Watch Murder She Said For Free

To me, this movie is perfection.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Copyright 31 December 1961 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. New York opening at the Baronet: 7 January 1962. U.S. release: 30 December 1961. U.K. release: 26 September 1961. Australian release: 31 May 1962. Sydney opening at the Liberty. 7,720 feet. 86 minutes.SYNOPSIS: While traveling on a train, Miss Marple, an elderly spinster with an avid taste for detective stories, witnesses a murder on another train that passes by. Naturally, the police don't believe her story, so she sets out to investigate the crime herself.NOTES: First of the four Miss Marple mystery movies. See Murder Most Foul. Except for 2009's "Glorious 39", this is the final film appearance of Muriel Pavlow, who has since acted exclusively on the stage or in television.COMMENT: This one shapes up as a Miss Marple meets Sir Lancelot Spratt movie, with delightful consequences for all. However, being a murder mystery, it doesn't quite work out that way. True, Margaret Rutherford is handed the lion's share of the action, but James Robertson Justice's role is actually disappointingly small. It's Arthur Kennedy who makes most of the running, with good support from a somewhat subdued Muriel Pavlow and a cast of interesting suspects including quota quickie stars Ronald Howard and Conrad Phillips. On the right side of the law, Charles Tingwell and Stringer Davis also manage a fair share of screen time. There's precious little left for James Robertson Justice, aside from a couple of scenes which allow him to shout and rant a treat, plus a completely out of character and rather disconcerting fade-out. The mystery itself holds the interest, despite Pollock's generally flat, steady-as-she-goes direction (he does deliver a few nice atmospheric effects), although the identity of the killer will be obvious to most viewers almost right from the start.

Oh, the sights one can see on a train. Like a woman being strangled to death, or one of mystery fiction's darkest talents being reinterpreted as a light comedienne. Such is the experience you get taking a seat next to Margaret Rutherford on "Murder She Said."Rutherford plays Miss Jane Marple in what was the first-ever cinematic presentation of Agatha Christie's famous detective. While aboard a train, Marple spies a woman in another train being throttled, the killer's face hidden from view. Ashen, Marple calls police, only to be told she probably just witnessed a couple on a honeymoon."I may be what is termed a spinster, but I do know the difference between horseplay and murder!" Miss Marple exclaims.With that, she decides to investigate the case herself, taking a post as maid at a manor house nearest to where she suspects the body was dropped from the train.It's a very different Miss Marple from Christie's version, but that's easy to understand with the demands of cinema, and easy to forgive when the results are as fine as you get here. Rutherford is in high form, playing up her character's indignation at being taken for a "dotty old maid." The manor house turns out to be alive with equal parts amusement and suspicion, presided over by Luther Ackenthorpe (James Robertson Justice), who enjoys the fact he makes his adult offspring miserable just by staying alive and denying them his inheritance.No one can believe Marple wants to work for Ackenthorpe, least of all those who already do. "You look old enough to know better," fumes a maid played by Joan Hickson, who went on to famously play Marple herself.Director George Pollock and his writing team do a fine job reinventing a typically dark Marple mystery into something more jovial. In fact, you can say there are moments they undersell the mystery this way. We don't even meet the full range of suspects until the movie's half over, which leaves little time for suspicion to marinate. But the mystery is a good one, not easy to figure out but making sense when it's all over.The only outright annoyance for me is the same so many others here point to, that kid Alexander. He's played with annoying smugness, and poorly dubbed by what sounds like a 40-year-old woman doing a Freddie Bartholomew impersonation. Every time he comes on screen, I cringe.But everything else in this film is a treat, including another character others here consider supercargo, Marple's boyfriend Mr. Stringer (Stringer Davis, Rutherford's real-life husband). As Marple must take a more active role in the movie than she does in her books, the doughty Stringer serves as a kind of comedic superego to her brave id."Miss Marple, whatever it is, no, no, no!" he cries.Give this a chance, and you'll be saying the opposite: Miss Marple, yes, yes, yes! Even if she wasn't Dame Agatha's cuppa, movie Marple brings home the entertainment and leaves you wanting more...which Rutherford and Pollock would deliver in short order.

Miss Jane Marple witnesses a man strangling a woman on a passing train, the Police don't take her story seriously. As a keen reader of detective stories she decides to investigate the murder herself. She and friend Mr Stringer begin investigating along the train track, and a clue leads her to Ackenthorpe Hall, home to a wealthy family. To investigate further Miss Marple gets herself a job there to set about catching the killer.The film looks glorious, it's lovely on the eyes. The music is fun, if a little heavy at times. Really good performances from the cast.The best bit for me has to be the discovery of the body, even though it's not meant to be Marple herself that finds her, who cares, it works really well. The ending is just brilliant too, I love how it was done.I can see why Christie was not so keen on Rutherford in the title role, she's nothing like the book's character, but she puts her own inimitable stamp on the role, and is quite fabulous. It's all about Rutherford's scenes with James Robertson Justice, such a huge domineering actor, they bounce wonderfully well off one another.Its wonderful that Joan Hickson appears, I wonder if this is where Christie first saw her.Its a great film, perhaps the most serious of her 4 outings? It's so watchable for so many reasons, mostly Rutherford's performance. 8/10

The first of the George Pollock-Margaret Rutherford collaborations, Murder She Said is lots of fun and works very well on its own terms. It is not the most faithful adaptation to the book- 4:50 From Paddington- or to Agatha Christie in general, look to Joan Hickson if you want this, but if you are willing to judge an adaptation on its own merits it makes for an enjoyable and easy watch. It does start off a little too slow and the character of Alexander played by Ronnie Raymond is very irritating. But the setting is evocative and the film is well shot. Murder She Said is further advantaged by crisp pacing, a deliciously witty script and an outstanding music score. The story is very compelling with a nice mixture of comedy and clue solving. The final solution wasn't a surprise to me, then again I have read the book more than once and have seen the Hickson and Geraldine McEwan versions(so it was more a familiarity issue than predictability), but it doesn't underwhelm either. The film is tautly directed by Pollock, and apart from Raymond the cast are great. Margaret Rutherford is a sheer delight and James Robertson Justice is superb as the crusty patriarch. Alan Kennedy makes a good impression as the doctor, and Charles Tingwell also seems to be enjoying himself as the Inspector in his mild exasperation. As with the book and the other adaptations, the characters are diverse and generally well defined. All in all, not for Christie purists maybe but much fun to be had on its own(which ideally is how an adaptation should be judged). 9/10 Bethany Cox