Teresa Reviews David Suchet on the Orient Express (2010)

Teresa reviews David Suchet on the Orient Express (2010) and wished there was more behind-the-scenes looks at how the train operates.

(c)2025 by Teresa Peschel

Is it entertaining? 4 Agathas

Five Agathas if you’re a major train buff.

Is it educational? 3 Agathas

My God, the amount of material they glossed over due to a serious lack of time, such as train logistics and identifying vintage film footage.

Read more of Teresa’s Agatha Christie movie reviews at Peschel Press.

Also, follow Teresa’s discussion of these movie on her podcast.

Let me state upfront that no matter what your feelings about documentaries are, this one is worth watching because it shows so dramatically what we, as a culture — especially in the U.S.! — lost when we decided everyone needed a car and governments poured billions into building roads instead of passenger railways. Then they spent billions more building airports and turning planes into buses in the sky.

What, you thought the car industry built the road system? The interstate highway? Vast bridges spanning mighty rivers? Hah! The car industry lobbied the federal government to build that network with your tax dollars because selling cars to the masses requires a decent road network. Dedicated bicyclists encouraged the first roads (true!) because they needed local networks of paved roads, and it ballooned from there. It’s convenient to drive, no question. But it’s crazy that I, a resident of Pennsylvania, cannot easily get from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh (just over 300 miles) without driving or flying.

There is no major passenger train system. There used to be. You’ll find freight lines aplenty but U. S. passenger trains are scarce. These were choices, abetted by the fact that the railroad barons were, at least in the U.S., their own worst enemies. They also vastly preferred hauling freight because freight doesn’t require comfortable seating and never complains.

Similarly, back in the late 1960s and early ’70s, decisions were made to turn luxury air travel into the equivalent of bus travel. Part of that decision was — you guessed it! — building airports with your tax dollars.

So when you gawk at David Suchet enjoying top-notch luxury travel onboard the Orient Express, something that has become such a high-end luxury product that you could take a month-long cruise and spend less money, recall that Agatha Christie thought nothing of taking the same train to Istanbul. And she did it more than once. She took the train everywhere. Lots of people did.

Trains used to move millions of people to their destinations and they did it fast and efficiently. In much of the world, they still do. Very little of it is like the Orient Express with palatial, named sleeping carriages, a fully-stocked bar car that never closes and a pianist to listen to while you swill cocktails, a dining car serving souffles (on a train!), round-the-clock concierge service, and cabin stewards to see to your every wish.

You’ll probably dine on wax-paper wrapped ham sandwiches and a bottle of overpriced water and sleep sitting up on your badly upholstered bench. Yet you’ll still arrive at your destination at the same time as whoever’s riding in the Pullman carriage enjoying fresh salmon and pomme lyonnaise on fine china, washing it down with champagne. You also won’t suffer jet lag because trains, while fast, travel at a more human pace.

You could also watch this documentary and recognize it as an hour-long advert for traveling on the Orient Express. Which it is! But again, remind yourself that back in the 1930s, a decade still within living memory, Agatha herself took this very same train. She was well-off but she wasn’t rolling in money like you need to be today.

Where the documentary falls down is it’s just too darned short. I know, I know. Train buff speaking here. My characters use trains in my fiction, and it was a thrill to see what I imagined made real before my eyes. David Suchet really rode onboard, walked down the passageway to reach the club car and the dining car, really did use the loo at the end of his luxury sleeping carriage, and really did get to drive the train through the Simplot tunnel linking Switzerland and Italy.

None of that was staged. It was real. He was a passenger. The most unreal aspect was getting to drive the train but then, he’s David Suchet. He had a film crew along, the documentary advertises the Orient Express, and, most importantly, the train’s engineer watched his every move like a hawk.

But what you don’t see is equally interesting. I don’t recall seeing maps of the train’s route from when he traveled onboard a British Pullman from Victoria Station to Folkestone, conveyed by a Rolls via the Chunnel to Calais, and on by train to Venice and Prague. An animated map showing his route would have been helpful as I’m not up on my geography.

Then there’s the train’s logistics. How many crewmembers are onboard? When and where do they sleep? Cruise ships must provide accommodations for crew and a luxury train must do the same. Why did they need to change engines at every national border? That didn’t make a lot of sense to me, although stopping at the borders does. Passports need to be checked. Does luggage need to be inspected at customs? No answer. The other reason for stopping must be to let passengers on and off, refresh or replace crew, and restock the bar car and the dining car.

The dining car, all by itself, was worth a documentary. How do you provide lavish, multi-course meals for dozens of people in a kitchen the size of a bathtub? While moving down the rails at high speed? How varied is the menu? How many guests can be seated? Was there only one dining car? Do the white-gloved waiters subtly move the diners along so tables can be cleared and more people seated? And how often does the kitchen need to be restocked? I’m guessing at virtually every planned stop because Suchet didn’t just eat in the dining car in his dinner jacket. He also had breakfast in bed at least twice. Somebody baked those pastries for the posh passengers.

Another lavish documentary could have been devoted just to the carriages themselves, each a stunning work of functional art. It’s remarkable that so many of them survived WWII and the aftermath. And survived the collapse of the company in the late 1970s. It’s equally remarkable how they were restored to their pristine beauty and yet are still used as rolling stock instead of being kept in train museums.

But alas, this documentary is short. To get a more complete train fix in your living room, you may need to watch Great British Railway Journeys (2010–date), hosted by Michael Portillo. That’s hundreds of hours long and he travels the length of the British Isles, riding trains and interviewing interesting locals. More importantly, one segment, Paignton to Tiverton (2020) takes place on the Dartmouth Steam Railway. Agatha used to take that train too, when she didn’t need to travel on the Orient Express. Michael Portillo interviews James Prichard and he gets a quick tour of Greenways.

You’ll enjoy your tour of the Orient Express but not nearly as much as David Suchet did.