Sparkling Cyanide ( 1983 )

Rosemary Barton takes one sip of champagne at her wedding anniversary dinner party and then suddenly collapses dead. "Cyanide poison", the doctor exclaims. Was it suicide or murder? Rosemary certainly had her fair share of enemies. Her husband George believes it to be murder and so he gathers together the same dinner guests and recreates the party, hoping to add a surprise guest to bring the killer out in the open. Unfortunately, poor George also gets a taste of poisoned champagne and ends up taking a trip to the morgue. It is then left to Rosemary's sister Iris and private investigator Tony Browne to solve the mystery.

Sparkling Cyanide was a made-for-television movie that aired on CBS in November, 1983. It was one of three Agatha Christie television adaptations produced by Stan Margulies between 1981-1983. Like the other two films ( Murder is Easy and A Caribbean Mystery ) it features a cast of popular British and American actors of the time. 

The personable Anthony Andrews stars as our lead sleuth, Tony Browne. Andrews is a Shakespearan actor best known for starring in a number of period miniseries throughout the 1970s and 1980s ( e.g. The Pallisers, David Copperfield ), so it would seem that he would be out of place in a modern-day detective drama, but quite the contrary. He lends a great deal of charm to what could have been a rather dull character. Browne isn't much of an investigator and he spends more time trying to woo Iris then piece together clues to solve the puzzle, but he does manage to hit upon one clue that acts as a glue for all the others and therefore catches the killer singlehandedly. 

Deborah Raffin portrays Iris, a pencil-thin young woman who just arrived in Los Angeles to visit her sister Rosemary. She thinks that Rosemary and her husband George are happily married but soon discovers that she really knows very little about her sister and just what does make her happy. It turns out other men make her happy. She was having an affair with a young political candidate ( David Huffman ) who dropped her like a hot coal when he realized she would interfere with his latest campaign. His wife Sandra ( June Chadwick ) naturally despised her...as did her parents Eric and Viola ( portrayed by two familiar Brits - Barry Ingham and Anne Rogers ). 

Like most Agatha Christie stories, Sparkling Cyanide has a number of good suspects to keep you guessing till the very end who the killer might be, but on the whole, the mystery - and the film itself - is not as engaging as Margulies' other two Agatha Christie adaptations. It plays out like a soap opera and, with its setting in Los Angeles, it doesn't have that lovely English-mystery setting that one comes to expect in a Christie adaptation. The cast is its primary drawing feature and, in that respect, there are good performances to enjoy from all involved, including Harry Morgan ( as a police captain ), Pamela Bellwood, Nancy Marchand, and Josef Sommer.

A Caribbean Mystery ( 1983 )

"Mrs. Kendell had a knife??"

Why was Mrs. Kendell walking around with a knife? Mrs. Kendell herself certainly could not say. Indeed, the poor woman did not even realize that during one of her recent blackout spells a body had been discovered stabbed to death. This is just one of several murders that occur at the Golden Palm, a small resort in the West Indies that Miss Jane Marple checks into for a holiday.

Sunshine, fresh air, and plenty of rest are just what the doctor ordered for Miss Marple, and so she headed to the Caribbean only to discover mystery, mayhem, and murder awaiting her!

It all began with Major Palgrave.....

"Want to see a picture of a murderer?" he asks. While working on his memoirs, the Major offers to show an incriminating photograph to Miss Marple but then he suddenly recognizes one of the people at the resort as the face in the photo and quickly tucks it away. Shortly thereafter he dies of a "heart attack". Coincidence? Miss Marple thinks not, and the spinster from St. Mary Mead has solved enough crimes to recognize the signs of foul play. 

Among the many suspects are: Mr. and Mrs. Kendell, the proprietors of the resort ( Jameson Parker and Season Hubley ); "Lucky" and her husband ( Cassie Yates and Stephen Macht ), Mr. and Mrs. Hillingdon ( Beth Howland and George Innes ), Dr. Graham ( Brock Peters ), and that old tycoon Mr. Rafiel ( Barnard Hughes ). 

A Caribbean Mystery was a made-for-television production that aired on CBS on October 23, 1983. It was one of several Agatha Christie TV movies made by The Stan Margulies Company. It took Margulies three years to acquire the rights to convert Christie's novels into television features, and, once having obtained them, he was anxious to focus on the Miss Marple stories. After the success of the first Christie production Murder is Easy ( based on her 1939 mystery of the same name ), Margulies set to work on producing an adaptation of her 1964 novel "A Caribbean Mystery", which previously had not been filmed. 

Helen Hayes, the first lady of the American Theatre, took on the character of Miss Marple with her usual sweet command. She had a brief role in Murder is Easy but this was the first time she was cast as the famous senior sleuth. In spite of her spunky Americanization of the part, Agatha Christie fans adored her and she returned to the role two years later in Murder with Mirrors. 

Miss Marple is an elderly granny-type, who enjoys knitting and listening to bits of gossip when she can overhear it. Nobody suspects that she has a shrewd intellect and, therefore, she can go about her detecting unnoticed. Unlike Joan Hickson or Geraldine McEwan's interpretations of the character, Helen Hayes brilliantly nails this unsuspecting nature of Miss Marple. 

Christie's "A Caribbean Mystery" was praised when it was first published with crime-writer and reviewer Anthony Berkeley Cox exclaiming that the writer was back in her old form after a series of disappointing novels. "In 'A Caribbean Mystery' she tells the reader explicitly what is going to happen; and yet when it does, nine out of ten will be taken completely by surprise – as I was. How does she do it?"

