Murder, She Said (1961)

Waking from a doze in her train seat, Miss Jane Marple awakes in time to witness thru her window a young lady being strangled aboard a passing train. When she cries murder to the police, they suggest she was most likely only dreaming. Undaunted, she sets out to find the truth and to prove that she isn't indeed a dotty old spinster.

Directed by George Pollock, Murder She Said is adapted by David Osborn, David Pursall & Jack Seddon from the best selling book "4:50 From Paddington" (also published as What Mrs. McGillicudy Saw!) written by the legendary Agatha Christie. It stars Margaret Rutherford, Arthur Kennedy, Muriel Pavlow & James Robertson Justice.

Lets forget the book eh, and lets forget that Agatha Christie felt that Margaret Rutherford was wrong for the role of Miss. Jane Marple. How about we just view this delightful English mystery on its filmic terms? Rutherford is just lovely as Marple, putting her own classy stamp on the role, she was an instant hit and went on to make a further three Marple movies. It has all the classic elements for a Christie murder mystery. An odd family at a big foreboding residence {Ackenthorpe Hall} and sure enough there's something afoot here. Enter Rutherford's determined sleuther Miss. Marple as she enrols as housekeeper there and pokes around in search of clues. The suspense is built up, as is the mystery "who done it?" element, but the film never loses its sense of humour. Something that makes Rutherford's incarnation of Marple a joy to be involved with. Her play offs with James Robertson Justice's blustery old grump (Ackenthorpe), and wee Ronnie Raymond's Alexander are true high points in Pollock's movie.

Be it Marple or Poirot you know the formula at the heart of these murder mysteries. There are many adaptations to the screen of Christie's works, and for sure not all of them work. With that, Rutherford's tenure as Miss Marple probably ranks about middle tier in the pantheon. But that is still good enough for a jolly day of viewings, fun viewings that are propelled by the wonderful talent of Margaret Rutherford. 7.5/10

Margaret Rutherford was a scene-stealing, eccentric force of nature in all her movies, and I suspect in her stage roles as well. She had a shape like a sack of produce, a double chin that trembled with a life of its own, little eyes that could widen in shock or squint with suspicion and, when her characters were aroused, a forceful stride that took all before it. Her personality was simply unique. The only other actor I can think of who matched her in eccentricity, potential ham and acting skill was Alastair Sim, another memorable British screen presence.

In Murder She Said, Rutherford plays Agatha Christie's Miss Jane Marple. Rather, she plays Rutherford's Miss Jane Marple. She made four Marple films, but I doubt if anyone reading Christie's stories would ever have envisaged Rutherford in the part. Now, for many people, Marple is Rutherford. She's that strong a character.

Jane Marple is on a train when she looks out at another train passing by on the next track. In the window of one of the carriage rooms she sees, for a few moments, a woman being strangled. When she reports this and the police search the train at the next station and the area where Miss Marple says it happened, there is no body to be found. The trains were passing Ackenthorpe Hall, an estate run with a loud voice and an irascible temper by old Ackenthorpe (James Robertson Justice), a bed-ridden man who believes he's on his last legs and intends to keep his family, most of whom have their eyes on the estate, firmly in line. It's only a short while before Miss Marple decides to investigate Ackenthorpe Hall, where she believes the body must have been hidden. She manages to get herself hired as the maid, a position which frequently is vacant because of Ackenthorpe's rudeness. "There is one thing I cannot tolerate," he tells her as she stands in front of his bed in her maid's uniform, "and that is impertinence!" Miss Marple is having none of that. "Well, we should get on admirably," she says. "Neither can I!" She also must deal with a precocious grandson, young Alexander. "You know, it isn't just that you don't look like Jane Mansfield. You're not my idea of a maid, either," he tells her. "Well, quite honestly," she tells the kid, "I don't think you're everybody's idea of a boy." The only non-family members in the place appear to be Miss Marple, Dr. Paul Quimper (Arthur Kennedy), the housekeeper, Mrs. Kidder (Joan Hickson, who years later made a quieter and equally memorable Marple) and a surly groundsman. Needless to say, Miss Marple finds herself in the middle of clever dialogue and grave danger as she eventually discovers the motive for murder and unmasks the killer.

This is the first of the four Marple movies which starred Margaret Rutherford. The others are fun, but rely much more on Rutherford's personality. Murder She Said benefits not just from Rutherford, but from a clever, witty script, a mystery which plays reasonably fair and which is tough to solve, solid acting by the other players, especially Arthur Kennedy as the sincere but slightly ironic doctor who plans to marry Ackenthorpe's daughter and James Robertson Justice's Ackenthorpe. Justice specialized in blustering characters and few were better at it than he.

Margaret Rutherford was 71 when she made Murder She Said. She first began making movies when she was 44. Noel Coward wrote the part of Madam Arcadi, the spiritualist, for her when he created Blithe Spirit. She played the role in the 1945 movie version which starred Rex Harrison. If you can find the DVD, it's worth getting just for Coward's dialogue and Rutherford's way with it. And for a very satisfying time, pick of a copy of the VHS tape (there's no DVD yet) of The Happiest Days of Your Life. It's the only movie I'm aware of where Rutherford and Alastair Sim co-starred. It's a very funny film, and the two of them outdo themselves as they try to outdo each other.

The fourth one of the series, though I have taken them the wrong way. This is the first one. Margaret Rutherford was still trying her hand at the part and she apparently liked it and even enjoyed it. The murder is obnoxious. The murderer is unforeseen and absolutely vicious. It is pure greed with a good tinge of lust, the lust of the middle-aging man who wants to get some fresh flesh and cool blood, or is it hot actually? The murderer is of course the outsider who is intruding with the life of the people who are soon going to be his competitors, though by his own choice. So he finds it interesting to eliminate a few. But Margaret or is she Jane is or is it are looking after the business and protecting the innocent. The film is thus well done and well acted. But this one has, like the others, a special and unique knack and that knack comes from Alexander, the teenager. He is a brilliant little gentleman without any face hair yet, aristocratic enough to be funny and cultivated enough to be witty. And he is used wisely and his antics are just fun and fine. That's what I would call the Christie-an touch in that film and the director added a touch of his own in the real setting he worked on in London, the old Victoria Station that has been refurbished and cleaned up so much since then it does not have that quaint charm of 1961. It is true it will never be revolutionized by the Eurostar but it has changed so much already that we will never have it the way it was any more. Really entertaining if you like films that were not overloaded with special effects.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines