October 4 - 4.50 From Paddington

This is a movie with a scene that happens today – October 4. I hope you will enjoy this film and watch it tonight.

4:50 FROM PADDINGTON

On October 4, 1957 [00:46 to 7:26] Elspeth McGillicuddy is traveling by train from London to St. Mary Mead. During the trip, when another train runs parallel to hers for a time she sees a murder in the other train, but cannot identify the killer. She tells her friend Jane Marple. They report the murder to the police, but when no body is found the police lose interest in the case. Miss Marple deduces that the body must have been pushed off the train at Rutherford Hall, a Victorian estate surrounded by a wooded park that abuts the railway line. Miss Marple recruits  Lucy Eyelesbarrow to take a job at the estate as the housekeeper so she can look for the body. Luther Crackenthorpe, the current owner collected a mass of worthless antiquities in his youth. His father wrote his will so that Luther cannot sell the estate and that when Luther dies the estate goes to Luther’s last surviving child or grandchild. Luther is a hypochondriac who is cared for by his daughter Emma and Dr. Quimper. The family consisting of  Bryan Eastley, who was married to Luther’s deceased daughter Edith, Cedric, a bohemian painter, Harold Crackenthorpe, a banker and Harold a somewhat shady con man. After some searching Lucy finds the body in a sarcophagus that is part of Luther’s collection. The police now begin an investigation. Then Harold turns up dead in a mantrap set in the park. They identify the victim as a ballet dancer, Anna Stravinska.  Emma reveals that she got a letter from a Frenchwoman, Martine who claimed to have married her dead older brother Edmund at the start of  World War II and had a child by him. She thinks the dead woman might be her. They police wonder about this when they learn Anna Stravinska had been married to an Englishman and her real name was Martine Perrot. Someone breaks into her apartment and steals all her personal papers. Bryan says that he saw Cedric in London on the day of the first murder. Emma tells Alfred she’s engaged to Dr. Quimper and Alfred tells her Quimper “missed” a fatal disease he has. Miss Marple invites  Elspeth McGillicuddy  back and maneuvers Dr. Quimper into a position where Mrs. McGillicuddy recognizes him as the killer. He was married to Martine, but as a Catholic she would not agree to a divorce.  He planned to marry Emma then kill off the rest of the family so he would eventually inherit the Crackenthorpe millions. Quimper tries to run, but is caught by Bryan and arrested.           

Another one of Christie’s classic who-dun-its. Full of characters, clues and red herrings. An excellent mystery.

The date is given in the film at 2:51 on a newspaper.       

Producer – George Gallaccio

Director – Martyn Friend

Screenplay – T. R.  Bowen

Runtime – 1 hour 44 minutes

Released – February 25, 1987

Starring –

Joan Hickson as Miss Jane Marple, sleuth extraordinaire

Jill Meager  as Lucy Eyelesbarrow, serving as housekeeper-cum-spy

Mona Bruce as Elspeth McGillicuddy – the witness to the murder

Maurice Denham as Luther Crackenthorpe – owner of Rutherford Hall

John Hallam as Cedric Crackenthorpe – a bohemian painter

Bernard Brown as Harold Crackenthorpe – a cold and stuffy banker

Robert East as Alfred Crackenthorpe – con artist

Joanna David as Emma Crackenthorpe – Luther's daughter who lives at home

David Beames as  Bryan Eastley – husband of the late Edith Crackenthorpe

Andrew Burt as Dr Quimper – Luther's doctor

David Horovitch as   Detective - Inspector Slack

Ian Brimble as Detective Sergeant Lake

David Waller as Inspector Duckham