Well, this television adaptation of the story receives praises among Agatha Christie fans too, and justly so. It stays true to her novel, meandering along at a gentle pace unraveling new layers of delightful puzzles as it progresses. The cast, while not particularly well known outside of their television work, are perfect in each part. Barnard Hughes is especially entertaining as the wheel-chair bound grouch Mr. Rafiel. The film added a hint of romance between him and Miss Marple which is another pleasant touch. 

For a respite from the approaching rainy autumn weather, sit back and enjoy the winning combination of sunshine and murder to be found in A Caribbean Mystery. 

This post is our contribution to the Agatha Christie Blogathon being hosted by Christina Wehner and Little Bits of Classics. Be sure to head on over to their sites to check out more posts about the famous mystery writer, her books, and the film adaptations of her work. 

Murder is Easy ( 1982 )

" The person in question is just the last person anyone would suspect. And so long as no one suspects you...murder is easy "

Who would dream that an English respite could lead to danger and romance? That is exactly what happened for Luke Williams in the television adaption of Agatha's Christies' 1939 novel, "Murder is Easy". Onboard a train en route to London, the visiting American computer analyst meets a little old lady who confesses to him her suspicions of a murderer in her village, along with the name of the next victim. "I feel certain Dr. Humbleby will be next!"  Soon after, she finds herself applied to the pavement in a most unladylike manner and, donning his deerskin hat, Luke sets off for Wychwood to warn Humbleby of his impending doom and unmask the culprit. 

Murder is Easy was originally released on January 2, 1982 on CBS. The television movie was one of several Agatha Christie productions ( A Caribbean Mystery, Sparkling Cyanide ), that producer Stan Margulies released in the 1980s. Negotiations for the rights to convert Christies' novels into TV features took three years and, once approved, Margulies immediately set to work in bringing the stories up to date to appeal to American audiences. 

Murder is Easy is headed by a stellar cast, featuring Bill Bixby in the lead role along with a slew of British stalwarts such as: Helen Hayes as Miss Fullerton, the little old lady; Lesley Anne Down as Bridget, the requisite love interest; Timothy West as Lord Easterfield, a man who is certain that God is pronouncing vengeance on his enemies; Jonathan Pryce as Ellsworthy, an antique dealer who deals in more than antiques; Olivia DeHavilland as Miss Waynflete, the clever neighborhood spinster; and Shane Briant, as the young needle-jabbing Dr. Thomas. A host of familiar English actors also have brief parts, notably Patrick Allen, Freddie Jones, Leigh Lawson and Anthony Valentine. Now what is the probability of finding a mystery with such a great cast?

Helen Hayes is delightful, but has a much too brief role as Miss Fullerton, the intrepid old gal on her way to confess a crime to Scotland Yard. With the inclusion of this film in the Agatha Christie Miss Marple DVD collection, some fans have mistakenly believed Murder is Easy to be a Marple mystery and found themselves in for a disappointment. Fullerton and Miss Marple share a lot in common however : Fullerton may have appeared to be a dotty old spinster but she had a keen eye for human nature and quickly recognized "that look in the killer's eye before striking". You see, after three times one knows. Alas, Miss Fullerton did not realize that the killer knew what she knew and the poor dear quickly becomes victim number four. 

"This story is quite strange," explained director Claude Whatham in the original publicity notes, "There is no murder at the beginning, just a number of unexplained deaths, which as far as our computer expert is concerned defies the laws of probability. So we have an air of menace, but without anyone to solve a murder. What I'm trying to get is something which is ordinary, but which looks slightly threatening. As far as the visual looks go, I would say it has the brightness you get before a thunderstorm. Everything looks idyllic, but it has an unreal quality about it. For the actors, there are two interpretations for what they do - one is normal, the other is slightly suspect."

Indeed, Whatham did a stellar job in keeping all of the characters looking suspicious. Every one of them has a plausible motive for killing and the available means. Luke Williams finds himself as baffled as the audience and turns to his "bread and butter", his trusty computer, to see if it can uncover the identity of the killer for him....but he finds it takes more than ram power to crack open this case.

The filming of Murder is Easy went underway on July 15, 1981 with the tennis match being the first scene filmed. Lesley-Anne Down had not held a racket since her school days but managed to pull off looking like a respectably good player. Down also was new to driving. She obtained her driver's license only a week prior to filming and, for one scene, was given a $70,000 Aston Martin to drive in keeping with her role as the lady of the manor - the manor being Ashe Manor, which was really filmed at Binfield Manor in Berkshire. 

The picturesque village of Wychwood was in fact the tiny hamlet of Hamleden, an old Roman settlement, with a population of only 150 inhabitants. The town boasts a Norman church, a pub, general store and butcher's shop, and that's about what we get to see in the film. Hambleden also appeared briefly in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Candleshoe.

Bill Bixby was delighted to be in England for the first time and took off during an afternoon lunch break to visit the nearby village of Bix, hoping it might be his ancestral home. It turned out to be a Roman named village, with "B IX" standing for Plot B Nine. Unfortunately, he didn't get to see much else of England except for some location driving.

Olivia de Havilland, who stems from an illustrious English family, was also happy to be on British soil and playing the role of an English lady, which oddly enough she had not yet done. She was also delighted to be performing with Helen Hayes, whom she had met only once before.

Helen Hayes arrived in London in a Concorde, flying for the first time in one with her young god-daughter. She was excited to be in London for the upcoming royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana and decided to stay after filming wrapped, to stand with the other tourists outside St. Paul's cathedral and get a glimpse of the preparations. 

The acting of all of these members is far from award-winning. Some of the dialogue is delivered with exaggerated emphasis, but somehow that makes screenwriter Carmen Culver's lines all the more memorable because of it. Who can forget such remarks as "Amy, we're wanting tea!" or "I'm beginning to remember now why I don't get involved with people"?

