The Alphabet Murders

This article is about the film. For other uses, see Alphabet Murders (disambiguation).

The Alphabet Murders
Theatrical release poster
Directed byFrank Tashlin
Screenplay byDavid Pursall
Jack Seddon
Based onThe A.B.C. Murders
1936 novel
by Agatha Christie
Produced byLawrence P. Bachmann
StarringTony Randall
Anita Ekberg
Robert Morley
CinematographyDesmond Dickinson
Edited byJohn Victor Smith
Music byRon Goodwin
Production
company
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
  • August 1965 (1965-08) (UK)
  • 17 May 1966 (1966-05-17) (U.S.)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Alphabet Murders (also known as ABC Murders) is a 1965 British detective film directed by Frank Tashlin and starring Tony Randall, Anita Ekberg and Robert Morley.[1] It is based on the 1936 novel The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie.

Plot

Albert Aachen, a clown with a unique diving act, is found dead, the murder weapon happens to be a poison dart. When a woman named Betty Barnard becomes the next victim, detective Hercule Poirot suspects that Sir Carmichael Clarke could be in grave danger.

As Poirot and Captain Hastings look into the crimes, a beautiful woman with an interesting monogram named Amanda Beatrice Cross becomes the focus of their investigation, at least until she leaps into the Thames.

Cast

Production

The part of Poirot had originally been intended for Zero Mostel but the film was delayed because Agatha Christie objected to the script; amongst the things she objected to was the intention to put in a bedroom scene with Hercule Poirot.[2] The film varies significantly from the novel and emphasises comedy, the specialty of director Frank Tashlin. Poirot is given buffoonish characteristics, while still remaining a brilliant detective.

The film features uncredited cameos by Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple and Stringer Davis as her friend Mr Stringer. The pair had previously appeared as those characters in a series of four films produced by MGM between 1961 and 1964.[3] The film was an attempt to do for Poirot what Rutherford did with Marple.[4]

Austin Trevor, who plays the butler Judson, had played Poirot in three British films in the early 1930s: Alibi (1931), Black Coffee (1931) and Lord Edgware Dies (1934).

The film title changed multiple times during production. Initially known as The ABC Murders after the book, it was retitled The Alphabet Murders and later to Amanda.[5]

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Depressingly unfunny comedy-thriller: though directed by Tashlin, virtually none of the misadventures encountered by Poirot during the course of his case raise even the slightest smile. Even the tangled mystery, solved by a typical Agatha Christie 'surprise', is unusually dreary."[6]

Leonard Maltin gives the film 2 1/2 out of 4 stars, calling it an "odd adaptation" of Christie's book. Maltin goes on to say, "[T]he strange casting of Randall ... and a little too much slapstick make this more a curiosity than anything else."[7]

TCM calls Randall's Poirot "an Inspector Clouseau-style bumbler", noting that the second installment of the Pink Panther series had been well-received the previous year.[8]

A. H. Weiler of The New York Times dismissed the film as "a routine run through of clichés and clues".[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Alphabet Murders". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  2. ^ Osborne, Charles (1990). The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie. Contemporary Books. pp. 116–7. ISBN 9780809241071.
  3. ^ Weiler, A.H. (12 July 1966). "The Screen: 'Alphabet Murders' Opens". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  4. ^ Vagg, Stephen (5 July 2025). "Forgotten British Film Moguls: Lawrence P. Bachmann". Filmink. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
  5. ^ Todd, Derek (25 March 1965). "Production: 'Alphabet' = 'Amanda'". Kine Weekly. Vol. 2999, no. 574. p. 11.
  6. ^ "The Alphabet Murders". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 33 (384): 106. 1 January 1966. ProQuest 1305826033.
  7. ^ Leonard Maltin (3 September 2013). Leonard Maltin's 2014 Movie Guide. Penguin Publishing Group. p. n/a. ISBN 978-1-101-60955-2.
  8. ^ TCM, The Alphabet Murders
  9. ^ The New York Times, July 12, 1966, page 36
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