I have recently watched Orient Express on DVD (one of the very few Romanian DVDs/VHS provided with English subtitles !), and wish to provide IMDb's readers with a few comments.
The film is not that bad as some might believe. Directorial effort by Sergiu Nicolaescu, screen-writing, and casting with some flaws. Sergiu Nicolaescu is known well for pictures such as: "Michael the Brave" (1970), "With Clean Hands" (1972), "The Immortals" (1974), "The Doom" (1976). "William the Conqueror" (1982), "The Mirror" (1993), "Cry of Redemption" (1996), many of them action and war films. I dare say "Orient Express" (2004) is one of his few attempts at making a "character" film, and he does better than with the his previous attempt: "The Last Night of Love" (1979) based on the novel bearing the same title by Romanian 20th century writer Camil Petrescu.
It is an interesting story, and I assume the novel by Tudor Teodorescu-Braniste upon which the script is based is even better, meaning more fully developed.
Good shooting and editing, good acting. For interior and exterior shooting nice choosing of the Moruzeni Castle located in the always very beautiful and fully forested Moldova.
At first glance it looks like Sergiu Nicolaescu as old prince Morudzi performs rather flat, however the character he plays is supposed to be flat with few emotional variations. Dan Bittman (a Romanian rock star) does well as young prince Morudzi. I liked Imola Kezdi ("Holtvágány 1973) as Ana Criveanu, who falls in love for the prince, and later on kills herself when rejected by the prince, although I had the feeling she did not look exactly like a 20 years old girl, as the script requires. Maia Morgenstern ("The Oak" - 1992, "Betrayal" - 1993, "Ulysses' Gaze" - 1995, Procust's Bed" 2001, "The Passion of Christ" 2004) is excellent as Amalia Frunzetti, the prince companion and mistress, though she does not look like 30 (Maia was 42 in 2004 when the film was made). Ioana Moldovan is an attractive woman, and perform well as Isabelle Benny, the prince's love interest while wondering as a young man in Paris, however, she looks more like a tramp, instead of the supposedly poor and simply dressed French girl.
In my opinion director and writer Sergiu Nicolaescu tag teaming with the screen writers (Ioan Carmazan, Corneliu Dragomirescu should have worked more at showing what else prince Morudzi did throughout his life besides traveling and gambling in Paris. It is not unthinkable, however, are playboy attitude, good look, and highly cultivate language enough for so many women to fall for him right away ? I would have also liked to see more about the neighborhood, the places and people living around the castle, which is something that would have allowed the viewer to get a better feel of the time (pre WW1). Last but not least, much more of that Moldavian (Romanian) mesmerizing music.
About the DVD release: rather effective (mostly true to the original Romanian script) and easy to follow English subtitles, however, the person who did the translation seemed to have used some kind of "didactic", Romanian-English Dictionary based equivalents for many Romanian idioms. A more "down-to-earth" British and American English was within reach.
Last, but not least: some viewers have a problem with Sergiu Nicolaescu having been a well-connected individual for a long time, and also with his currently being a Senator in the Romanian Parliament. How about the Mikhalkov brothers (Nikita and Andrej Michalkow-Kontschalowski), the famous Russian theater and film directors ? Very well-connected artists, whose father, Sergei Mikhalkov wrote the lyrics for National Anthem of the USSR, now the Russian Federation ! They did outstanding work.
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