This is the fourth and final Miss Marple film starring Margaret Rutherford. And, like the rest, Inspector (now Chied Inspector) Craddock is on hand. However, after successfully solving the other cases, Craddock is insane as he doesn't just assume she's right when she thinks a recent death was a murder. This death involved some poisoned snuff...and soon the trail leads to a merchant marine training ship where Captain Rhumstone (Lionel Jeffries) is in charge. There, more folks die through some very difficult to imagine poisonings...so much so that the Chief Inspector thinks her theory is "rather fantastic" and complicated...which it is.Despite the inclusion of Lionel Jeffries (who is usually in comedies), this film isn't a comedy but a very good installment in the series....and a bit better than the previous one. Worth seeing.

Miss Marple is made trustee of The Battledore, a training ship for youngsters. During her first meeting fellow trustee Cecil Folly Hardwick is killed with poisoned snuff. Miss Marple smells a rat and contrives a way to spend time on board to Battledore, to find out what Folly had uncovered there.The humour is here by the bucket load, Rutherford as always is a pure joy to watch, and this time she's met her match, Lionel Jeffries is utterly brilliant to watch, he's so much fun. I think Derek Nimmo being called 'Muscles,' is one of the funniest bits.The pièce de résistance has to be the sword fighting scene, can anyone in their wildest dreams picture Joan, Julia or even Geraldine wielding a sword, watching a now 72 year old Rutherford fighting with a sword is worth the watch alone. The final instalment of Margaret Rutherford's Miss Marple films is total entertainment, fun and proper escapism. True that any links with Agatha Christie have now completely gone, but it seems not to matter, as the story is there just there for fun. I've read that more were planned but never happened, what a shame.Great entertainment, real family fun (if the kids are a bit quirky that is, like I used to be and enjoy this kind of yarn.) 9/10

To many of my generation (now in their fifties), Margaret Rutherford takes some beating as Miss Marple - in fact she *is* Miss Marple, and Joan Hickson etc are merely fakes. These four films (She Said, Most Foul, At The Gallop and Ahoy) may not be accurate representations of the original stories, but they do invite repeated viewing and have what modern films lack - charm. They also have good solid characters and a light-hearted approach that makes them so watchable. Margaret Rutherford may not have had a terrific range, but what she did, she did with enormous confidence and style, and she is never overshadowed in any scene she plays, which is virtually every one. All great fun from the moment that catchy theme tune plays (you'll be humming it for weeks afterwards) to the final credits, and you are left feeling satisfied. That's what they did in the 50's and 60's.

The story begins with a murder onshore, and then shifts to a harbor bound ship where the real answers to the puzzle can be found. The story isn't really that interesting. But what makes the film worthwhile is Margaret Rutherford. She is wonderful as the overpowering amateur detective, always two steps ahead of the bumbling police.The main problem with the film is the screenplay, with a contrived plot and some rather obvious plot holes. Further, there's a conspicuous lack of character development. We never really get to know the suspects. In some cases, they are interchangeable. It's as if the screenwriters devised the plot first, and then created stick figure characters, to advance the plot.Aside from the script, the production design is weak. And I found the hammy performance of Lionel Jeffries to be mildly annoying. It's like he was trying too hard to be funny. This problem might have originated with the director.Absent the elaborate costumes, the gorgeous scenery, the flashy cinematography, and the star power of blockbuster films like "Death On The Nile" and "Evil Under The Sun", "Murder Ahoy!" is rather humdrum. But what this film does have is Rutherford's Miss Marple, a battleship of integrity, energy, humor, and intelligence. In this film she dabbles in chemistry with gusto, engages in a fencing duel, and in general converts a lackluster script into an enjoyable whodunit.