The Alphabet Murders – 1965 | 90 mins | Comedy | B&W

Plot Synopsis

Having enjoyed moderate cinematic success with their quartet of light-hearted Margaret Rutherford Miss Marple thrillers, MGM next turned their attention to Agatha Christie’s other famous detective, Hercule Poirot. This detective spoof based on The ABC Murders stars Tony Randall as the Belgian sleuth on the trail of a serial killer who is following the letters of the alphabet. Satirist director Frank Tashlin veers away from the Rutherford comedy-thriller formula and lampoons one of Christie’s more ingenious and suspenseful stories with light comedian Tony Randall suitably playing Poirot for laughs. Unfortunately the finished film is incoherent, painfully unfunny and loses much of the suspense. As if passing the torch, Rutherford and husband Stringer Davis make a cameo appearance.

Hercule Poirot (Randall) is relaxing in a Turkish bath when approach by Hastings (Robert Morley), a British Intelligence agent temporarily attached to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries whose sole duty it is to ensure the sleuth remains unharmed while in England. He is later accosted by the neurotic Amanda Beatrice Cross (Anita Ekberg), who claims to have killed somebody with the initials A.A. and that she will kill again. A second victim with the initials B.B. soon arises with the alphabet serial killers calling card – the London ABC guide. Poirot discovers that chief suspect Cross is a mental patient being treated by psychiatrist Duncan Doncaster (Guy Rolfe).