Murder at the Gallop
Why anyone tries to dismiss Miss
Marple’s instincts is a mystery to me. This is especially a mystery when
Margaret Rutherford is Miss Marple. She trusts her instincts fully and won’t
let anyone get in her way of finding out what those instincts mean.
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| Murder at the Gallop |
Miss Marple witnesses a murder
Miss Marple (Margaret Rutherford)
is certain a murder has occurred. She and her friend Mr. Stringer (Stringer
Davis) saw Mr. Enderby (Finlay Currie) die. When they find a cat, something Mr.
Enderby was incredibly afraid of, Miss Marple becomes convinced Mr. Enderby did
not simply die. He was scared to death.
Miss Marple brings her concerns
to the police, but Inspector Craddock (Charles Tingwell) refuses to listen. The
police trust the medical report they have been given. A medical report that
will in no way list the cause of death as “scared to death.”
After lecturing Craddock on how
he should read more Agatha Christie, Miss Marple declares she will look into
the matter herself. And of course, she does.
Miss Marple is on the case
Miss Marple’s first investigative
act is to eavesdrop on the reading of the Enderby will. She has Mr. Stringer
help her reach the second floor of a building so she can listen to what
everyone will receive from Mr. Enderby. Craddock comes around as she does this,
and Miss Marple does not even flinch at being caught. Her eavesdropping plan
succeeded. She learned Mr. Enderby’s sister also believes the man was murdered.
The next day, Miss Marple decides
to visit the sister and finds her dead. Murdered.
The sister’s companion, Miss
Milchrest (Flora Robson), finds Miss Marple bent over the body. She believes
Miss Marple is the murderer!
Miss Marple insists she is
innocent and that they need to call the police.
With an obvious murder on their hands, Craddock and the police begin to investigate. Miss Marple continues with her own investigation. She decides to check in at the inn where Enderby’s family is staying.
Miss Marple meets the rest of the Enderby family
Enderby’s nephew, Hector (Robert
Morley), takes to Miss Marple very quickly. She is a horsewoman, and that is
all he needs to know to declare her as someone to know.
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| Murder at the Gallop Margaret Rutherford, Robert Morley |
The other relatives are far more
suspicious of Miss Marple. This becomes even more apparent when someone makes
an attempt on her life.
After spending some time with the
family, Miss Marple believes she knows who the murderer is. She calls up the
police, only to later discover that the man she thought was the murderer has
been killed himself.
When Craddock asks Miss Marple
about the phone call, she admits she was wrong at that point. Now she is
certain who the culprit is. All she has to do is set a trap to make them reveal
themselves. That trap involves risking her own life.
Miss Marple: a woman of many talents
One of the greatest things about Margert
Rutherford’s version of Miss Marple is she is up for anything. In order to talk
to Mr. Stringer on his own while others are around, she has them join a group
of people on the dance floor and dance to the latest dance craze. It may be my
imagination, but the other dancers seemed pretty impressed with how well Miss
Marple and Mr. Stringer performed the moves.
So far, between the two movies,
Miss Marple has proven to be a talented golfer and horsewoman, as well as
dancer. With two more movies to go, I wonder what other talents will be
revealed.
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