Miss Marple: Le train de 16 h 50

Whilst traveling by train to visit her friend Jane Marple, Elspeth McGillicuddy wakes from her slumber and witnesses a man strangling a woman on a passing train. With no other witnesses and no trace of a body, the police don't believe her story, so Miss Marple engages Lucy Eyelesbarrow to help uncover the mystery.

It's a very faithful, beautifully made version; production values are incredibly high. The music is lovely and melodic; it's never invasive, and it helps generate atmosphere.

Some totally iconic scenes too; the whole sequence of Lucy discovering the body is one of the most memorable bits of TV from my childhood. It's beautifully filmed, and the music is superb; it adds to the tension. The set and props are wonderful.

Beautifully acted with some wonderful performances, my favorite being Joanna David's; she is superb as Emma, making her downtrodden and meek but wonderfully believable. Maurice Denham is wonderful as always, and Jean Boht's cameo as Madame Jolie is delightful. Jill Meager puts in a great performance, be it it's a little surprising how she has men falling at her feet, she's so prim and proper. (Is that Bertram's Hotel I spy for their first meeting?)

The ending is nicely staged and suitably dramatic. It seemed at the time like she was always using Somerset House.

It's an excellent production, a little doddery in parts, but very faithful to the book. Hickson is excellent as always but somewhat takes a back seat in this one, she's very much an observer.

This one makes for perfect Sunday teatime viewing.

8/10.

Many actresses in the twilight of their careers have taken on the role of Miss Marple, including Margaret Rutherford, Helen Hayes and the seemingly immortal Angela Landsbury. However, I believe the one actress whose claim to being closest to Christie's original vision was Joan Hickson. Joan Hickson in the 1980's literally was Miss Marple, not unlike Vivian Leigh who was Scarlett O'Hara. These two actresses were nearly born to play these roles, and whenever I read a Marple mystery, I imagine the likes of Hickson. Marple was probably Christie's most interesting creation, simmultaneously polite and sweet yet irritating and needling. She was always helping out on cases where Scotland Yard felt it was none of her business, which makes her quite an enigma. The little old spinster with the mind of an Einstein, Marple is the female equivalent of Sherlock Holmes.

These BBC productions are still some of the best adaptations of the Miss Marple cases written by Agatha Christie. Some viewers have criticized them for being rather plodding and slow. Ever read a Christie novel? These books were written deliberately in a rather slow and detailed manner because they were meant as literary puzzles. Christie's novels were not so much about insight into the human condition, such as in the work of P.D. James. Rather, Christie's books were specifically designed to offer the reader all the facts of the case, and the reader could try to solve the puzzle before the solution is revealed at the end.

"4:50 from Paddington" involves a friend of Miss Marple, Mrs McGillicuddy, who is traveling on a train from Paddington. At one point, her train passes another going the other direction. For a split second, she sees a murder being committed on the other train before it disappears. McGillicuddy just happens to be on her way to Miss Marple's hometown, St. Mary Mead. Mrs McGillicuddy visits Miss Marple and describes what she saw. While there have been no reports of any murder, Miss Marple believes her, begins to investigate, and pieces together the case.

One of the best Joan Hickson performances, and one of the better Miss Marple mysteries in general. If you've not seen Hickson as Marple, you have yet to see Miss Jane Marple in the flesh. I also have to give honorable mention to the sweet music which opens and closes these Marple mysteries. The oboe melody seems to be a perfect musical portrayal of one of the most memorable characters in the Mystery genre.

4:50 From Paddington Station was also the first Agatha Christie Miss Marple story to be adapted for Margaret Rutherford in Murder She Said. Comparing the two is six of one, half a dozen of the other.

For the big screen the characters of the woman who saw the strangling on a passing train and the woman who Miss Marple sends in as a housekeeper to scout out the terrain are eliminated. Rutherford's character serves as both and one of the biggest strengths of the film is Rutherford doing her own scouting and sleuthing and her scenes with ailing family patriarch James Robertson Justice are a hoot and a half.

Joan Hickson's Jane Marple is a milder sort, but still a woman who doesn't miss much. This version is faithful to the Christie story and has a friend of Miss Marple see the strangling of a woman and her being thrown out the window of a train going the other way. But no body turns up near the tracks. At that point Hickson goes into action and determines that the body was most likely thrown off near the Crackenthorpe estate. At that point she sends in Jill Meager as an operative so to speak.

The Crackenthorpes are wealthy British family, new money, they got rich manufacturing breakfast cereal. And they've got an ailing patriarch with one of those crazy wills that provide a host of relatives as suspects.

I will say this, the same perpetrator in the Margaret Rutherford movie does the deed again in 4:50 From Paddington Station. And nearly gets away with it, but for an unexpected witness.

A little slow, but more is explained and the murder itself doesn't seem quite as contrived as the Rutherford film.

Miss Marple's best friend, Elspeth McGillicuddy (Mona Bruce), witnesses a man strangling a woman on a passing train. When nobody believes her, Miss Marple (Joan Hickson), conducts her own investigation in order to bring the culprit to justice.

Carefully constructed adaptation of Agatha Christie's 1957 mystery of the same name. It was filmed twenty-seven years earlier as MURDER SHE SAID (1962) with Margaret Rutherford playing Miss Marple. Interestingly Joan Hickson appeared in the latter film as the Crackenthorpe's housekeeper Mrs Kidder. Rutherford wasn't exactly faithful to Christie's original character, but she made the part entirely her own and she was always a joy to watch. Hickson makes a convincing Miss Marple and she is more to the letter of the book than Rutherford, but alongside each other they are still the best two actresses to have played the character. This film moves at a good pace and Hickson is most ably assisted by a first rate supporting cast including Maurice Denham as Luther Crackenthorpe, Joanna David as Emma Crackenthorpe, Jill Meager as Lucy Eyelesbarrow and John Hallam as Cedric Crackenthorpe. The only slight weakness in the film is that it sometimes tends towards the stodginess of an old drawing room play, which was quite common with so many of the BBC's dramas at this time. Still there is a good feeling for period detail and this is streets ahead of ITV's latest attempt to bring Miss Marple to television. See Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: The Body In The Library (2004).

Elspeth McGillicuddy is taking the 4:50 from Paddington (a train) to visit a friend and falls asleep. She awakens to see another train on a set of tracks parallel to hers. Suddenly, a window shade zips up and Mrs. McGillicuddy sees a woman being strangled by a man whose back is to her. The train moves on and Mrs. McGillicuddy is left is significant distress. The person she was visiting? Miss Marple, of course. And we're off to the races.

Miss Marple's investigations bring her to the doorstep of the eccentric Crackenthorpe family and she hires a formidable assistant in the guise of the lovely and efficient Lucy Eyelesbarrow (Jill Meager) who infiltrates the household in the guise of a housekeeper. She becomes Miss Marple's eyes and ears.

It's arguably one of the best of the Marple mysteries. In part because when I read the book, I was completely surprised by who the murderer was (some excellent literary misdirection here) but also because the story contains a series of characters who are, for the most part, fairly sympathetic (unlike the detestable Fortescues in "Pocketful of Rye"). And the hint of romance between Lucy and one of the suspects is a nice addition.