Murder is Easy is a charming and absorbing whodunnit. It features lovely location filming, a grand cast, and a plot filled with twists and turns. Overall it is a perfect mid-summer mystery to be savored on a warm afternoon with your beloved Wonkey-Pooh and a cup of Earl Grey. 

This post is our contribution to the Agatha Christie Blogathon being hosted by Christina Wehner and Little Bits of Classics. It was published previously right here at Silver Scenes. Be sure to read more entries in the blogathon to learn about Dame Agatha Christie's life, her books, and the film adaptations of her books. Happy sleuthing!

Murder is Easy ( 1982 )

" The person in question is just the last person anyone would suspect. And so long as no one suspects you...murder is easy "

Who would dream that an English respite could lead to danger and romance? That is exactly what happened for Luke Williams in the television adaption of Agatha's Christies' 1939 novel, "Murder is Easy". Onboard a train en route to London, the visiting American computer analyst meets a little old lady who confesses to him her suspicions of a murderer in her village, along with the name of the next victim. "I feel certain Dr. Humbleby will be next!"  Soon after, she finds herself applied to the pavement in a most unladylike manner and, donning his deerskin hat, Luke sets off for Wychwood to warn Humbleby of his impending doom and unmask the culprit himself. 

Murder is Easy was originally released on January 2, 1982, on CBS. The television movie was one of several Agatha Christie productions ( A Caribbean Mystery, Sparkling Cyanide ), that producer Stan Margulies released in the 1980s. Negotiations for the rights to convert Christie's novels into TV features took three years and, once approved, Margulies immediately set to work in bringing the stories up to date to appeal to American audiences. 

Murder is Easy is headed by a stellar cast, featuring Bill Bixby in the lead role along with a slew of British stalwarts such as Helen Hayes as Miss Fullerton, the little old lady; Lesley Anne Down as Bridget, the requisite love interest; Timothy West as Lord Easterfield, a man who is certain that God is pronouncing vengeance on his enemies; Jonathan Pryce as Ellsworthy, an antique dealer who deals in more than antiques; Olivia DeHavilland as Miss Waynflete, the clever neighborhood spinster; and Shane Briant, as the young needle-jabbing Dr. Thomas. A host of familiar English actors also have brief parts, notably Patrick Allen, Freddie Jones, Leigh Lawson, and Anthony Valentine. Now what is the probability of finding a mystery with such a great cast?

Helen Hayes is delightful but has a much too brief role as Miss Fullerton, the intrepid old gal on her way to reveal her suspicions to Scotland Yard. With the inclusion of this film in the Agatha Christie Miss Marple DVD collection, some fans have mistakenly believed Murder is Easy to be a Marple mystery and found themselves in for a disappointment. Fullerton and Miss Marple share a lot in common however: Fullerton may have appeared to be a dotty old spinster but she had a keen eye for human nature and quickly recognized "that look in the killer's eye before striking". You see, after three times one knows. Alas, Miss Fullerton did not realize that the killer knew what she knew and the poor dear quickly becomes victim number four. 

"This story is quite strange," explained director Claude Whatham in the original publicity notes, "There is no murder at the beginning, just a number of unexplained deaths, which as far as our computer expert is concerned defies the laws of probability. So we have an air of menace, but without anyone to solve a murder. What I'm trying to get is something which is ordinary, but which looks slightly threatening. As far as the visual looks go, I would say it has the brightness you get before a thunderstorm. Everything looks idyllic, but it has an unreal quality about it. For the actors, there are two interpretations for what they do - one is normal, the other is slightly suspect."

Indeed, Whatham did a stellar job in keeping all of the characters looking suspicious. Every one of them has a plausible motive for killing and the available means. Luke Williams finds himself as baffled as the audience and turns to his "bread and butter", his trusty computer, to see if it can uncover the identity of the killer for him....but he finds it takes more than ram power to crack open this case.

The filming of Murder is Easy went underway on July 15, 1981, with the tennis match being the first scene filmed. Lesley-Anne Down had not held a racket since her school days but managed to pull off looking like a respectably good player. Down also was new to driving. She obtained her driver's license only a week prior to filming and, for one scene, was given a $70,000 Aston Martin to drive in keeping with her role as the lady of the manor - the manor being Ashe Manor, which was really filmed at Binfield Manor in Berkshire. 

The picturesque village of Wychwood was in fact the tiny hamlet of Hamleden, an old Roman settlement, with a population of only 150 inhabitants. The town boasts a Norman church, a pub, general store, and butcher's shop, and that's about what we get to see in the film. Hambleden also appeared briefly in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Candleshoe.

Bill Bixby was delighted to be in England for the first time and took off during an afternoon lunch break to visit the nearby village of Bix, hoping it might be his ancestral home. It turned out to be a Roman-named village, with "B IX" standing for Plot B Nine. Unfortunately, he didn't get to see much else of England except for some location driving.

Olivia de Havilland, who stems from an illustrious English family, was also happy to be on British soil and playing the role of an English lady, which oddly enough she had not yet done. She was also delighted to be performing with Helen Hayes, whom she had met only once before.

Helen Hayes arrived in London in a Concorde, flying for the first time in one with her young god-daughter. She was excited to be in London for the upcoming royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana and decided to stay after filming wrapped, to stand with the other tourists outside St. Paul's Cathedral and get a glimpse of the preparations. 

The acting of all of these members is far from award-winning. Some of the dialogue is delivered with exaggerated emphasis, but somehow that makes screenwriter Carmen Culver's lines all the more memorable because of it. Who can forget such remarks as "Amy, we're wanting tea!" or "I'm beginning to remember now why I don't get involved with people"?

Murder is Easy is a charming and absorbing whodunnit. It features lovely location filming, a grand cast, and a plot filled with twists and turns. Overall it is a perfect mid-summer mystery to be savored on a warm afternoon with your beloved Wonkey-Pooh and a cup of Earl Grey. 

