Murder Most Foul (1964)

Murder Most Foul is a British crime film first released in 1964, directed by George Pollock.  The film stars Margaret Rutherford, Ron Moody, Charles ’Bud’ Tingwell, Andrew Cruickshank and Megs Jenkins.  It has also been released under the title: Agatha Christie’s ’Murder Most Foul’.  Our overall rating for this film is: good.


When Mrs McGinty, a barmaid in a small English village, is found hanged, a neighbour kneeling beside her body is the obvious culprit.  But Miss Marple is not so sure.  A juror at the murder trial, she is unable to deliver a guilty verdict against the accused man and so begins her own investigation.   When she learns that the dead woman was formerly involved with a theatrical company, the Gosgood players, the enterprising Miss Marple decides it is time for her to tread the boards.  But no sooner has she been accepted into the company than another murder takes place...

In her fourth turn as the irrepressible amateur sleuth Miss Marple, Margaret Rutherford still has what it takes to enliven a humdrum murder mystery, despite being now comfortably into her eight decade.  Here she appears alongside another great British character actor, Ron Moody, who would find fame as Fagin in the stage and film versions of the Lionel Bart musical Oliver!  Loosely based on Agatha Christie’s novel Mrs McGinty’s Dead, Murder Most Foul is probably not the best entry in the series, but Rutherford’s bravura performance makes it an enjoyable divertissement, which is marred only by Terry Scott’s Carry On-style British bobby.

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