Murder Ahoy (1964)

Director:

George Pollock

Writers:

David Pursall (original screenplay) and
Jack Seddon (original screenplay) ...

Release Date:

22 September 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

After Miss Marple is made a trustee of a merchant marine training vessel, a fellow trustee is poisoned, and ship's officers are later murdered after she comes on board.

Plot Keywords:

Miss Marple | Ship | Murder | Blackmailer | Swindle

Cast

Margaret Rutherford	...	Miss Marple
Lionel Jeffries	...	Captain Rhumstone
Charles 'Bud' Tingwell	...	Det. Insp. Craddock (as Charles Tingwell)
William Mervyn	...	Breeze-Connington
Joan Benham	...	Matron Alice Fanbraid
Stringer Davis	...	Mr. Stringer
Nicholas Parsons	...	Dr. Crump
Miles Malleson	...	Bishop
Henry Oscar	...	Lord Rudkin
Derek Nimmo	...	Humbert
Gerald Cross	...	Brewer
Norma Foster	...	Shirley
Terence Edmond	...	Sgt. Bacon
Francis Matthews	...	Compton
Lucy Griffiths	...	Millie

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:12 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:12 | UK:U | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios

Trivia:

We see Miss Marple's impressive library. It is composed mainly of Pan and Penguin crime paperbacks (including duplicate editions of "Follow the Saint" by Leslie Charteris and Georgette Heyer's "The Foundling") alongside a book of limericks and "Return to Peyton Place" by Grace Metalious. There is also a copy of "Three Act Tragedy", a Poirot book by Miss Marple's creator Agatha Christie.

Goofs:

Continuity: Miss Marple supposedly searches through the cabin of Lt. Compton, when she finds the suspicious envelope. However, the door sign reads "Capt. Rhumstone". When we take into account that each officer moved into the cabin of the next lower ranking officer, the Captain now lives in the cabin of Commander Breeze-Connington, and that would be the cabin Miss Marple is searching through. Moreover, when moving into the new cabins, all the officers' cabins appear to be located in one single row. Later in the movie, however, they appear to be quite irregularly spread around the deck.

Quotes:

Miss Marple: [to Craddock] Embezzlement is one thing - proof of triple murder is another. Softly, softly catches monkey in a mousetrap.

Movie Connections:

Follows Murder Most Foul (1964)

Soundtrack:

Rule Britannia

A life on the ocean waves...NOT!

This was the fourth and final offering in the Rutherford/Marple quartet of old English masterpieces. As good as it was though - and it did not let us down as yet another reminder of how quaint some parts of a middle class England of yesteryear were - this was, perhaps, the least riveting of the great Dame's portrayal of the delightful Miss Marple.

For those who are interested in locations, the centrepiece of the tale, H.M.S.Battledore, was anchored in the bay betwixt Falmouth and St.Mawes (in cushty Cornwall) with the latter named small town providing the backdrop for the thefts of the scallywags who were supposed to be being reformed as part of a trust initiative to aid young men who had been led astray. From the outset of the plot, a 'snuff' murder way ahead of its time, we were kept on our toes as Miss Marple (as ever, ably assisted by her elderly beau, Mr.Stringer) weaved her way through the suspects aboard that fabulous old ship which looks as if it has just been vacated by Drake or Nelson. Nevertheless, the contemporary Captain, played to perfection (by Lionel Jeffries) with a mixture of 'old sea salt' zest and a zany personality unmatched by the rest of the crew, almost upstages the film's star with his demeanour ranging from the seeming son of Blackbeard through to a sort of Peter Pan who has lived all his dreams and desires of great seamanship within a perpetual stone's throw of land.

The sword fight at the end may ahve been a bit naff - but it didn't matter, we knew who would win as Jane was bound to have been a fencing champion of some sort in her merry old past. But what was surprsing was that this proved to be the last of a proven fromula that ought to have been repeated many times over.

A thoroughly good yarn - best watched with a flaggon of cider to keep one's whistle wet!