Kino Lorber has just announced an upcoming 4K BluRay of MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS -- Sidney Lumet's Oscar winning 1974 film adaptation of the classic Agatha Christie story.
Amsel's poster art is a classic of its own, featuring the extensive ensemble cast positioned around the negative space that forms the blade of a dagger, and the titular luxury train as the hilt. It remains one of Amsel's most admired posters, and demonstrates his skill in creating clever compositions.
Indeed, Amsel could have patented his approach to handling so many faces, and doing it within the confines of all those actors' contracts and clauses. It would serve Amsel well again with the film's follow up, DEATH ON THE NILE.
Interesting to note about the new Kino Lorber release: it uses an earlier version of Amsel's artwork. Actress Lauren Bacall reportedly was not happy with her initial portrait, so Amsel redid it. You can compare the two versions here; the original art had Bacall only in full profile, while the modified art has Bacall in a more flattering 3/4 profile.
Here's an image I took of the original artwork when it was once up for auction, which features the Bacall revision:
Here are some preliminary sketches Amsel did for the piece:
Finally, here's a fun animated motion graphic we created for the film: