As twisty thrillers go, this conundrum can show even Sleuth a thing or two - and it's certainly a sight less stagy. The clues are all there, as the Ellery Queen books used to say. All you have to do is to sort the significant from the mass of insignificant. Not that one minds being told about the clues one missed - but it's rather humiliating to be actually shown them in flashback. So many things that one should have seen! The plot, written by Stephen Sondheim and actor Anthony Perkins, is as ingenious as any original cinematic work for years - and played to the hilt by a cast that also includes Joan Hackett, James Mason, Dyan Cannon and Richard Benjamin. Director Herbert Ross tends to explain things one too many times, but the sheer intricacy of it all is amazing. As a whodunit, it leaves Murder on the Orient Express standing in the station.

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