The Miss Marple Mysteries with Margaret Rutherford

Miss Jane Marple, the wiry framed spinster from St. Mary Mead, whose hobbies include knitting and solving crimes, is one of Agatha Christie's most endearing creations. Quiet and sedate, she was the complete opposite of Hercule Poirot, Christie's very own Sherlock Holmes, but went on to become the star of the show in twelve novels and thirty-two short stories between 1926 and 1976. 

It's no wonder then that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer saw an ideal character to bring to the screen. In early 1960 the studio purchased the rights to most of the author's stories for the comely sum of three million dollars in the hopes of creating a television series around the lovable sleuth. When this idea fell through, they set their sights on securing 72-year-old Margaret Rutherford, one of Great Britain's most beloved character actresses to play the part in a film version of one of Miss Marple's most entertaining novels, "4:50 from Paddington". 

Agatha Christie had disapproved of this casting from the start. She had modeled Miss Marple after a favorite aunt and Margaret Rutherford bore no resemblance to her whatsoever. Rutherford did not wish to play the part either, saying "Murder, you see, is not the sort of thing I could get close to. I never found it amusing. I don't like anything that tends to lower or debase or degrade". It was not until director George Pollack sent her the script for Murder She Said, the first Miss Marple film planned, and convinced her that Miss Marple would be a helpful character, one who took a gamesman-like approach to crime solving. Rutherford was then gung-ho about the part and made Miss Marple completely her own. Her husband and closest companion, Stringer Davis, was pulled in for the ride as well in a part that was created especially for him at Rutherford's insistence. As the timid librarian Jim Stringer, he was the perfect partner for the indomitable Jane. 

Rutherford's Miss Marple was a completely transformed character from the St. Mary's Mead citizen that Christie had penned some thirty-five years back. In fact, she did not even live in St. Mary's Mead anymore, her cottage home now being situated in Milchester (filmed in Denham). Here the jaunty heroine lives in contented peace until a mystery falls at her feet and she takes on the task of solving the crime herself when the local police force doubt her theories - the local police force being Inspector Craddock (admirably played by Australian actor Charles "Bud" Tingwell) and his aide Sergeant Bacon. Craddock was another character written in especially for the film and he proved to be a capital foil in the crime-solving endeavors of Miss Marple. His attitude towards Miss Marple was much like a kindly nephew, loving and protective and yet at times quite aggravated over her interference in police matters and the dangers the old gal was putting herself into. 

The sprightly harpsichord strains of Ron Goodwin's Miss Marple theme quickly set the tempo and mood for the films that were to follow, all of them being light-hearted tea and crumpet mysteries. Just as one enjoys curling up with a good mystery before bedtime to carry one off to slumberland, so these films were a relaxing escape from the typical juvenile crime flicks, period dramas, and psychological capers of the times. And, as an added bonus, they gave us opportunity to nod our heads in blessed slumber during many a scene. 

Between 1961 and 1965, MGM made four Miss Marple films starring Margaret Rutherford. Each film in the series was directed by George Pollock and featured scripts written by David Pursall and Jack Seddon. Although none of them bore any resemblance to the books on which they were based, each of them had their redeeming charms and to this day all of the films have their loyal following of fans. 

Whatever Miss Christie intended her stories to be, is completely thrown out the window. Margaret Rutherford is the unreputable star of these films. Plump, energetic and commanding, Rutherford created a newly emancipated Miss Marple, a gal brimming with spunk. With jowls jiggling and her tongue jutted firmly in her cheek, Jane would swing her tweed cape about her, square her shoulders and be ready to face any danger that stood in the way of her amateur sleuthing. 

Murder She Said ( 1961 ) 

En route from Paddington station to her home in Milchester, Miss Marple witnesses a murder onboard a passing train. When the authorities investigate and find no clues, Miss Marple is determined to investigate herself. With the help of her good friend, Mr. Stringer, they track the body to the Ackenthorpe Estate. Here she goes undercover as a maid and in between the housework and the cooking, hunts for clues. The entire family comes for a visit and when the body turns up in the stable, each member, including Miss Marple herself, becomes a suspect....and one by one start being killed off themselves. 

Margaret Rutherford is splendid as the elderly amateur sleuth who is excited to put her knowledge of mystery stories to the test and try crime-detection on a personal level. She proves to be more perceptive than the police and more daring, often jeopardizing herself much to the chagrin of Inspector Craddock, who feels personally responsible for the dear gal's safety. 

Our cast of suspects is a colorful lot of crooked family members, each one of them waiting for the blustery old codger, Mr. Ackenthorpe (played with splendid bark by James Robertson Justice) to die so they can inherit his money, his land, and his house. Muriel Pavlow, playing Ackenthorpe's daughter provides the romantic interest in the film with love blossoming between her and the American doctor (Arthur Kennedy) who is looking after the old man. Most engaging of all the characters however, is cheeky little Alexander (Ronnie Raymond), a playful dodger who tries to hide his mischievous pranks with his overly gentlemanly manner. He and Miss Marple quickly become chums and he provides her with many an inside scoop in the whereabouts of the family skeletons. Thorley Walters, Ron Howard (son of Leslie Howard), Conrad Phillips, Gerald Cross and Joan Hickson round out the cast. Joan Hickson later picked up the Miss Marple mantle herself in a PBS series during the 1980s. 

