Watch Murder Ahoy For Free

You won't be disappointed!

Good movie but grossly overrated

Fantastic!

Admirable film.

In this last film in which Margaret Rutherford plays Ms. Jane Marple, the redoubtable old sleuth finds herself elected trustee of a restored sailing ship of the line which is now used as a training vessel for young criminal offenders. Kind of a British version of an American boot camp for the wayward youth. When one of the trustees dies of a heart attack while at a board meeting while trying to tell in a most dramatic fashion that something is afoul at the ship, Rutherford finds the cause of his death. His snuff box had been laced with strychnine. Does she go to the police with such information, she does not. In this case given the forensic science lab that Scotland Yard has which I daresay is superior even to her own, Inspector Charles Tingwell might have solved the crime on his own. No wonder this man wants to strangle her, she is withholding evidence in point of fact.That bit of business puts Murder Ahoy a bit over the line. It's a maxim in detective fiction that the private eye no matter how much the amateur always shows up the professional. But there are limits as to how far you can take it and I think Agatha Christie stepped over the line in this Marple story.But if she hadn't we wouldn't have had the pleasure of seeing Margaret Rutherford in full Navy regalia taking over the HMS Battledore and giving Captain Lionel Jeffries and his crew fits. Two murders later of ship's officers and we do find the real culprit.What was interesting about Murder Ahoy is that there are two separate criminal enterprises going on at the same time on the good ship Battledore. The first murder sets off a chain of events among the villains in which the group involved in one enterprise comes across the second conspiracy and the motives do get tangled up for the police. But of course not for Margaret Rutherford.Fittingly the whole thing is resolved on Trafalgar Day. It was quite a scheme that the murderer's fear of discovery caused the individual to become so homicidal.Margaret Rutherford is of course wonderful as Ms. Marple and she and Lionel Jeffries have some great scenes. Years ago I could have seen the master of the slow burn, Edgar Kennedy playing the part as Jeffries plays it.I don't think it's as good as some Christie stories, but her fans shouldn't mind at all.

The last of the four Miss Marple adventures starring margaret rutherford, it is maybe not up to standard of previous films and weak in screenplay. It's jolly but and it's good that it's based on a ship as setting. Charles Tingwell is back as inspector craddock and jollyness is around although a bit less than films before. The cool music is back, played at opening sequence as miss marple(margaret rutherford) tries on navy uniform. star names like lionel jeffries, nicholas parsons join cast and stringer davis aids miss marple again. There is a shipload of suspects and a few detours to viewer as to killers identity. there is nice use of lamp morse code signals from ship across bay to the shore

To many of my generation (now in their fifties), Margaret Rutherford takes some beating as Miss Marple - in fact she *is* Miss Marple, and Joan Hickson etc are merely fakes. These four films (She Said, Most Foul, At The Gallop and Ahoy) may not be accurate representations of the original stories, but they do invite repeated viewing and have what modern films lack - charm. They also have good solid characters and a light-hearted approach that makes them so watchable. Margaret Rutherford may not have had a terrific range, but what she did, she did with enormous confidence and style, and she is never overshadowed in any scene she plays, which is virtually every one. All great fun from the moment that catchy theme tune plays (you'll be humming it for weeks afterwards) to the final credits, and you are left feeling satisfied. That's what they did in the 50's and 60's.

Miss Marple joins the board of senior trustees for a youth reformation committee, which prides itself on reforming troublesome teenagers by means of naval cadet training on board a ship called The Battledore. But when one of her fellow trustees is murdered by his snuff being laced with poison, Miss Marple learns that he had just returned from a routine visit to The Battledore and she suspects that the motive for his murder must lie on the ship. Using her position as senior trustee, Miss Marple pays a visit to the ship much to the chagrin of the eccentric Captain Rhumstone (Lionel Jeffries) who seems anxious to get rid of her. With the help of her loyal friend Mr Stringer (Stringer Davis), she soon learns that the shore leave patrol has been committing a series of jewel thefts from the high society. But the question is which one? Meanwhile, Lieutenant Compton (Francis Matthews) has been run through with a sword and hung from the ship's yardarm and suspicion immediately falls on Sub Lieutenant Humbert (Derek Nimmo) whom didn't get along with Compton because they both fancied the same girl, Nurse Shirley (Norma Foster). As usual, Chief Inspector Craddock (Charles Tingwell) thinks he's got an open and shut case, but Miss Marple isn't convinced of Humbert's guilt even though the jewel robberies were all committed after high society parties, all of which he and Shirley had both attended. In her usual shrewd way, Miss Marple sets a trap for the killer and uncovers a big swindle attached to the higher ranks among the committee but not before Shirley is murdered by a poisoned spike primed to a mousetrap...Murder Ahoy was the fourth and final entry in the series of comedy whodunits starring Rutherford as Miss Marple. The series was doing well at the box office, but the producers were unable to get the rights to any more of Christie's works. In addition, this is the only one that wasn't adapted from a Christie novel and the film was produced in 1964, but released at the end of 1965 in order to space out the series. Following the end of the Miss Marple franchise, director Pollock would make one more feature before he more or less vanished from the scene. Another Christie, Ten Little Indians (see my review), for Fu Manchu producer Harry Alan Towers.All in all, Murder Ahoy is fantastic light hearted fun with Rutherford on fine form as usual as the spinster detective. She gets good support from Lionel Jeffries as the Captain and Stringer Davis offers his touching portrayal as the local librarian Mr Stringer who is Miss Marple's closest friend and is always concerned that her meddling may result in her getting bumped off, but its never any use as she is determined to unravel the mystery and she does in her own inimitable fashion. Moments to savour here include her sword fight with the killer at the climax when she assures her assailant "I must warn you that in 1931 I was the winner of the ladies fencing championship." Screenwriters David Pursall and Jack Seddon came up with quite a good storyline of their own and the identity of the killer is well concealed until the end, but I felt that the script could of been a little tighter. Nevertheless, its all good fun and Rutherford has no trouble in dominating the film with her uniquely individual performance as Miss Marple, George Pollock's direction is smooth and the atmospheric black and white camera-work of Desmond Dickinson is an added bonus.