FAQ

While looking out the window of her train compartment, Miss Jane Marple (Margaret Rutherford) sees a woman being strangled in another train. She alerts the authorities, however they can find no body nor evidence of foul play, so they chalk it up to a dotty old maid dozing off while reading a crime novel, Death Has Windows. Not one to be daunted, Jane and her librarian friend, Jim Stringer (Stringer Davis), go walking along the railroad tracks, and Jane notices a flattened patch of grass where it looks like a body might have been thrown. The patch is just outside the walls of Ackenthorpe Hall, so Miss Marple takes a job as cook and maid to cantankerous old Luther Ackenthorpe (James Robertson Justice) and begins to snoop around for a body.

Murder She Said is based on the novel 4.50 from Paddington by British crime writer Dame Agatha Christie [1890-1976]. The screenplay is credited to David Osborn, David Pursall, and Jack Seddon.

Aside from Luther Ackenthorpe, there are his children -- Cedric (Thorley Walters), Harold (Conrad Phillips), Albert (Gerald Cross), and Emma (Muriel Pavlow) -- his son-in-law Brian Eastley (Ronald Howard), his grandson Alexander Eastley (Ronnie Raymond dubbed by Martin Stephens), Hillman (Michael Golden) the gardener, Ackenthorpe's personal physician Dr Quimper (Arthur Kennedy), and Mrs Kidder (Joan Hickson) the day maid.

Cheroot is a type of cigar with both ends clipped off squarely. Because of this, they do not taper and are inexpensive to roll, which is why Ackenthorpe prefers them over more expensive cigars.

Just before bedtime, Jane has Dr Quimper stop by her room to check on her sore throat. She purposely leaves the compact laying on the table in full view. Quimper comments on the compact then examines her throat and neck. Jane calls his attention to a mirror in which his hands on her throat can be seen and informs him that she's seen his hands like this before on another woman's throat. She describes her belief that he gave the compact to someone -- probably his wife -- then killed her, wrote the letter supposedly from Martine in order to cast suspicion on the Ackenthorpea, then murdered Albert and Howard...all in an attempt to marry Emma and share in her inheritance. As Quimper is about to inject Jane with something to induce heart failure, Inspector Craddock (Charles 'Bud' Tingwell) and Sergeant Bacon (Gordon Harris) step out from behind a curtain and nab Quimper. The case finally solved, Jane gives notice and visits Luther to say goodbye. She is most surprised when he asks her to marry him, but she politely refuses. In the final scene, Jim drives Jane away from Ackenthorpe Hall in his car, to which Alexander has tied shoes and added a sign saying, 'Just married.'

Yes, many. Margaret Rutherford starred as Miss Jane Marple in three more Agatha Christie movies: Murder at the Gallop (1963) (1963), Murder Most Foul (1964) (1964), and Murder Ahoy (1964) (1964). In the mid-1980s and early 1990s, Joan Hickman (who played Mrs Kidder in this movie) starred as Miss Marple in a series of TV movies collectively titled 'Agatha Christie's Miss Marple'. These included Miss Marple: A Murder Is Announced (1985) (1985), Miss Marple: At Bertram's Hotel (1987) (1985), Miss Marple: The Moving Finger (1985) (1985), Miss Marple: Sleeping Murder (1987) (1987), Miss Marple: A Pocketful of Rye (1985) (1987), Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: 4:50 from Paddington (1987) (1987), Miss Marple: A Caribbean Mystery (1989) (1989), Miss Marple: They Do It with Mirrors (1991) (1991), and Miss Marple: The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (1992) (1992). In the 2000s, Geraldine McEwan played Miss Marple in another series of TV movies collectively titled 'Agatha Christie Marple', including The Murder at the Vicarage (2004) (2004), The Body in the Library (2004) (2004), A Murder Is Announced (2005) (2005), Sleeping Murder (2006) (2006), By the Pricking of My Thumbs (2006) (2006), and Ordeal by Innocence (2007) (2007).Julia McKenzie then took on the role in A Pocket Full of Rye (2008) (2008), Murder Is Easy (2008) (2008), and Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (2009) (2009). Others to play Miss Marple in TV movies include Helen Hayes in A Caribbean Mystery (1983) (1983) and Murder with Mirrors (1985) (1985) as well as Angela Lansbury in The Mirror Crack'd (1980) (1980). Lansbury went on to star as Jessica Fletcher in the TV series 'Murder, She Wrote (1984)' (1984-1996). While not featuring Miss Marple, the series is a titular nod to Christie's Murder She Said.