Margaret Rutherford's immense appeal and the delightful mystery plot she was involved with in Murder She Said made the film an instant box office success and it was quickly followed by three more Miss Marple mysteries. Murder She Said was the only one of the three actually based on one of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple mysteries, "4:50 from Paddington" (known as "What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw" in Great Britain). A few major alternations from the 1957 novel resulted in a more cohesive and less complicated film. In the novel, Miss Marple is a relatively minor character. In the film however, she takes on the activities of three of the characters from the novel: Mrs. McGillicuddy, who first witnesses the murder, Lucy Eyesbarrow, housekeeper at the Crackenthorpe estate, and herself. 

Murder at the Gallop ( 1963 ) 

George Pollock returned to take the helm in the second Miss Marple movie, Murder at the Gallop, this time set at a riding establishment, the Gallop Hotel, where members of the Enderby family are staying. Mr. Enderby, an elderly recluse (played by Finlay Currie), was frightened to death - by a cat - in circumstances that Miss Marple believes was deliberate murder. After Aunt Cora announces those same suspicions to the family members during the reading of the will and is quickly dispatched herself - with a hairpin, by george! - Miss Marple declares "murder most foul" and is off to capture the culprit herself. Once again Inspector Craddock's insistence against her meddling prove useless in stopping the indomitable dame from charging. 

Many of the elements used in Murder She Said are repeated for this second outing, notably the family inheritance plot line, the eccentric male lead (this time played by the perpetually baffled-faced Robert Morley), the surly stableman, and the multiple murders. Yes, when Miss Marple attempts to solve a case, murder is never a solitary occurrence. Even the finale of Miss Marple receiving a marriage proposal is repeated. 

Many of the Enderby family members are not as engaging as the Ackenthorpes however, and this time around most of the entertaining scenes belong solely to Margaret Rutherford, which thankfully there are plenty of. Highlights include Miss Marple and Mr. Stringer collecting donations to help rehabilitate criminals and the duo performing the twist in preparation for the climatic ending. The extremely talented character actress, Flora Robson, has a wonderful part in Murder at the Gallop as the frightened companion to Aunt Cora, and Robert Urquhart, Katya Douglas, and James Villiers complete the cast. 

Murder at the Gallop was based on the Poirot mystery "After the Funeral". The film had its premiere in a tent at a garden party in rural Cheshire during a fundraiser and once again received good critic reviews after its national premiere. One critic however did not find the film amusing... Agatha Christie called it "incredibly silly" and often argued with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer over the scripts and characterizations of her stories, but to no avail. The London Times agreed, "The whole thing is happily calculated to convince foreigners yet again that everything they have been told about the English is absolutely true and only a trifle understated."

Murder Ahoy ( 1964 ) 

The next Miss Marple film to be released, Murder Ahoy, was actually the final one in the series to be filmed, with Murder Most Foul being temporarily delayed in its release. 

This film has the distinction of being the only one of the four pictures based on an original script, and unfortunately, that was a mistake...the movie suffers badly with long stretches of sleep-inducing sequences. Ron Goodwin's jaunty Marple theme fails to revive one, even in the film's most exciting moments. 

One redeeming quality, however, is the change of locale. Filmed at St. Mawes, on the Cornwall coast, Murder Ahoy gives one the impression of being on a seaside holiday. Miss Marple enjoys the respite herself and decks herself in full-rigged naval dress complete with brass buttons and tricorn hat. Quite fitting regalia indeed for a trustee of the H.M.S Battledore, a training ship used for rehabilitating juvenile delinquents. During the annual meeting of the trustees, Mr. Folly-Hardwicke snuffs himself out and drops dead before announcing a most dreadful finding - one of the instructors onboard the Battledore is an embezzler! 

Miss Marple brings out her trusty Slocum's Chemistry Set for Girls, discovers strychnine in the snuff, shanghai's her sweetheart Mr.Stringer, and then boldly sets out to board the Battledore and hoist the culprit on the highest yardarms. She makes an impressive splash and puts every member of the frigate properly ill at ease, before confronting the killer with crossed swords in a climatic finale. "It won't be as easy as you think" she burbles stoutly, "I was ladies' fencing champion in 1931", whereupon she lunges to attack for a swashbuckling finish. 

The inimitable character actor Lionel Jeffries plays the eccentric lead, Captain Rhumstone, in this seafaring outing that also features William Mervyn, Francis Matthews, Joan Benham and Gerald Cross. 

Murder Most Foul ( 1965 ) 

In this final installment in the series our doughty heroine finds herself in the blazing spotlights of a stage; a stage where murder and mayhem are being played out. After the former actress Mrs. McGinty is found hanging in her house with roses and money strewn on the floor about her, a young man is promptly arrested as the leading suspect. Miss Marple, serving on the jury during the trial, believes him innocent and decides to prove just that. Clues lead her to the Cosgood Players, a mixed lot of theatrical characters, and to one player in particular, a scheming murderer who kills twice more before Miss Marple drops the final curtain on him. 

Ron Moody, best known for his portrayal of Fagin in Oliver!, plays the leading supporting character Clifford Cosgood, head of the Cosgood Players, and not unlike Fagin, he is a thoroughly shifty-eyed sort. The marvelous Megs Jenkins has an all too brief appearance as Mrs. Thomas, the dead actress' sister who has taken a bit of a fancy to the dear Mr. Stringer, and Andrew Cruickshank, Ralph Michael, James Bolam, and Annette Kerr complete our cast of suspects. 

Margaret Rutherford gets to recite a splendid piece, "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" during her audition to become one of the Cosgood Players. This was one of Rutherford's favorite pieces and at one time she had to be dissuaded from performing it at a women's prison. "It was a good, bloodcurdling bit, which I thought the poor women would enjoy as they must have been disillusioned by the men in their lives," she said. These are words that prove what a beloved, albeit dotty, character one of the most popular British actresses of all time had. 

