Murder Most Foul
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Murder Most Foul is the third of four films, made by MGM, based, or claimed to be based, on novels by Agatha Christie and starring Margaret Rutherford as Miss Jane Marple, Bud Tingwell as Inspector Craddock and Stringer Davis (Rutherford's real-life Husband) as Mr Stringer.
The film was made in 1964 and directed by George Pollock, with David Pursall credited with the adaptation. The music was by Ron Goodwin.
Plot
The story is ostensibly based on the novel Mrs McGinty's Dead but totally changes the action and the characters. Hercule Poirot is replaced by Miss Marple and most other characters are not in the original story.Margaret McGinty, a barmaid and former actress, is found hanged, and her lodger, Harold Taylor, caught at the scene, seems plainly guilty. It's an open-and-shut case, the police think, but Miss Marple, a member of the jury that tries him, is not so sure and the jury cannot agree.
Despite the disapproval of the police, Miss Marple is driven to investigate further. This sees her audition for and join a troupe of repertory theatre players, the Cosgood Players under their actor/mananger Driffold Cosgood (Ron Moody). She secures accommodation in a boarding house where the cast are staying and worms her way into their confidence. Two cast members die in quick succession, and Miss Marple again suspects foul play. Can she solve the mystery of who killed who, and why?
Cast
- Margaret Rutherford — Miss Marple
- Stringer Davis — Mr. Stringer
- Ron Moody — H Driffold Cosgood
- Andrew Cruikshank — Justice Crosby
- Bud Tingwell — Inspector Craddock
- Megs Jenskins — Gladys Thomas
- Dennis Price — Harris Tumbrill
Trivia
As an audition piece to join the players, Miss Marple recites several verses of The Shooting of Dan McGrew, by Robert W Service.
External links
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