The most admirable thing about this funny little movie - which I saw today, 50 years after it was made - is the great "mise-en-caméra" by maestro Frank Tashlin, which, combined with his ability to stage physical humor inherited from the cartoon, Ron Goodwin's music and an enthusiastic cast, resulted in a dramatic comedy full of suspense and giggles that has been sorely affected since its release by the adverse comments of some purists with little sense of humor. Produced by the same entrepreneur who financed in the 1960s three films starring Margaret Rutherford as Agatha Christie's Miss Jane Maple, "The Alphabet Murders" introduces us to another Christie investigator, Hercule Poirot (Tony Randall), who while visiting his tailor in London, witnesses a series of crimes, which he cannot ignore. When he is already up to his neck in the chain of events, his life is in danger. Tashlin's visual planning (with cinematographer Desmond Dickinson) is so thoughtful, careful and elegant, that the viewing of the film is a delight. That said, I must add, as for the dispute of the adaptation of this novel to film, that I do not remember ever watching a film version of the novel "Dracula" in which the protagonist resembled the nauseating description that Bram Stoker made of the vampire in his work. But I liked Max Schreck, Christopher Lee, Klaus Kinski and Béla Lugosi. So I was not worried if this film was true to Christie's novel "The A.B.C. Murders", or if Randall played a Hercule Poirot below/above other actors' characterizations. This unfortunate approach to film versions of literary works has disparaged many motion pictures by the defense of the book over the audiovisual medium. In addition to being two different media (one with more advantage than the other, it is true, as the book allows us to imagine a thousand and one versions of the same word or phrase), the film creator has all the freedom to do what he wants with a book. And when we talk about Frank Tashlin we are referring to a creator: movies like "Rock-a-Bye Baby", "Bachelor Flat", "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?", "Hollywood or Bust", "The Girl Can't Help It" and cartoons such as "Hare Remover" or "Porky Pig's Feat ", place him as a meritorious exponent of popular culture, just as good as Agatha Christie.

OK, at first it's difficult for the viewer to adjust to the (mis)casting of Tony Randall as Hercule Poirot; not only does he not resemble the character physically, but his portrayal seems closer to Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau than to a brilliant detective. Furthermore, the movie gets the Poirot-Hastings relationship completely wrong for at least two thirds of the way (they're supposed to be friends, not antagonists!), and some of the comedy in the early scenes is painful, so it wouldn't be surprising if many viewers wished that Margaret Rutherford's Miss Marple, who has a highly amusing cameo giving a priceless look of disbelief to Randall's Poirot, actually took over the whole case herself! Luckily, the comedy gets somewhat toned down in the second half, as Agatha Christie's classic mystery plot takes over; for all the changes and additions of the adaptation, the central idea - a brilliant one - remains, and overall, the film has a great story that survives its sometimes heavy-handed treatment. Ron Goodwin's music score may not be as immediately catchy as his work for the Marple films, but it improves the more you listen to it - just as the film improves the more you watch it. **1/2 out of 4.

I don't know why the producers purchased the book rights; other than a few character names, there is NO resemblance to Agatha Christie's taut suspense story. Hercule Poirot, famous for exercising only his little grey cells, leaps about and crawls under barriers. His faithful sidekick Hastings has become an inept security agent, from whom Poirot continually escapes. Poirot actually meets the intended victims except for the first one. Tony Randall does a rather good job playing this miserable excuse for Poirot, which isn't necessarily a compliment. The story and resolution are completely changed, and not for the better. If you're an Agatha Christie fan, pass this one by.

Tony Randall was a highly competent actor and a great comic actor. Anyone who sees his performance in television's ODD COUPLE knows what a great comic actor he was. But most of his movie roles were in supporting parts, such as in support of Doris Day and Rock Hudson in their three films, or in BOYS NIGHT OUT with James Garner and Kim Novak. He did make several films as the star: WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER?, THE MATING SEASON, THE SEVEN FACES OF DR. LAO (his own favorite performance), and this film.The good news is his performance as Hercule Poirot is very amusing. Forgetting the perennial problem of keeping an accent (and it should be a Walloon style Belgium accent, not a French one) straight, he does a good job of being consistent as a performer. Poirot is attracted to mysteries as a mouse is supposedly attracted to cheese. So he finds himself attracted to the killing of a diving champ with the initials "A.A.". Soon his attention is directed to the murder of a woman with the initials "B.B." Then a man with the initials "C.C." The chief suspect (Anita Ekberg) has the initials "A.B.C." She has a therapist (of questionable standards) with the initials "D.D.". Poirot sees a pattern, but an odd one that he can't quite understand. And the Scotland Yard Inspector escorting him around London (Robert Morley) is constantly finding his attempts to get Poirot out of the country (and out of Scotland Yard's hair) being thwarted.Poirot does solve the mystery - and it does approach the novel, but it actually avoids the way Christie wrote the novel. If you are one who appreciated her artistic abilities you can understand why she disliked THE ABC MURDERS as much as Margaret Rutherford's contemporary "Miss Marple" series (Ms Rutherford and her husband Stringer Davis appear as Marple and "Mr. Stringer" in one scene in the film, meeting a disapproving Poirot's gaze). They spoofed the two lead characters in her two series of mystery novels. The performances of Albert Finney, Peter Ustinov, and David Suchet were all far closer to Poirot than Randall's cartoon version - just as Helen Hayes, Joan Hickson, and Angela Lansbury were far closer to Jane Marple than Miss Rutherford.THE ABC MURDERS was better handled in a David Suchet version on television a number of years ago. It is carefully crafted to be a story of a frame-up, and the suspect is not an attractive blonde like Miss Ekberg, but a man with a notably pompous sounding name with the initials "A.B.C." The actual planner is far more unlikeable as you read the novel, not only in his callous choice of innocent victims, but in his contempt for Poirot. In fact, at the conclusion of the novel Hercule manages to leave a figurative trace of spit on the perpetrator's face when he tells him how he unworthy he is to call himself an Englishman.This does not make Randall's performance (abetted by Morley's "Hastings") worthless. It is amusing and will keep the viewer's interest. But the lover of Christie's work is advised to wait for the David Suchet television version for the proper approach to the story.