This is a fun movie, and I recommend it with only two reservations which I'll get back to. Sean Connery rarely is in historic costume films (the only two that come to my mind was "The Red Tent" and the "Indian Jones" movie that he made, and they are set in fairly modern times - 1928 and the 1930s to be exact). He pulls off Edward Pierce with elegant aplomb, a brilliant and inventive gentleman thief who one roots for. Leslie-Anne Down is properly coquettish and sluttish when her goals require it. And Donald Sutherland is properly lovable as a successful pickpocket and thief (I loved his snapping his knuckles to make his hands more limber) who allies himself with Connery to carry off the theft. He also makes the most purple faced cholera corpse on film (you have to be there to understand why). <br /><br />The sense of the film setting is good too, from the vintage 1850 train and carriages to the use of Joseph Paxton's Crystal Palace in a scene. The original palace burned down in 1936, but the model (although it looks like a model) is a nice reminder of the time and place.<br /><br />Now my reservations: Michael Crichton's novel was an examination of the hypocrisy of Victorian England. Taking an actual 1855 robbery (probably the first really great theft committed on a train - of gold bullion needed in for the Crimean War), Crichton examined the existence of the very rich and privileged and the very, very poor in the slums. He looked at bordellos that the rich frequented, or the public executions. Much of this is in the film. Downs repelling the advances of the fat bank official in the train is an example, as is the public execution of a poisoner - the chant the "good people" yell as the woman is hanged, "Oh my, I think I have to die" is an actual chant used by the public at those occasions. But Crichton also notes the irony of the way the public attack the train thieves while embracing the idiots running the Crimean War that the gold was for. In the novel Pierce brings up the murderous James Brudenell in court. He refers to Lord Cardigan, the fool who led the Charge of the Light Brigade. The court rebukes Pierce. That is not in the movie.<br /><br />Secondly, in reality Pierce was more villainous than the film (and Connery) makes him. We do see Connery's character strangle Willie, the human fly who he used to steal one of the keys he needs. But Willie had "peached" on Connery and the gang to the police. In the actual case Pierce had cheated several of the others in the division of the spoils. He was better covered when the prison sentences were handed out (because he planned the crime, and the others performed it). The judge in the case, angry at how Pierce behaved, sentenced his one or two year sentence to solitary confinement - which is very hard on most prisoners. And he served the sentence - he did not escape the police as the film has it.<br /><br />Despite those reservations this is still a grand film to watch.