Murder Most Foul picks up on the pace once again after Murder Ahoy dropped the slack, but alas....it was not enough to draw fans into the theatres in droves and the declining box-office receipts were a sign that the Miss Marple series had reached their end. Such a shame too, for there were so many more good mysteries Margaret Rutherford's Miss Marple could have solved. 

This post was our contribution to Movie Silently's Sleuthathon : A Blogathon of Gumshoes. Be sure to check out all the other mysterious contributions and baffling blogs featuring your favorite detectives! 

The Top Ten Literary Film Adaptations Never Made

Here is our contribution to The Great Imaginary Film Blogathon, a celebration of all the wonderful classic films that us movie bloggers wish were made but never were. For today and tomorrow, classic movie fans will be writing fantasy reviews to movies that exist only in their imaginations. Be sure to check out all the great submissions here. 

Below you see some of our favorite "Why didn't they make that??" films. We would love to hear comments and suggestions on alternative castings/ideas on how these films could have been made. 

Enjoy!

The Adventures of King Arthur ( 1941 )

Plot : The life and times of Camelot's most famous king, from his humble beginnings, the pulling of the sword in the stone, to his meeting with Merlin the Wizard and his eventual downfall.
Studio: Warner Brothers Pictures
Director : Michael Curtiz
Cast : Errol Flynn ( Arthur Pendragon ), June Duprez ( Guinevere ), Gale Sondergaard ( Morgan Le Fey ), David Manners ( Mordred ), Patric Knowles ( Sir Tristam ), Evelyn Veneble ( Lady of the Lake ), Alan Hale, Burt Lahr.

"The Adventures of Robin Hood" was a box-office success upon its release and so Jack Warner decided to go ahead and follow it up with another great Howard Pyle adventure. This one was based on Pyle's four book saga on the rise and fall of the legendary King Arthur. The film focus on the exploits of Arthur himself and on the noble manhood of Lancelot but appropriately stays clear of indulging in too much romance surrounding Guinevere. Like Pyle's series, the film only hints at Lancelot's impending relationship with the queen in order to progress the story line towards the fall of Camelot. An excellent historical swashbuckler, with Warner Brother's usual stamp of high production values. 


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Anne of Green Gables ( 1967 )

Plot:  The stories are about the young red-headed orphan Anne and her uninhibited thirst for enjoying the beautiful in life as well as her adventures in growing up and becoming a schoolteacher on Prince Edward Island.
Studio: Walt Disney Studios
Director: David Swift
Cast: Shani Wallis ( Anne Shirley ), Michael Anderson Jr. ( Gilbert Blyth ) Agnes Moorehead ( Marilla Cuthbert ), Shirley Jones ( Minister's Wife ) Walter Brennan ( Matthew Cuthbert ), Rosemary DeCamp ( Rachel Lynde ).

When L.M Montgomery wrote "Anne of Green Gables" in 1908, little did she know that the book would become as popular as it did, but not one to ignore success, she quickly followed it up with a sequel, "Anne of Avonlea". In 1934, Anne Shirley ( who took her screen name from the book character ) starred in the RKO film version of the novel, which became a surprise hit for the studio and one of their top-grossing films of the year. "Anne of Windy Poplars" In the 1950s several Canadian production companies produced television adapations of the books and in 1965 a musical was made for the Canadian stage. It has since become Canada's longest running musical. 

However, it was time it was brought to the screen in full-color and so in 1965 Walt Disney purchased the rights to the stories and to the musical score and production began in late 1966. Walt's premature death did not put production on hold and it was released the same year as the studio's animated classic, "The Jungle Book". Shani Wallis, who became famous a year later in the Lionel Bart musical version of Oliver! starred as the young Anne Shirley and Agnes Moorehead, who had become a TV sensation as Samantha Steven's mother Endora, was perfectly cast as Marilla Cuthbert. 

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Howard's End ( 1947 ) 

Plot : Margaret Schlegel does an act of kindness to the aging Mrs. Wilcox, who in turn leaves her her beloved Howards End cottage to her when she dies. Wilcox's businessman husband and greedy son refuse to give the cottage to Schlegel but events take a turn for the better.
Studio : Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Director : Clarence Brown
Cast : Greer Garson ( Margaret Schlegel ), Joan Fontaine ( Helen Schlegel ), Ronald Colman ( Henry Wilcox ), Peter Lawford ( Leonard Bast ) , Mary Astor ( Mrs. Wilcox ).

E.M Forester's novel "Howard's End" fit right into MGM's line of novel adaptations they had selected for their leading lady, Greer Garson..films such as "Pride and Prejudice", "Blossoms in the Dust", "Mrs. Miniver" and "Random Harvest". This film also included her Random Harvest costar Ronald Colman, but unlike Harvest he portrays a rather dismissive businessman. A welcome change from his usual roles however. Joan Fontaine and Peter Lawford are perfect as the young couple, but it is truly Ms. Garson who steals the picture. The lovely Greer Garson personifies the gentle Margaret Schlegel and we can't help delighting in her gift of Howard's End. 

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Death on the Nile ( 1942 ) 

Plot : A passenger is murdered while on board a cruise through the Nile and Hercule Poirot must sift through the shipload of suspicious tourists to uncover the culprit.
Studio : 20th Century Fox
Director : George Waggner
Cast : Marcel Dalio ( Hercule Poirot ) Betty Field, Richard Denning, Reginald Gardiner, Lynn Bari, Douglass Montgomery, Mary Boland, Maria Ospenskaya, Martin Kosleck.

20th Century Fox's "Death on the Nile" brought Agatha Christie's thrilling Mediterranean set murder mystery to the screen with a dazzling cast of performers and it gave Paris-born character actor Marcel Dalio his first lead role as the inimitable detective Hercule Poirot.

