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.

I've been a mystery fan for most of my life and particularly fond of Agatha Christie's well known characters, Jane Marple and Hercules Poirot. I was surprised recently when viewing one of the old films in my collection, "Murder, She Said" from 1961. This was the first of four movies starring Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple. The film was loosely based on Christie's "4.50 From Paddington". Marple poses as a domestic to investigate a murder. One of the other servants in the home is played by none other than Joan Hickson. This may not be completely relevant in commenting upon the later version, but I thought it was interesting that Hickson appeared in a Marple film 26 years before this one was released. The Rutherford movies aren't very faithful to Christie, but they're very entertaining. However, if you're an avid Miss Marple fan, you'll be overjoyed with these productions featuring Hickson. She truly embodies Agatha's character like no other actress. I highly recommend these to any mystery fan.

4.50 from Paddington, or What Mrs. McGuillicuddy Saw, is an Agatha Christie Miss Marple story that was also filmed as a Margaret Rutherford film, Murder She Said.

It's a fun story with a surprise villain. In the story, a friend (Mona Bruce) of Jane Marple's traveling by train to visit her witnesses the strangling of a woman on a train going in the opposite direction.

No one except Marple takes her seriously, no evidence can be found, and Marple's involvement annoys her nemesis, DI Slack. He does very little on the case. In studying the train route, Marple feels the body was thrown off the train and landed on the grounds of the Crackenthorpe estate.

The family has difficulty keeping domestic staff, so Miss Marple enlists the help of a fabulous young housekeeper, Lucy, and asks her to get a position there. In her spare time, she hits golf balls and walks around the estate.

Eventually she finds the body hidden in a shed on the property. But who is the dead woman? What is her connection, if any, to people on the estate? It falls to Miss Marple to figure it out.

Very well done. In the Rutherford film, Marple herself sees the murder and gets a job on the estate. The Hickson version is closer to the book.

Since it's such an intriguing story with interesting characters and plenty of suspects, both versions are highly entertaining. However, the presence of Lucy (Jill Meager) offers some potential romance, which adds to it.

I just love the look on DI Slack's face when dealing with Marple, especially when other people speak highly of her. David Horovitch is quite good in the role.

Another Miss Marple winner from this '80s series.

A friend of Miss Marple's, Mrs. McGillicuddy, is travelling on the 4.50 from Paddington when she sees a man strangling a woman on a neighbouring train. The police turn up nothing and don't believe her but Miss Marple does. She believes the answer to the mystery lies at nearby Rutherford Hall. She enlists the help of her resourceful, energetic niece Lucy Eyelesbarrow, who investigates Rutherford Hall by working there as a housekeeper.

A great instalment of the Miss Marple series. A return to the earlier episodes in that the characters and the character-based sub-plots are much more interesting making this episode very engaging.

The mystery is excellent too: we initially don't even have a body! Slowly things are revealed before we finally have our murderer.

Quite the mystery.

I really like the book, it is very clever and the characters are memorable, and as far as the Geraldine McEwan while not perfect by all means was one of the better ones, at least in my opinion. This version is superior though, and is very well done not only as an adaptation but on its own merits. I will say my only real problem with this film was the pacing. While not as sluggish as They Do it With Mirrors, for me this is one of the slower moving Hickson-Marple adaptations. However, so much compensates. 4:50 From Paddington is rather slow and perhaps a tad too long as well, but it still has the clever story and memorable characters. As usual, the production values are wonderful, and the music is very atmospheric here. The dialogue is well written, the story is easy to follow and I loved the build-up to the finding of the body which was genuinely creepy. The direction is solid and the cast is excellent. Miss Marple doesn't have as much to do here, but Joan Hickson still plays her marvellously, and I was very impressed with Joanna David. Overall, while not a favourite I do recommend 4:50 From Paddington. 8/10 Bethany Cox