Teaching With Film: Murder on the Orient Express

If you are using our Murder on the Orient Express Resource with your students, this introductory scene from the film is a great way to introduce the characters.

It's 9 minutes long but with limited dialogue and pupils should be reassured that they are not expected to understand every word. They should have a grid with the characters to identify and they should be looking for clues about them, not just in what they say but in what they wear, how they move, and in their interactions to other people.

The characters who appear (you may want to select only a few according to the class):

Biniamino Marquez, a Cuban-American businessman.
Pilar Estravados, the Spanish missionary.
Edward Ratchett, the American gangster.
Hector MacQueen, the gangster’s secretary.
Edward Masterman, Ratchett's  English butler.
Count and Countess Andrenyi, ballet dancers.
Pierre Michel, the French train conductor.
Bouc, the English train manager.
Hercule Poirot, the Belgian detective
Mary Debenham; the English governess
Caroline Hubbard, the rich American widow
Dr Arbuthnot, the military doctor. (just a glimpse)
Gerhard Hardman, the Austrian university professor.
Natalia Dragomiroff, the Russian princess.
Hildegarde Schmidt, the princess’s German servant.

For more about the characters, or, rather, "suspects", see the film's website.