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The Adventures of Baron Munchausen ( 1946 ) 

Plot : In a tavern in Bavaria, Baron Munchausen tells wild tales of his adventures around the world and during his days in the army. Hauptleute Boehmer calls Munchausen a fraud and sets out to prove his stories false...but surprisingly he finds many a strange tale to be true!
Studio : London Films
Director : Alexander Korda
Cast :  Ralph Richardson ( Hauptleute Boehmer ), Marius Goring ( Baron Munchausen ), Merle Oberon, Conrad Veidt, and Jean Simmons.

This is a wonderful and strangely amusing film from the fabulous Korda brothers. It evokes the bravado spirit of their previous successes, "The Four Feathers" and "The Thief of Bagdad" and yet has a childlike quality of humor about it that makes it very appealing. The scrumptious sets and vivid Technicolor filming add to its brilliance. In 1957, Danny Kaye added his signature comedic touch along with clever songs written by his wife, Slyvia Fine, to the Paramount remake of "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen". 

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The Mutinous Wind ( 1939 ) 

Plot : A young woman learns powers of witchcraft from an old book found in a captured Spanish galleon on Massachusett's Cape Cod. She then hides on a remote island where she comes across pirates while waiting for her sailor lover. 
Studio : Columbia Pictures
Director : Charles Vidor
Cast : Miriam Hopkins ( Mistress Maria Hallett, the Sea Witch ), Douglas Fairbank's Jr. ( Black Sam Bellamy ), Ida Lupino, Dean Stockwell.

Elizabeth Reynard's moodily evocative tale of old Cape Cod folklore comes to vivid life in this glorious black and white Fox film adaptation. Dean Stockwell and Miriam Hopkins are excellent, but Douglas Fairbanks Jr. seemed a bit miscast in our opinion. We would have liked to have seen Louis Hayward, or even Errol Flynn in this role instead. 

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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow ( 1942 ) 

Plot : A timid schoolteacher comes to the quiet village of Sleepy Hollow, falls in love with one of his students and wishes to marry her, but must first contend with the village prankster who also desires her hand in marriage and seems to be using a disguise as a headless horseman to scare him away...or is the phantom rider real?
Studio : Universal Studios
Director : Erle C. Kenton
Cast : Lon Chaney ( Ichabod Crane ), Evelyn Ankers ( Katrina Van Tassel ), Nigel Bruce ( Van Tassel's father ), Brom Van Brunt ( Victor MacLagen ), Claude Rains ( The Sheriff ).

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is not one of Universal's most recognized works today and many people overlook this little gem but the studio pulled out all the stops for their rendition of the Washington Irving classic short story and brought it to vivid life. Great special effects, atmospheric sets, a snappy screenplay ( Leonard Lee's original screenplay bore little resemblance to the Irving story ) and a steady handling by "House of Frankenstein" director Erle C. Kenton ensured a box-office hit for the studio. 

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The Golden Compass ( 1972 ) 

Plot : A young girl, living with her uncle at Jordan College, hears rumors of a magical dust that could unite whole universes. With the aid of a band of gyptians and armored polar bears she seeks to find this substance before her unknown enemy gets their hands on it.
Studio : MGM
Director : Ken Annakin
Cast :  Kim Richards ( Lyra Silvertongue ), Christopher Plummer ( Lord Asriel ), Anna Quayle ( Mrs. Coulter ), Anthony Newley ( King of the Gyptians ).

A beautiful scoring by the Sherman Brothers highlights this colorful film adaption of Philip Pullman's beloved children's story. After the success of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", producer Albert "Cubby" Broccoli decided to invest in another children's film and this was the result! Little Kim Richards, who stars as Lyra, gained popularity on television as the daughter of Professor Everett in "Nanny and the Professor" and later, with the Walt Disney Studios, in the Witch Mountain films. Although the animation sequences - especially of the polar bears - are not up to par with Disney's standards they still remain a beautiful addition to this adventurous film. 

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The Riddle of the Sands ( 1938 )

Plot: While doing mapping studies onboard his yacht on the northern coast of Germany in 1908 a young man meets a rich German family and discovers a sinister plot against England! 
Studio: Archer Productions
Director: Michael Powell
Cast: John Mills, John Clements, Valerie Hobson, Anton Walbrook, Ludwig Stossel. 


Before Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger made a name for themselves in the mid-1940s with their beautiful Technicolor productions, they were carving quite a niche writing and producing spy thrillers. Riddle of The Sands was one of their most popular and it starred some of their favorite studio players, including Anton Walbrook and Valerie Hobson. John Mills and John Clements would later make names for themselves in "Goodbye Mr. Chips" and "The Four Feathers", respectfully. Erskin Childer's novel, one of the first spy adventure stories ever written, was later remade in 1979 with Michael York and Simon McCorkindale.

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The Life of Edward Bok ( 1936 ) 

Plot: An autobiographical account of Edward Bok, editor of the Ladies Home Journal, founder of Bok Sanctuary and an influential man in American history. 
Studio: MGM
Director : 
Cast: Robert Donat ( Edward Bok ), Charles Laughton ( publisher of the Ladies Home Journal ), Ida Lupino (Mary Curtis Bok ), Donald Crisp ( Frederick Law Olmsted ), and Spring Byington ( Bok's mother ). 


When Edward Bok wrote "The Americanization of Edward Bok" in 1920, he was amazed to find that it rose to the top of the bestselling book list. His humble account of coming to America and his subsequent rags-to-riches-rise to national fame through his editorials captured the imagination of readers everywhere. It was no surprise then that in 1935 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer purchased the rights to Bok's autobiography and began rewriting his life for the silver screen. In all fairness though, Metro did a very good job on selecting the best parts of his life to highlight. The first half of the film focus on Bok's struggles and his desire to make a difference in America, and the second half covers the opportunities he had to do this as well as the building and designing of his beloved sanctuary, Bok Gardens. Donald Crisp has a wonderful, but all too brief, appearance as landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted. 

