Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: 4:50 from Paddington (1987)

A friend of Miss Marple's sees a woman being strangled in a passing train. When police cannot find a body and doubt the story, Miss Marple enlists professional housekeeper, Lucy Eyelesbarrow, to go undercover.

Director:

Martyn Friend

Writers:

Agatha Christie (novel), T.R. Bowen (screenplay)

Stars:

Joan Hickson, Juliette Mole, David Beames

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joan Hickson	...	Miss Jane Marple
Juliette Mole	...	Anna Stravinska
David Beames	...	Bryan Eastley
Mona Bruce	...	Mrs. McGillicuddy
Nicholas Blane	...	Paddington Porter
Katy Jarrett	...	Mary
Leslie Adams	...	Desk Sergeant
David Horovitch	...	Detective Inspector Slack
Ian Brimble	...	Detective Sergeant Lake
Rhoda Lewis	...	Mrs. Brogan
Jill Meager	...	Lucy Eyelesbarrow
Joanna David	...	Emma Crackenthorpe
Maurice Denham	...	Luther Crackenthorpe
Andrew Burt	...	Dr. John Quimper
Pamela Pitchford	...	Mrs. Kidder

Storyline

When Miss Marple's visiting friend sees a woman being strangled on a passing train, they immediately report it to the police. Inspector Slack sees Miss Marple as a bit of a busy body and drops the investigation after only a few days. Miss Marple however determines that there is only one spot along the line where a body could have been dumped and it happens to be very near the Crackenthorpe estate. She asks a professional housekeeper, Lucy Eyelesbarrow, to go there undercover as a domestic. She soon finds the dead woman's body at which time the police take on a renewed interest but it is left to Miss Marple to solve the mystery.

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Plot Keywords:

miss marple | train | estate | strangulation | sarcophagus | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

UK Australia USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 February 1987 (UK)

Also Known As:

Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: 4:50 from Paddington

Filming Locations:

Marylebone Station, Marylebone, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

7 Network, A&E Television Networks, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Miss Marple goes to meet Lucy for the first time at her club the interior is the same location used for Bertram's Hotel in "At Bertram's Hotel".

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Goofs

When Dr Quimper takes the old man's blood pressure near the end of the movie, he doesn't have the stethoscope earpieces in his ears.

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Quotes

Miss Jane Marple: But of course you must go on searching, Inspector! Now you might say that Elspeth is not a sophisticated person, but, I assure you, she has both feet firmly on the ground. She saw what she saw!

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Connections

Follows Miss Marple: The Murder at the Vicarage (1986)

User Reviews

"Streets ahead of ITV's Miss Marple series."

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).