Murder Most Foul

1964 - Dir.: George Pollock (16mm print)

Shown at The FeckenOdeon on 27th September, 2003

Many fine actors have had a crack at Miss Marple - notably, and most recently, Joan Hickson - but few have achieved such popular success as Margaret Rutherford. Although Christie admired and eventually became friends with the redoubtable Margaret (even dedicating one of her Miss Marple novels, "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side", to the actress) she apparently did not like the MGM films at all. This was the third in the hugely popular series. "Murder, She Said" (1962) set the humorous tone that would follow in the subsequent films: "Murder at the Gallop" (1963), "Murder Most Foul" (1964), and "Murder Ahoy!" (1964). This film was based on Christie's 1952 novel "Mrs. McGinty's Dead" which featured Hercule Poirot as the sleuth. Christie described the title as "rotten" - it seems that the cinema going public did not agree!