- Murder Ahoy!
-
Murder Ahoy! 
Theatrical release poster by Tom JungDirected by George Pollock Written by David Pursall (screenplay)
Jack Seddon (screenplay)
Agatha Christie (motifs)Starring Margaret Rutherford
Stringer Davis
Lionel Jeffries
Bud TingwellMusic by Ron Goodwin Distributed by MGM Release date(s) 1964 Country United Kingdom Language English Murder Ahoy! is the last of four Miss Marple films, made by MGM and starring Margaret Rutherford. As in the three previous films, Margaret Rutherford plays Miss Jane Marple, Bud Tingwell is (Chief) Inspector Craddock and Stringer Davis (Rutherford's real-life husband) plays Mr Stringer.
The film was made in 1964 and directed by George Pollock, with David Pursall and Jack Seddon credited with the script. The music was by Ron Goodwin.
Unlike the previous three that were very loosely based on novels by Agatha Christie, this one was not and it employs an original screenplay. It does, however, borrow a few obscure plot details from They Do It with Mirrors (but otherwise bears no resemblance at all to that Miss Marple novel); and it pays at least nominal homage to Christie's long-running play, The Mousetrap.
Plot
The action takes places mainly on board an old wooden-walled battleship, HMS Battledore, which has been purchased by a Trust for the rehabilitation of young criminals, and intended by the founder to put backbone into young jellyfish.
Shortly after joining the board of management of the Trust, Miss Marple witnesses the sudden death of a fellow trustee, who has just returned from a surprise visit to the ship. She manages to obtain a small sample of his snuff, which is found to have been poisoned. Against police advice, she visits the ship, much to the distress of the Captain and officers.
On her first night on board, one officer is murdered - run through with a sword and then hanged. As the police investigation proceeds, the assistant matron is killed, apparently by a poisoned mousetrap.
Miss Marple sets a trap by pretending to be left alone at night on the deserted ship, but secretly smuggling in Chief Inspector Craddock and another policeman. She finds a large sum of money hidden in a cannon which turns out to have been embezzled by Commander Breeze-Connington, money he feels is owed to him after he was passed over for promotion. It was protected by a mousetrap. After the commander appears and admits all, Miss Marple calls out to the police inspector to make the arrest, but he and his colleague have accidentally been locked in and cannot help. Miss Marple and Breeze-Connington engage in a ferocious fencing match, before she is disarmed. Just as he is about to administer the coup de grace, however, he is hit over the head from behind by Mr. Stringer who, alarmed at what might be going on, had secretly rowed out in the dark.
The finale is a court martial for Captain Rhumstone who has been accused of mismanagement. Thinking he has been found guilty, he announces his intention to marry Matron, an option previously denied to him because of rules of celibacy in post. Then he realises the sword is pointing in his favour and that he is innocent, but still wants to marry Matron. Margaret Rutherford smilingly tells him the board of trustees has just changed the rules, so all ends happily.
Cast
- Margaret Rutherford - Miss Marple
- Lionel Jeffries - Captain Rhumstone
- Bud Tingwell - Chief Inspector Craddock
- William Mervyn - Commander Breeze-Connington
- Joan Benham - Matron Alice Fanbraid
- Stringer Davis - Mr. Stringer
- Nicholas Parsons - Dr. Crump
- Miles Malleson - Bishop Faulkner
- Henry Oscar - Lord Rudkin
- Derek Nimmo - Sub-Lieutenant Humbert
- Gerald Cross - Lieutenant Commander Dimchurch
- Norma Foster - Assistant Matron Shirley Boston
- Terence Edmond - Sergeant Bacon
- Francis Matthews - Lieutenant Compton
- Lucy Griffiths - Millie
- Bernard Adams - Dusty Miller
- Tony Quinn - Kelly
- Edna Petrie - Miss Pringle
- Roy Holder - Petty Officer Lamb
- Ivor Salter - Policeman
- Henry Longhurst - Cecil Ffolly-Hardwicke
- Desmond Roberts - Sir Geoffrey Bucknose
External links
Films 1950s Stranger in Town (1957) · Rooney (1958) · Sally's Irish Rogue (1958) · Don't Panic Chaps! (1959) · Broth of a Boy (1959)1960s And the Same to You (1960) · Murder, She Said (1961) · Village of Daughters (1962) · Kill or Cure (1962) · Murder at the Gallop (1963) · Murder Most Foul (1964) · Murder Ahoy! (1964) · Ten Little Indians (1965)Categories:- 1964 films
- British films
- English-language films
- 1960s crime films
- Mystery films
- Miss Marple
- Works inspired by Agatha Christie
- Films directed by George Pollock
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
