. Ultimately, he agrees to let the passengers go and leaves the train.

In a final monologue, Poirot recounts how the passengers went on to live their lives. Poirot has never forgotten the events on the Orient Express and to this day, is unsure if he made the right decision letting everyone go. Haunted, Poirot questions his moral compass and sense of justice.