Goofs

When the conductor's uniform is discovered in a suitcase, the hat changes positions between shots.

As Poirot goes to leave the car after announcing his solution to the murder, Pierre is shown opening the salon door, and holding it open as Poirot pauses in the doorway, turns and watches as the various passengers make toasts to one another. Pierre is the first to step up and raise a toast with his glass of champagne. But when all the toasts have been made, Poirot is shown still standing in the doorway, then turning to exit, even as Pierre (actually just his arm is visible, but it couldn't have been anyone else) is seen in the exact same position, still holding open the door for Poirot.

When Hercule Poirot is interviewing Edward Beddoes about Signor Foscarelli, the valet puts his glasses on twice in two successive shots.

When Poirot uses the hat box to decode the burnt paper, in one shot Poirot places his small burning lamp to his right. In the next shot, the lamp is in the center ready for the hat frames to be placed over it.

The train departs Istanbul with four cars: baggage car, restaurant car, sleeping car, and Pullman car. In the exterior establishing shot in the snowy mountains before arriving at Belgrade, there are only three cars attached, but in the shot of the train departing Belgrade, all four cars are again present.

The film uses a French Railways (SNCF) Class 230G locomotive, including at the departure from Istanbul Sirkeci station, but locomotives on the Orient Express were provided by each State Railway system, and were usually changed at national borders. Only the carriages, not the locomotives, would have worked right through between France and Turkey.

At the end of the prologue, the newspaper story "Daisy Found Slain" is seen in the corner of one page. A news story like that would be front page headlines around the world, not tucked away in the corner.

The doctor looks at the blood on the dagger and declares it to be human. It is impossible to determine what kind of blood one has without lab tests. All blood looks alike.

In the end credits, Wendy Hiller is credited as Wendy Miller.

In the opening credits Colin Blakely is credited as Colin Blankey.

How does the train still have electricity for so long after stopping? All the lights are on, but the generators produce energy only when train moves. Accumulators don't have enough energy to sustain all the consumption for such a long time. However, in the 1930s, Waukesha generators operating on propane came in to use. They provided dc power to charge the batteries.

When showing the theoretical re-creation of the murder, although Ratchett has been supposedly stabbed twelve times (confirmed by the doctor), only eleven stab wounds are actually shown (as the Count and Countess Andrenyi deliver their stab wound together, but only one stab is shown for both). This may, however, be explainable by the fact that it is a theoretical demonstration.

At the train station, the oriental women wearing kimonos are clearly made up as Japanese but can be heard speaking Cantonese.

Early on, when the Count and Countess walk past the window of the train car, the scenery outside moves vertically for a quick second, as only a film playing outside a set would do.

(at around 2h) When the rescue locomotive arrives to push the snow away, the snow is flowing smoothly like a liquid, some even floating in the air. It is obvious that the snow is really foam from soapy liquid.

Some of the extras who play beggars at the train station look directly at the camera and smile and laugh.

In Istanbul a muezzin is heard giving the standard Muslim azan (call to prayer) in Arabic: "Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!" However, the movie is set during the 1930s when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was in power. During this time, the Arabic azan was outlawed, and a Turkish one ("Tanri Uludur!") had to be used instead. After Atatürk's death in 1938, the law was repealed.

The British officer who escorts Poirot on the ferry thanks him for saving the honor of the British garrison in Jordan. The Kingdom of Jordan did not exist until 1946. In 1935 it was the Emirate of Transjordan.

The musicians in the restaurant in Istanbul are wearing fezzes. The film is set in 1935, ten years after Mustafa Kemal Atatürk banned the fez in Turkey.

The film takes place in 1935, but many of the extras (in the Turkish restaurant, at the railway station, etc.), and even actor Michael York (playing Count Andrenyi), have long, 1970s hairstyles.

The film takes place in 1935. Not only is the French locomotive incorrect, but it bears an SNCF number. The SNCF was not formed until 1938 when the French railways were nationalized.

When they found cassetti dead, there is a blue LED on the top. according to internet, blue LED was found around 1990. how come the movie release in 1974.

When Poirot sees the woman in the kimono passing by, the woman leaves through a door. When she closes the door, crew members are visible/reflected in the mirror panel of the closed door.

At the train station, Atatürk's (founder of independent and modern Turkey) poster is on the wall, but in the 1930s, Atatürk was alive and had great power. Posters of him were only put on the walls years after his death.

Whilst passengers are boarding the train, several different languages can be heard through the speakers where the train is going to stop: Sofia, Belgrade, Zagreb, Brod, Trieste. The city of Brod between Zagreb and Trieste is in Slovenia and not on the railway line. The train halt is at Slavonski Brod located between Belgrade and Zagreb.

Just after leaving Istanbul, the train is filmed running alongside a road (clearly filmed from some sort of road vehicle). During the course of this shot, the train passes a French milestone - white with a semi-circular yellow top.

During the interrogation of Colonel Arbuthnot, the reflection of a boom mic can be seen in the glass room divider behind the Colonel.

When Col. Arbuthnot is explaining his "relationship" with Miss Debenham, he refers to his wife as his "Memsahib". Except that he pronounces it the way it's spelled: "mehm-SAH-eeb". A real officer in the Indian Army would pronounce that word as "MEHM-sob".

When Poirot and Bianchi are discussing the Armstrong case, Poirot describes Colonel Armstrong as a "brave officer in the Scots Guards". Later, when interrogating Colonel Arbuthnot, Poirot says that Armstrong served in the Royal Scots. The Scots Guards and Royal Scots are different regiments.

Poirot frequently makes reference to "the night of the murder", as if it took place some time ago. However, the entirety of his investigation takes place the day after the murder, so it surely would be more natural for him to say "last night".

Ingrid Bergman was nearly 60 when she made the film. Her character is a very devout spinster. Yet her hair is entirely chestnut, without any gray.