MURDER SHE SAID
UK, 1961, 87 minutes. Black and white.
Margaret Rutherford, Arthur Kennedy, Muriel Pavlow, James Robertson Justice, Thorley Walters, Charles Tingwell, Ronald Howard, Joan Hickson, Stringer Davis, Ronnie Raymond.
Directed by George Pollock.
Murder She Said is the first of four films directed by George Pollock with Margaret Rutherford as Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple. It is said that Agatha Christie was friends with Margaret Rutherford but visited the set and did not like her portrayal. Joan Hickson appears as a housekeeper – and was later to appear as Miss Marple in more than ten BBC productions including a remake of Murder She Said, based on the novel 4.50 From Paddington.
The film capitalises on Margaret Rutherford’s style – and she has many self-deprecating lines about her appearance and attractiveness and lack thereof. However, her husband, Stringer Davis, appears in this film as Mr Stringer, her collaborator in solving the murder mystery. He was to appear in the other Miss Marple films (and had appeared in many films with his wife).
The English cast is very good. Muriel Pavlow, always sympathetic, looks after her father, the ever-irascible James Robertson Justice. Charles Tingwell began his role as Inspector Craddock, continuing it through the other films.
The film shows Miss Marple glimpsing a murder in a passing train. The police do not listen to her. She sets about to solve the mystery – gaining employment at the house on the estate where the body was dragged. (The manager of the employment agency is a very young Richard Briers – fifteen years before The Good Life.)
The screenplay offers many suspects, brothers and sisters, a sinister gardener, a precocious young boy who lives at the house. However, the murderer is unmasked by Miss Marple (perhaps rather too suddenly).
Arthur Kennedy appears as the doctor who looks after the irascible lord of the manor and wants to marry his daughter.
Ron Goodwin’s jaunty score is also attractive, harpsichord-playing, and was used with variations for the other films as well. Very entertaining Agatha Christie.
1. The enjoyment of the film? The popularity of Miss Marple, her character, her methods? Margaret Rutherford impersonating Miss Marple? The murder, the murder mystery, suspects and clues?
2. The British atmosphere, the opening at the railway station, the train? Life in the village? The library? The grounds of the estate, the house, interiors? The realistic atmosphere? The impact of the musical score?
3. Miss Marple, her age, unmarried, being busy about many things? With Mr Stringer at the library? Watching the murder, the guard not believing her? Going out on her own investigations after Inspector Craddock listened to her but did not act? On the railway tracks, discovering where the body was taken, over the wall, the gardener? Her decision to go as a maid? The encounter at the employment agency? Her arrival, meeting Emma, Emma and her sympathy? Her father and his rumbustious attitudes and behaviour? Her work, her encountering Alexander? Teaming up with him? The golf clubs, hitting the ball so as to go to the stables, investigating the stables, finding the compact? At night, discovering the body? Ringing Mr Stringer, the police arrival? Her continued hovering? Making the meals, listening? The arsenic poisoning? Albert’s death? Harold’s death with the gun – suspected suicide? Her collaborations with Craddock? The information? Her getting the compact back? The setup, inviting the doctor in, his attempt to kill her, the explanations of what he had done? Solving the mystery? The humour of Ackenthorpe’s proposal at the end after his antagonism towards her?
4. Inspector Craddock, decent, not listening to Miss Marple, collaborating with her, the final setup, the solution?
5. The doctor, genial, at hand, helping Ackenthorpe, in love with Emma? Did the audience suspect him at all? Sufficient clues for him to be the villain? His murdering his wife, his plan to get the money by marrying Emma? Credible?
6. The members of the family, Alexander, his age, precocious, collaboration, cheeky? His father, the war hero, sympathetic? Wanting to borrow money, employing Emma to help him? Cedric, his bohemian background, taunting the others, watching Miss Marple? Harold and Albert, the meals with their father, his disdain of them? Their deaths?
7. Ackenthorpe, a typical James Robertson Justice performance – cranky, repartee, self-indulgent? The final proposal?
8. Murder mystery, victim, the explanation of who she was, the red herring with the letter to Emma, sufficient clues, suspects, explanations, the work of the police?
