The Train of 16:50

the Train of 16:50 is a Detective novel of Agatha Christie, published in 1957, putting in scene the detective Miss Marple.

History

All starts at the station of Paddington where Mrs McGillicuddy, a friend of Marple Miss, is about to take the train of 16:50 bound for Brackhampton after a stay in London which enabled him to carry out its purchases of Christmas.

During the voyage a train going in the same direction as it his appears, and to satisfy her curiosity, the old woman looks through the pane the occupants of this one. At this point in time it is paralyzed by a vision of horror: a man, seen back, is strangling a woman of which the eyes leave their orbits. Then, the train of 16:50 slowing down, Mrs McGillicuddy sees this horrible spectacle disappearing in the night.

Mrs McGillicuddy then calls upon his/her old friend Miss Marple and exposes the facts to him. The elderly spinster of St.Mary Mead, feeling the attacks of the age, then decides to inquire on the spot by anybody interposed, itself remaining in the vicinity at her “faithful Florence” (its old good) and supervising the operations…

Adaptations

Product by MGM in 1962 under the title: Murder, She Said with Margaret Rutherford, this adaptation deviates somewhat from the novel. The domestic assistance Marple Miss becomes Lucy, Mrs. McGillicuddy and Lucy Eyelesbarrow disappears. Miss Marple is personally pilot murder and is made engage like and cooker chambermaid with Ackenthorpe Hall. She discovers the body whereas she makes pretense practice her golf. The Faire-valoir Marple Miss is her friend and librarian, Jim Stringer (part played by the husband of Rutherford, Stringer Davis), and it telephones to him so that he informs the police force. The Alexander young person also appears in film, but not his friend James Stoddard-West. Alexander plays the part of development on the ground. The intrigue is roughly speaking the same one, but the murder of Harold is made up in accident of hunting. Miss Marple reveals the culpability of the doctor, then returns to it after gracefully to have declined a proposal of Mr. Ackenthorpe.

In 1988 BBC produced a version very faithful to the novel, with Joan Hickson, which had already made an appearance in Murder She Said where she played the part of Mrs. Kidder. This version leaves side the episode of poisoning. Alfred is always alive at the end of film, but suffers from a terminal illness which Doctor Quimper would have deliberately diagnosed in an erroneous way. As in the preceding adaptation, the murder of Harold passes initially for an accident of hunting.

There exists a version of 2004 produced by ITV with Geraldine McEwan in the role of Marple Miss like David Warner, Griff Rhys Jones, Ben Daniels and WFP Ferris. The film left to the United States under the title What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw .

Anglophone titles

4:50 from Paddington (the United Kingdom)
What Mrs Gillicudy Saw (the United States, first edition)
Murder She Said (the United States, republication)

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