Murder She Said (1962)

That was an excellent one.

Just perfect...

Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Margaret Rutherford was the ultimate Miss Marple.Although the part has been played by several leading actresses Margaret has always been the very best although I must say Joan Hickson ran her pretty close.SPOILER BEGINSThe story starts when Miss Marple was on a train and another train travelling slightly faster was passing the train Jane Marple was on but in the same direction.She was looking at the passing train when a window blind shot up revealing a woman being strangled by a man.Jane obviously reported what she saw to the train conductor and also to the police, none of whom believed her.So she decides to investigate for herself and she gets a job at the hall where the body was probably hidden after being thrown from the train.SPOILER ENDSI'm not giving anything else away.The TV movie which starred Joan Hickson was called The 4.40 from Paddinton.Margaret Rutherford was her normal perfect and indomitable self in Murder She Said and I thoroughly recommend you watch this movie if only to discover why Margaret Rutherford was the true Jane Marple.

Yours truly is a real Agatha Christie junkie! I think she was one of the most brilliantly intelligent persons who ever lived, and if she had been any sexier my room would probably be filled with pictures of her! I read many of her novels and short stories, and evidently I watched a lot of films (acclaimed classics as well as cheap rip- offs), TV- series and mini-series that were adapted from her works. Until now I've always been reluctant to check out the quartet of movies that are directed by George Pollock and star Margaret Rutherford as Miss Jane Marple, simply because they look too much like out-and-out comedies rather than suspenseful and atmospheric murder mysteries. I never really considered Miss Marple to be a "funny" kind of protagonist. She's peculiar, eccentric, conservative, old-fashioned and maybe even somewhat asocial, but she never makes jokes or witty remarks. I certainly am not a sourpuss, but the idea of this introvert but wise elderly lady being depicted as a cartoonesque and nosy old hag didn't appeal to me at all. Since I was able to purchase the 4-DVD box at a reasonably cheap price, and since I'm always running out of movies to watch anyway, I'll be giving them a chance after all. Thus far I can't judge the other three (they look even more slapstick, in fact) but "Murder She Said" at least still tries to be a convoluted and sinister mystery-tale. Rutherford's Miss Marple is definitely more boisterous, cocky and intrusive than the sweet little lady I know from the book stories, but she undeniably becomes one with the character and gives away a stellar performance. When she takes a train back home to her cozy little village, she witnesses through the window of another train how a young woman is strangled by an unseen assailant. Miss Marple notifies the authorities, but they come back to her with the statement that a dead body hasn't been found and that no woman has been reported missing. Offended by the detective's remark that she probably imagined the whole thing, Miss Marple starts her own private investigation that brings her to the house of the obnoxious patriarch Ackenthorpe. If the woman's body was thrown from the train, than it must have been recovered and hidden on the estate. Miss Marple applies for a job as housekeeper and immediately discovers there's a tricky family feud going on. "Murder, She Said" isn't very effective as a whodunit; as we're giving very few clues to guess along, but the screenplay is compelling and new and exciting twists (like additional murders or discoveries on the estate) occur at regular intervals. George Pollock's direction here is at least less mechanical here than in the "Ten Little Indians" adaptation that he made one year later and there's a good use of filming locations, decors and scenery. Mrs. Rutherford obviously carries the entire film on her own, but she also receives good support from several great actors, like Arthur Kennedy and James Robertson Justice.

This is the first of five Miss Marple film starring Margaret Rutherford. So, obvious the movie was pretty popular! The story is very similar to Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes". The story begins aboard a train and Miss Marple is reading a juicy novel about murder. Just then, a train passes and she catches a glimpse of a woman being strangled!! She cannot see the killer but quickly tells the conductor...who inexplicably assumes she just has an overactive imagination! The police are equally unexcited about this...and that does seem odd (and a weakness in the film). So, Marple goes investigating on her own. The clues lead to a manor home but with no significant evidence, she decides to apply for a job as a housekeeper there so she can snoop around the place legally. What's next? See the film.This story is better than some murder mysteries in that the main character only investigates the crime because the police won't. In too many, the lead decides out of the blue to become an amateur sleuth and they ALWAYS outwit the police! Rutherford is delightful and the story has some nice character actors (such as Arthur Kennedy and James Robertson Justice). Worth seeing...especially so you can enjoy the zippy harpsichord music!

This is a wonderful piece of sheer entertainment, with the indomitable Miss Marple bulldozing all comers to solve the case. She has to start right from square one - no-one even thinks a crime has been committed at all. Margaret Rutherford gets plenty of screen time, accompanied by Ron Goodwin's brilliant theme.The gulf between Rutherford's Marple and Christie's, noted by several reviewers, is worth exploring. Rutherford's is a comedy turn, a less subtle version of Miss Whitchurch in The Happiest Days of Your Life, constantly drawing the eye and stealing every scene from the deliberately bland supporting cast (with the exception of her one foil James Robertson Justice).Christie's original idea was for Miss Marple to embody all the virtues and vices of the long-dismissed character of the little old spinster. The point of Miss Marple is that she is exactly the sort of person who is ignored and disregarded: dotty, old, unmarried, whose concerns are almost entirely parochial, whose views are entirely traditional, a creature irrelevant to the modern age. How could she understand such a concept as human evil, let alone face it down? It is of the essence of Christie's Marple that she was self-effacing, and that knitting, family, and gossip about the minutiae of village life contained the extent of her interests and ambitions.The giveaway line in 'Murder She Said' is where Rutherford's Marple reveals she is a former golf champion. Christie's Marple would have seen golf as an irremediably male sphere, something that one would expect to interest men only and not a ladylike pursuit. She would certainly never compete! She was deeply conservative, not at all a modern liberal, for whom traditional gender roles were to be cherished and preserved.For those reasons, Christie casts three roles: the witness to the murder (Miss McGillicuddy), the intrepid investigator (Lucy Eyelesbarrow), and the detective (Miss Marple). This likable and entertaining film streamlines the plot by integrating these three characters, requiring the larger than life performance from the brilliant Rutherford. Christie's Marple simply could not have done all that. The result is a minor triumph of film-making, with the loss of Christie's message that old age, femininity and parochialism should not render people useless or invisible.