Murder Most Foul

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Murder Most Foul
Directed by	George Pollock
Written by	David Pursall (screenplay) Agatha Christie (novel)
Starring	Margaret Rutherford Stringer Davis Ron Moody Bud Tingwell
Music by	Ron Goodwin
Distributed by	MGM
Release date(s)	1964
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English German
Preceded by	Murder at the Gallop
Followed by	Murder Ahoy!
IMDb profile

Murder Most Foul is the third of four films, made by MGM, loosely 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.

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] 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.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

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?