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Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

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

Bill Slocum 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.

vincentlynch-moonoi I'm glad to see that this film gets a pretty good rating by IMDb reviewers; it's quite a neat little mystery.The real attraction here is the wonderful performance of Margaret Rutherford, at age 72. Apparently Agatha Christie didn't at first like Rutherford in the role...but then, authors don't always understand that films are a totally different medium than books, and in my view Rutherford is exactly what the audience (and I) wanted in the role.The next best thing in the film is the story itself. Miss Marple is riding in a train, and witnesses a murder in a passing train. Of course, no one believes her, so she decides to investigate on her own...and ultimately does find the body of a young woman at a country estate. The question is -- who is the murderer among the slightly odd characters that live at the estate or are visiting relatives. It's good that Miss Marple displays moments of great courage, as well as moments of great fear...makes the character seem more real.There are really only 3 actors here that most Americans are going to recognize -- Rutherford, James Robertson Justice (who plays the crippled owner of the estate), and -- surprisingly -- Arthur Kennedy. Kennedy. Kennedy is one of those actors who sometimes seemed typecast in ne'er do well roles; unfortunately, it sometimes made one overlook just how good he was. He nicely here, although we never learn why there is an American doctor working in the British countryside.Unlike many British films of the era, this one never lags...it keeps a good pace.And by the way, her friend -- played by Stringer Davis -- was Rutherford's real husband.Simply delicious, with a most surprising end.

Paul Evans 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

AaronCapenBanner George Pollock directed this adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel "4:50 From Paddington" that stars Margaret Rutherford as Jane Marple, an older but still lively woman who loves to read mysteries, and while on a train witnesses a woman being strangled. She tries to convince police, led by Inspector Craddock(played by Charles Tingwell) but no body can be found, so she then proceeds to investigate the matter herself, enlisting her librarian friend Mr. Stringer as she goes in search of a body, which leads to the home of a wealthy family that she then gets a job with as a maid. Then more murders occur... Fun film with Rutherford both smart and amusing, with nice atmosphere and cast.