“Murder on the Orient Express” A true masterpiece of Agatha Christie’s original movie *Note! Contains spoilers.

Is it fair or unfair as a mystery?

*There are descriptions about the true culprit, so we recommend watching the movie before reading this.

``Murder on the Orient Express'' is without a doubt a monumental masterpiece in the history of mystery novels. At the same time, it is a tricky work that is quite curveball for a full-fledged mystery novel. After all, the real culprits were all 12 suspects on the Orient Express.

Critics and fans have long debated whether this is a fair or unfair mystery. ``Knox's Ten Commandments,'' published by Ronald Knox in 1928, is well known as a basic rulebook for mystery novels, but it does not specifically mention the number of criminals, so if you follow it, it is fair. It turns out.

1. The culprit must appear at the beginning of the story. However, the reader must not be able to read the movements of his or her heart.

2. Supernatural abilities must not be used in detective methods.

3. There should not be more than one secret loophole/passage at the crime scene.

4. Undiscovered poisons and machines that require difficult scientific explanations must not be used in crimes.

5. Do not include "Chinese people" as main characters.

6. Detectives must not solve cases by chance or sixth sense.

7. The detective himself must not be the culprit, unless he is using a disguise to deceive the characters.

8. Detectives should not solve a problem by clues that they have not presented to the reader.

9. The detective's partner must make all his decisions known to the reader. Also, their intelligence must be slightly lower than that of the average reader.

10. Twins/two characters must be made known to the reader in advance.

"Murder on the Orient Express" (c) Photofest / Getty Images

On the other hand, mystery writer S.S. Van Dine's ``Twenty Rules for Detective Novel Etiquette'' states that ``No matter how many murders there are, there must be only one true culprit.'' Therefore, if you take that into account, it becomes unfair.

However, what made the film version of Murder on the Orient Express a masterpiece was not its fairness or consistency as a mystery. What Detective Poirot ultimately uncovers is not the alibi trick, but the ``emotions of sadness'' that the 12 passengers had hidden deep within their hearts. Because it is based on a revenge story like ``Ako Ronin'', this work breaks away from what Hitchcock called ``a kind of intellectual puzzle The Game'' and becomes a human drama full of ``emotion.'' It has been established as.

A courtroom drama unfolding on a train