ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Btexxamar I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

MartinHafer 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!

gridoon2018 "4:50 From Paddington" is probably one of Agatha Christie's best Miss Marple stories, with lots of interesting & diverse characters, and a fairly simple but very clever misdirection at its center. Having seen the other two filmed versions of this story (the 2004 one with Geraldine McEwan is undoubtedly one of the high points of that series), this one held few surprises for me, though it must be said that, for all its comedic overtones, it follows the story quite closely (apart from eliminating Marple's friend, who witnesses the crime, and Marple's niece, who goes undercover as a housekeeper to investigate it - Marple herself assumes these roles here!) and it plays the serious moments seriously; the ending, an one-on-one between Marple and the killer, is quite effective. Margaret Rutherford is utterly delightful as Miss Marple and she's blessed with a solid supporting cast, but I would like to have seen the fascinating family dynamics of this tale explored a little more. The music theme is fantastic. *** out of 4.

ShadeGrenade Agatha Christie purists generally hate the 1960's 'Miss Marple' movies starring the sublime Margaret Rutherford - indeed the author was not too fond of them either - but they undeniably are great entertainment ( ideal for viewing on a wet Sunday afternoon ). The first - 'Murder She Said' - opens with Marple boarding a train in London. En route back to the country village of Milchester, she sees a woman on a passing locomotive being strangled. The train guard ( Peter Butterworth ) thinks she is dotty. Inspector Craddock ( Charles Tingwell ) finds no evidence, so that seems to be that. With her nervous librarian friend Mr.Stringer ( Stringer Davis, Rutherford's real-life husband ) in tow, Miss Marple decides to check out the railway line. Evidence leads to the home of Mr.Ackenthorpe ( James Robertson Justice ), a thoroughly disagreeable bedridden old gent suffering from some unknown condition, so she takes a job as maid...The main reason why these films are so good is Rutherford herself, playing 'Marple' like a geriatric Sherlock Holmes with the sex reversed. Having spent her life avidly reading detective fiction, when the opportunity to solve a murder comes her way the eccentric spinster grabs it with both hands. Interviewed for the '70's children's show 'Clapperboard', composer Ron Goodwin claimed he wrote that wonderfully jaunty theme tune with Rutherford in mind, rather than Marple. In each of the films, she was given a strong male lead to play off against, here ( as noted earlier ) its James Robertson Justice, who starts out by hating Marple but by the story's end is so taken by her he proposes marriage. Other familiar faces include Thorley Walters, a fresh-faced Richard Briers, Conrad Phillips, Muriel Pavlow, Ronald Howard, and Arthur Kennedy. Ronnie Raymond as 'Alexander', a whining brat who makes you pray he is next on the killer's list. All four films were directed by George Pollock, who later made an all-star adaptation of Christie's 'Ten Little Indians'. It was recently announced that Disney is to make a new 'Marple' movie starring 42-year old Jennifer Garner. Oh dear. I bet they throw in a few wisecracking, singing mice for good measure!

edwagreen Benign affair with Margaret Rutherford in the role that she was born to play-the feisty murderer solver Jane Marple.When Marple witnesses a strangulation on another passing train, this opens up quite an adventure for our problem solver. She pretends to be a maid and goes to work for quite a dysfunctional family.Until the very end, Arthur Kennedy is terribly miscast as an affable benign doctor whose in love with the crusty old patriarch's daughter. What a nasty family we have there with everyone obviously waiting for the old man to close his eyes so that they can inherit a fortune.Marple literally digs for clues and the end scene, after the murder is resolved, even gets a marriage proposal from our old gentleman.