I make it very clear that I lean into genre fare on here, and I make no apology, and take no shame in that. But variety is the spice of life as I often say, so let's go for a bit more high-brow on here; since we've just had the trailer for Knives Out drop, how about a set of stylish murder mysteries, starring once of the true great detective characters, Agatha Christie's Miss Jane Marple? Well, sort of...
Now let's get something clear; Dame Margaret Rutherford's Miss Marple is very different to the version in Christie's original books. In the novels and short stories, Marple was the sort who could quietly sit by the sidelines, and get a good overview of events, often not getting too stuck in herself directly until the end. That's definitely not how Rutherford does things; her Marple is all too keen to get stuck in up to her arms in the mysteries, often personally calling out the guilty parties herself. Both takes work for their versions though, so this not being faithful to Christie is far from a deal breaker. If you want to watch a more faithful take, look up the BBC version from 1984 to 1992, starring Joan Hickson in the role.
In a fun co-incidence, Hickson had a small role in the first of the MGM Miss Marple films, 1961's Murder, She Said. Now from the trailer alone, you can tell the tone this one's going for; right from her breaking the fourth wall to the befuddlement of Peter Butterworth (no, that's not in the final film, just for this trailer), you can tell that this isn't being taken entirely seriously. Mind, what's good about all of these films is that while there's a tonne of humour being had with the character interactions, and Rutherford's sheer force of personality, the murders and surrounding mysteries are played dead straight (some in the series come quite close to horror territory!). This first outing, the only one of the four based on a Miss Marple story, 4.50 from Paddington, is a real joy, establishing the character, tone, and "rules" of this series very early on. You can't help but be delighted anytime Rutherford is on screen, especially if her real life husband Stringer Davis is also there as the long-suffering Mr. Stringer. Oh, and I cannot forget to mention Ron Goodwin's legendary theme for the series.
1963 bought us Murder at the Gallop; this is the first one of the series I saw, taped off a daytime screening on BBC 2 (ah, remember the days when BBC 2 was full of old films like this? Well, I guess we now have Talking Pictures TV for that). Given how I started this article, I love that in this trailer they say "Agatha Christie must have had Margaret Rutherford in mind"; no she definitely didn't! Mind, she did dedicate one of the later Marple books, The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side to her (more about that one next week). This is the first one not based on a Marple novel, but an Hercule Poirot one, After the Funeral, although given the setting and style, it fits Marple pretty well. This trailer also highlights another strength of this little series; great guest stars for Rutherford to bounce off, as the prime suspect in here is played by Robert Morley, at... well, his most Robert Morley as the pompous upper class windbag that was his stock in trade.
In 1964 came Murder Most Foul, which took its cues from another Poirot story, Mrs. McGinty's Dead. Another fun one, including a sequence where Marple has to audition for an acting troupe; that's not just funny in that it's legend of stage and screen Dame Margaret Rutherford doing deliberately hammy acting, but her choice of material to perform is perfect. Also, this one earns extra points from me because bits of it were filmed a stone's throw from my place; there are several scenes that I recognised immediately as being in Pinner Memorial Park, by the duckpond.
Also released in '64 was the final film of the bunch, Murder Ahoy! This is the only one not actually based on any of Christie's stories, but it's still a pretty good little mystery tale in it's own right. There is a good, slightly meta element in all of these in that Marple is a fan of detective fiction, so other characters having certain whodunnit books is often a clue. It's a lot of fun this tale, with great set pieces like Marple using a full chemistry kit to work out exactly what someone was poisoned with. It also has perhaps the best guest star in all of these, the wonderful Lionel Jeffries, a few years before his legendary turn as director with The Railway Children. One odd thing about this trailer; it's a weird choice, in a trailer highlighting the humorous aspects of the story, to end with the shot of victim hanging!
So that's the Marple quartet, less an attempt to bring word-to-word to the screen the works of the "Queen of Crime", but an excuse to have Rutherford just do her own thing, and it works brilliantly. If you like older films, and want to see a true ancestor to the likes of Clue, pick these up. Two final notes to end on; firstly, did you know that Rutherford and Stringer Davis were early supporters of trans-rights, with their adopted daughter Dawn Langley Simmons? Major respect to them for that! Secondly, Miss Marple would return to the silver screen many years later, but I think I'll leave that for next week's trailer.
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