Murha Hotelli Laukassa

The frustrating thing about Agatha Christie novels is that some of them have alternate titles. With some dismay, I realized, a few minutes into "Murder At The Gallop", that the film is the cinema version of a book I had finished not two months earlier, "After The Funeral" (a.k.a. "Funerals Are Fatal"). There would be no new whodunit puzzle for me here.

"After The Funeral" features Hercule Poirot; "Murder At The Gallop" features Miss Marple. The story is basically the same in both book and film, and is a typical Christie whodunit. I think I prefer the book to the film, as the book has more suspects. The film has minimal suspense except near the end. And I find Robert Morley's performance to be slightly annoying.

Still, "Murder At The Gallop" is an OK whodunit for a rainy Sunday afternoon. The main attraction really is the wonderful Margaret Rutherford, who plays Miss Marple. With her feisty determination, this is really her show. To see a woman of 71 in an evening gown dancing The Twist is reason enough to watch.