Miss Marple (MARGARET RUTHERFORD) and her loyal friend, the local librarian Mr Stringer (STRINGER DAVIS) are out collecting funds for the reformed criminals league. They call upon the house of the elderly but wealthy recluse Mr Enderby and he collapses and falls down the stairs dead. It was well known that old Enderby had suffered from a chronic heart condition for many years and the coroner duly records the death as natural causes. However, it was also well known that he was terrified of cats and Miss Marple was the only one who noticed the cat that was prowling around his home. This brings her to the conclusion that he was murdered and she approaches Chief Inspector Craddock (CHARLES TINGWELL) with her theory. However, as with the last time that Miss Marple approached him about someone being murdered, he dismisses her and refuses to look into it. Miss Marple realises that she and Mr Stringer must conduct their own investigation. They eavesdrop on the reading of old Enderby's will. Present at the reading are Enderby's nephew Hector (ROBERT MORLEY), his niece Rosamund Shane (KATYA DOUGLAS) and her husband Michael (JAMES VILLIERS). His second cousin George Crossfield (ROBERT URQUHART) and his sister Cora Lansquenet. The motive of the crime becomes seemingly clear - £25,000 to be divided up among Enderby's relatives. However, things turn out not to be as simple as they first appear when Cora says "Well he was murdered wasn't he?" In order to try and press Cora about what she meant, Miss Marple pays a call at her cottage and finds Cora dead, stabbed through the back with a hat pin. Inspector Craddock has to take Miss Marple seriously now but can't stand her butting in and solving his cases for him. The Enderby family are staying at Hector's riding establishment "The Gallop Hotel" and Miss Marple checks in for a week in order to investigate the family members and find the killer.
The success of MURDER SHE SAID (1962: see my review) lead to three sequels, which were very much in the same dated but engagingly tongue in cheek vein. The cast is exemplary with Robert Morley shining as the eccentric Hector, Flora Robson as Cora's seemingly timid companion Miss Milcrest while Robert Urquhart (Frankenstein's teacher Paul Krempe in Hammer's CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN) also scores in his part as the suave but shifty art-dealer George Crossfield. However, as always it is Margaret Rutherford who steals the picture as Miss Marple. Even though she's nothing like Agatha Christie's creation, she manages to make the role so convincingly her own as the sharp and eccentric spinster that it hardly mattered at all. Rutherford is both funny and a great character at the same time. This is the one that contains that classic scene in which Miss Marple does the twist in order to fake a heart attack so that she can lure the killer into a trap. George Pollock's direction is smooth and effortlessly meshes comedy with mystery and he is most ably assisted by the gorgeous black and white photography of Arthur Ibbetson, which gives the picture a touch of class while its genuinely sinister at the same time with its subtle use of shadow and composition. The film is based on the novel AFTER THE FUNERAL, in which the case was originally solved by Hercule Poirot! It looks as if soon that David Suchet will be filming a version of this book and it will be interesting to see how it differs from this production.
All in all, MURDER AT THE GALLOP emerges as one of the best films in MGM's quintet of Miss Marple whodunits.
The success of MURDER SHE SAID (1962: see my review) lead to three sequels, which were very much in the same dated but engagingly tongue in cheek vein. The cast is exemplary with Robert Morley shining as the eccentric Hector, Flora Robson as Cora's seemingly timid companion Miss Milcrest while Robert Urquhart (Frankenstein's teacher Paul Krempe in Hammer's CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN) also scores in his part as the suave but shifty art-dealer George Crossfield. However, as always it is Margaret Rutherford who steals the picture as Miss Marple. Even though she's nothing like Agatha Christie's creation, she manages to make the role so convincingly her own as the sharp and eccentric spinster that it hardly mattered at all. Rutherford is both funny and a great character at the same time. This is the one that contains that classic scene in which Miss Marple does the twist in order to fake a heart attack so that she can lure the killer into a trap. George Pollock's direction is smooth and effortlessly meshes comedy with mystery and he is most ably assisted by the gorgeous black and white photography of Arthur Ibbetson, which gives the picture a touch of class while its genuinely sinister at the same time with its subtle use of shadow and composition. The film is based on the novel AFTER THE FUNERAL, in which the case was originally solved by Hercule Poirot! It looks as if soon that David Suchet will be filming a version of this book and it will be interesting to see how it differs from this production.
All in all, MURDER AT THE GALLOP emerges as one of the best films in MGM's quintet of Miss Marple whodunits.