MURDER SHE SAID

This is a 1961 British mystery comedy film, based on the 1957 novel '4.50 from Paddington' by Agatha Christie.  

It stars Margaret Rutherford as Miss Jane Marple, but as a very different character to that in the novels.  

Here she is an energetic, assertive and somewhat eccentric character which plays to Rutherford's strengths as a comic actor.  It is also means that she can take a more active role in the solving of the crime, by becoming a maid in the household which seems to contain the murderer, something which Christie's creation would never have done.

Christie purists are likely to be offended by this take on the character, as well as the lack of any real detection carried out by her.  When she eventually claims to have solved the crime it's not clear how she can have done this given the paucity of clues to go on, a criticism also directed at the novel, which may not be Christie's finest.  

In the end whether Jane has correctly identified the murderer is irrelevant since she ends up trapping the murderer by the tried and trusted method of using herself as bait.  It also helps that as is often the case the murderer readily confesses when confronted.

The film was a big success which spawned three sequels in quick succession and it's easy to see why given its easy charm.