Very well executed

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

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

Entertaining whodunit and the first of George Pollock's teaming with Margaret Rutherford as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple has the elderly, scruffy, diligent, gutsy civilian sleuth investigating the mysterious murder of a woman she saw strangled on a train (going the opposite direction of the train she was traveling). It ties to a family of bickering brothers (and one brother-in-law), several waiting for the eldest to kick the bucket so they can gain the inheritance that is yet to be claimed. In the will of their father, eldest son, Luther (James Justice) doesn't get a dime due to their bitter differences. Luther is a blustery, ornery, loud aging miser that is rather difficult to get along with. Emma doesn't fare well under Luther's agonizing bullying ordering her around, while the inquisitive, scheming, probing, accusatory Cedric (played with a lascivious wretchedness by Thorley Walters, a far cry from his amiable, innocuous characters introduced by Hammer Studios) tries to learn of who might want him and the brothers dead when a poisoning narrowly misses killing them all but one: brother Albert. When brother Harold is found dead by part-time servant, Miss Kidder (Joan Hickson, also associated with the character of Miss Marple later) bicycling home, by a shotgun blast (suicide or murder?), the dwindling numbers worry those still alive. A musical compact with a distinctive tune, a written letter by a supposed French woman named Martine (discovered to be the strangled victim), and reasoning for wanting to get closer to the inheritance all factor into all the developments which leads to Marple's near death by "lethal injection". Arthur Kennedy stars as Luther's physician and Emma's (Murial Pavlow) romantic love interest. He also *assists* detective inspector Craddock (Bud Tigwell). Rounding out the cast is Michael Golden as the snobby grounds-keeper, Stringer Davis as Marple's partner-in-sleuth, and Ronnie Raymond as mischievous, wise-beyond-his-years intellectual grandson of Luther who becomes a particularly amusing sparring partner for Marple.Luther and Marple's sharp-tongued back-and-forths, litany of greedy suspects looking to gain hold to the inheritance at arm's length if Luther dies, the sneaky antics of a kid among snooty adults who is perhaps smarter than they are (always showing up with just the right words to stir the pot), Walters' provoking using devious methods to target his own family (he has a conversation with Marple during a late thunderstorm where he tells her he plans to keep an eye on her, initiating accusation that the body of Martine wasn't found until she arrived), and Marple's own knowing wisdom and watchful interpretation of the events that transpire as she comes to her conclusions through correct deductive reasoning makes Murder, She Said a hoot to watch unfold. Even how Marple learns of how the body ties to the family is neat to see develop: thrown from a train, moved a little later, then hidden until proper unveiling could take place, the strangler sets up quite a plot to throw the scent away from who he is. The kid of the film playing tricks on not just Marple but anyone that offers him a chance to use his clever wits provides some amusement. Marple admiring his antics with a bit of a grin is a nice nod to how well the kid appeals to her.

My history of introspection in film starts with clever mystery writers. Then when talkies fell on us there was a huge experimental breeding ground for techniques that worked. By the 40s that chapter was all over and noir was incubated.Agatha Christie played a central role in this history with her wild experiments, sliding narratives and dynamic reinterpretation of what we know. So when a mature cinematic tradition deals with her material, the solutions fascinate me.In the books, the detective is a compelling personality: doomed by chance to be a matron in a small village, she is nonetheless the brightest lamp in the area. Here, she is a shuffling if fearless busybody. This adjustment turns the story possibilities inside out. She doesn't figure anything out in this movie, just finds clues.I know there are folks who have fallen in love with some actor/actress who portrays one of Christie's detectives. I like some of them myself, but it is airplanes compared to birds. There is still some grace, but not the fluid life of the earlier.My original IMDb comment on this was one of several hundred deleted by a Christian warrior because of a comment on another film.

Margaret Rutherford stars for the first time as Dame Agatha Christie's sleuth Miss Jane Marple in "Murder, She Said," which costars Arthur Kennedy, James Robertson Justice, and her real-life husband, Stringer Davis, as her closest friend, Mr. Stringer. On a train ride, she witnesses a murder taking place on a passing train, when the shutter concealing it flies open. Of course, no one believes her. So she proceeds to investigate the murder herself, despite Inspector Craddock's (Charles Tingwell) discouragement to do so. But, all that is secondary to Miss Rutherford. Margaret Rutherford is Miss Jane Marple and gives the performance of a lifetime in all four movies of this mystery series. The best one of the four in terms of story, acting by all concerned, and sheer entertainment, in my opinion, would be the second one, Murder at the Gallop. Murder Ahoy and Murder Most Foul follow. But all of them I would rank as between 7 and 10. If you've never seen these, then you're missing one of the best things ever to come from not only British cinema, but cinema itself.Maragaret Rutherford rocks! Long live Margaret Rutherford!