This weekend sees the release of A Haunting in Venice, the long-awaited third entry in Kenneth Branagh’s anthological reimagining of murder mystery icon Hercule Poirot. Both times Branagh has taken his stab at the character, the results have been infectiously enjoyable and wildly entertaining rides, and based on the early word, it sounds like his new entry delivers more of the same.

However, if you still haven’t had your Agatha Christie fix fulfilled by the end of this week, it’s the perfect time to revisit the Christie adaptation that arguably still remains the definitive imagining of the character – Sidney Lumet’s 1974 adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express.

Why Agatha Christie Has Endured
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Ever since the rise of mystery fiction in the early 20th century, Agatha Christie and her works have become ubiquitous with the “whodunnit” subgenre. Many of the tropes she originated with her Poirot novels, namely eclectic ensembles of murder suspects and subversions of expectations, are so commonplace nowadays that it’s become more of a twist if said tropes aren’t included.

And ever since its publication, Murder on the Orient Express has arguably become her most enduring work, as it codifies almost every single element one normally expects from a murder mystery and assembles them in a wildly entertaining package. In fact, the iconic final twist, that all the passengers on board the train were guilty of the titular murder, is so widely known that it’s now subject to parody.

Related: Exclusive: A Haunting in Venice Cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos on Capturing Agatha Christie’s Horror Vision

Similarly to how modern whodunnits incorporate social commentary on contemporary issues (most notably Rian Johnson’s Knives Out and Glass Onion), Christie often used her novels to comment on British and American social issues relevant to her time. Murder on the Orient Express was largely inspired by the 1932 kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh’s son, who was found dead even after the ransom was paid. The details of the case play a crucial role in the story regarding the identity of the murder victim and the motivation behind the killers.

Sidney Lumet’s direction wisely focuses on letting the mystery play out and speak for itself without letting unnecessary stylistic flourishes get in the way. The result is a film that works for the same reasons that Christie’s novel did: the case is involving and gripping, the characters are interesting, and the denouement raises fascinating questions about the nature of justice and vengeance.

A Pitch-Perfect Cast
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The other important factor that greatly benefits Murder on the Orient Express is its cast. With a story so widely known and imitated, it’s admittedly easy for any new reimaginings of the book to feel like rehashes without having much new to offer. Admittedly, as enjoyable as Branagh’s adaptation of the story was, it was mostly treading old territory.

Lumet’s wise solution to avoid falling into this trap was to rely on his cast; he filled the ensemble with famous names from the 1960s and 70s, such as Sean Connery, Lauren Bacall, Albert Finney, and Ingrid Bergman. Often, part of the fun of watching film murder mysteries is seeing recognizable faces interact with one another or play against type (this is another category in which Rian Johnson’s Benoit Blanc mysteries succeed wildly).

In particular, Albert Finney is a delight as Hercule Poirot, exuding an air of off-putting strangeness about him that the viewer can’t help but laugh at his inherent absurdity. However, Finney also brilliantly avoids making Poirot into a caricature, as he demonstrates the deep intelligence and insight that so defines Christie’s icon. Poirot, at his core, is a character both ridiculous and brilliant, and Finney captures both sides equally well.

And the rest of the cast is every bit as good. Lauren Bacall plays the ultimate brains behind the whole operation and flawlessly sells her transformation from an unreadable cipher into a criminal mastermind. Sean Connery is able to use his trademark suave charm in a completely different context and thus gives it a surprising air of menace. And Ingrid Bergman, playing a Swedish missionary in a performance for which she won a third Oscar, gives surprising sympathy even as her dubious ties to the case come to light.

Related: A Haunting in Venice Review: A Superb Murder Mystery That’s Legit Scary

Murder Mysteries Are Here to Stay
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It’s undeniable that the murder mystery genre has made a big comeback within the last decade. In addition to Kenneth Branagh’s revitalizing of Hercule Poirot, the whodunnit has also seen new life injected into it with the delightful Knives Out and Glass Onion and the brilliant true-crime TV satire Only Murders in the Building. And if early word is to be trusted, it seems as though A Haunting in Venice continues the genre’s resurgence.

Anyone itching to keep satisfying their murder mystery fix would be wise to revisit the 1974 Murder on the Orient Express. On one hand, seeing where so many staples of the genre were codified can allow one to gain a deeper understanding of the ins and outs of the whodunnit and why said staples became so widely imitated in the first place. And most importantly, even all these years later, it remains a wickedly fun and entertaining ride.