Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

Martin Balsam: Bianchi

Photos 

Quotes 

• Bianchi : You mean you saw the man? You can identify the murderer?

  Mrs. Hubbard : I mean nothing of the kind. I mean there was a man in my compartment last night. It was pitch dark, of course, and my eyes were closed in terror...

  Bianchi : Then how did you know it was a man?

  Mrs. Hubbard : Because I've enjoyed *very warm* relations with both my husbands.

  Bianchi : With your eyes closed?

  Mrs. Hubbard : That helped.

• Bianchi : Forgive me, ladies and gentlemen.

  Greta Ohlsson : Only God's forgiveness is important.

• Dr. Constantine : [referring to Pierre]  He had the means to do it. The passkey to Ratchett's room.

  Hercule Poirot : And a knife borrowed from the chef.

  Bianchi : With whom he was in league.

  Hercule Poirot : Which he plunged, repeatedly and without motive, into the body of his suitably astonished victim.

• [after the case has been concluded, Bianchi gives Poirot a quick hug in gratitude] 

  Bianchi : Hercule. I thank you.

  Hercule Poirot : My friend. Now I must go and wrestle with my report to the police and with my conscience.

• Hercule Poirot : Signor Bianchi, it is for you, as a director of the line, to choose the solution that we shall offer to the police at Brod. Though I confess... I am in two minds. I think the police at Brod would prefer the simplicity of the first solution.We have the uniform... to show the police.

  Bianchi : If we have the uniform, there must have been a man in it. So therefore, I elect the first solution.

• [the sound of a distant train whistle] 

  Bianchi : I fear that help is at hand. Even if it is only a working party with picks and shovels, we must make haste to complete this inquiry before we reach Brod. If it is an engine with a snowplow, our troubles will really begin.

  Dr. Constantine : Who's next?

  Hercule Poirot : Mrs. Hubbard.

  [Bianchi reacts as if his troubles HAVE already begun] 

  Bianchi : Oh, my God.

• Bianchi : Oh, yes, I know. We are both envious of the husband.

  Hercule Poirot : Is, eh, is the husband as British as his tweeds?

  Bianchi : Oh, heaven forbid, he's a hotblooded Hungarian. If you but look at his wife, he would cease to be a diplomat.

  Hercule Poirot : Thank God we are not young.

• Bianchi : Ah, for the pen of a Balzac. For three days all these people, these total strangers, meet in a single train whose engine controls their destiny.

• Bianchi : Why did you not ask her if she had been to America?

  Hercule Poirot : Because I did not need to.