The Missing Miss Marple Film

When Agatha Christie first wrote "The Tuesday Night Club", a short story which had appeared in The Sketch magazine in 1926, she had little idea that her protagonist - a small-framed, bespeckled, gossiping little old lady - would charm the public as much as it had. What made this spinster from the sleepy hamlet of St. Mary Mead so endearing? Beneath her seemingly dotty facade she kept hidden a master intellect capable of accurately judging character and shrewdly sifting truth from fiction....attributes that helped her immensely in her hobby - solving mysteries.

Her name was Jane Marple, more commonly known simply as "Miss Marple". 

Miss Marple appeared in over thirty different novels and short stories from her introduction in the mid-1920s. However, in spite of her popularity it was not until 1961 that she made her first screen appearance in Murder She Said, an adaption of one of Christie's most popular Marple mysteries, "4:50 from Paddington". 

Dame Margaret Rutherford played the lead role in this film and, despite Christie's misgivings about her suitability to the role, she captured the essence of our quintessential snoopy-sleuth to perfection. The film was quite popular at the box-office and three other Marple mysteries were released within the next two years, Murder at the Gallop, Murder Most Foul and Murder Ahoy. With all the changing winds of the mid-sixties blowing in, the series was - sadly - brought to an abrupt end. 

We'd like to share a review of the fifth Miss Marple mystery that Margaret Rutherford would have made, had the series continued on. Enjoy! 

MURDER IS ANNOUNCED ( 1965 ) 

Studio : Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Prod.

Directed by : Ronald Neame 

Cast : Margaret Rutherford ( Miss Jane Marple ), Gladys Cooper ( Duchess Wynfleet ), Leslie Philips ( Reginald Wynfleet ), Sue Lloyd ( Dana Malstrom ) Stringer Davis ( Mr. Stringer ), Charles Tingwell ( Inspector Craddock ), Keiron Moore ( fisherman Rodgers ), Joyce Grenfell ( Buntley librarian ), Norman Bowler ( David Wynfleet ), Valerie Van Ost ( Binnie ).

The film opens with a fisherman hauling in his catch one early morning and lo! what is amongst his aquatic load? A body...of the two-legged variety. 

Meanwhile in Miss Marple's village of Milchester, everything is peaceful as usual. Mr. Stringer, the village librarian, is spending a Saturday afternoon at Miss Marple's cottage enjoying her company and her excellent tea and biscuits. Her conversational repartee isn't up to par on this day however, for, while perusing the obituaries, she was startled to read this article : 

MR. GILES TOWNSEND, 67

The body of Mr. Giles Townsend, of London, was found early this morning by a fisherman about a mile out from the coast at Buntley-by-the-sea. The police are investigating his death which appears to be from suicide caused by drowning. Mr. Townsend was one of London's most prominent genealogists. 

"Miss Marple, your interest in the obituaries is distressingly morbid. Have you ever thought about taking up a gentle hobby?" 

Little does Mr. Stringer know that Miss Marple is indeed very active in her community. In fact, it was because of her involvement in the Ladies of Milchester Society that made her recognize Mr. Townsend's name. She had written a letter to him only days earlier asking if he would give a lecture at the society's next meeting on Thursday. Why had he committed suicide? Or was it suicide?

That evening she is even more disturbed when she receives a rather cryptic letter from Mr. Townsend, postmarked two days earlier from Ye Old Ship's Inn, Buntley-by-the-sea. He states that he will be more than happy to make a speech for the ladies group but will not be able to arrive until Friday, as he is deep in research tracing a most prominent family's lineage. "England's future may just rest on the information I find!" he writes. These are not the words of a man who is about to kill himself. 

She takes her letter to Inspector Craddock but he dismisses her evidence as unsubstantial. And so Miss Marple packs up her bags and declares she is going "on holiday"...to the seaside. Buntley-by-the-sea. 

Inquiries at Ye Old Ships Inn and the local library reveal to Miss Marple that Mr. Townsend arrived in Buntley solely for the purpose of doing genealogy research on the Duke and Duchess Wynfleet. He had uncovered the fact that the current Wynfleets were not rightful heirs to the title nor the Wynfleet fortune. Perhaps this was the reason he was murdered?? 

With Mr. Stringers assistance ( he does a wonderful portrayal of an absent minded genealogist ) Miss Marple goes undercover to investigate at the Wynfleet estate and finds a house full of possible suspects... including the Duchess herself. 

Murder is Announced was a gem in the Rutherford series of Miss Marple films. It included one of the best casts with the inimitable Dame Gladys Cooper as the crusty Duchess Wynfleet. Gladys Cooper had been in films since the 1920s and had a made a name for herself in Hollywood for playing upper-crust, and often overbearing, English matrons. She had starred on Broadway as Mrs. St. Maugham in the 1956 stage adaption of Enid Bagnold's "The Chalk Garden" so the role of Duchess Wynfleet came very easily for her since they were quite similar characters. 

The film also boasts some wonderful supporting players such as Leslie Philips ( a delightful change from his usual comedy roles ), Joyce Grenfell, Keiron Moore, and Marple regulars Charles Tingwell ( as Inspector Craddock ) and Stringer Davis..who was in fact, Margaret Rutherford's husband. 

Ron Goodwin's jaunty theme music trips along throughout the film and helps enhance some of the more lackluster sequences. 

It is a shame that the series had to end after so few pictures because they are perfect films to watch on chilly autumn nights..which we will be having plenty of soon in the northern states!

This post is apart of The Great Imaginary Film Blogathon which will be running from Oct. 1-3, 2013. To read more about the event click here.