At an indoor pool in London, Albert Aachen is practicing his unusual diving act. Aachen is a professional clown. When he is found dead it is determined that he died from being shot with a poison dart. Near the body is a pocket atlas of London and the outlying areas titled “A.B.C. London”.
Detective Hercule Poirot (Tony Randall) is currently in London. He is approached by Captain Hastings (Robert Morley) with the British Secret Service. He tells Poirot that he has been assigned to protect him from any British criminal element that is out to assassinate him. While in a spa Poirot is attacked by a mysterious blonde woman (Anita Ekberg) who says she is going to murder someone and that she is responsible for Aachen’s murder. When she flees, she leaves behind her purse. The initials on the purse are A B C.
Next in line to be murdered is a woman named Betty Barnard (Grazina Frame). Beside her is a copy of A.B.C. London. Inspector Japp (Maurice Denham) from Scotland Yard finds Poirot in Betty’s apartment. He orders that Poirot return to his home country of Belgium and stay out of his investigation. Poirot is now fully invested in finding the woman with the initials of A B C and solving the murders. Poirot believes that the killer is going through the alphabet to pick his victims. He is convinced that the next victim is going to be Carmichael Clarke (Cyril Luckham).
Poirot finds out that the mysterious blonde is named Amanda Beatrice Cross. While trying to track down Amanda, Carmichael is murdered. Poirot then finds out that a psychiatrist, Duncan Doncaster (Guy Rolfe) is Amanda’s doctor and Carmichael’s wife’s lover. Poirot must figure out if Duncan is next in line to be murdered or if he is in on some dark plot.
“The Alphabet Murders” AKA “The ABC Murders” was released in 1965 and was directed by Frank Tashlin. It is a British murder mystery with lots of comedy elements. The film was loosely based on the 1936 novel “The A.B.C. Murders” by Agatha Christie.
There is one scene in the film where Tony Randall, as Hercule Poirot, comes face to face with Margaret Rutherford as Jane Marple, another character created by Agatha Christie. This is the only film where the two Christie characters are in the same film, although briefly. Also shown is Stringer Davis as Mr. Stringer, Rutherford’s real-life husband and friend of Miss Marple. Both Rutherford and Stringer appeared together in several Miss Marple movies. At least they got the Miss Marple part right.
As for the Poirot character, the filmmakers went a little campy and framed the film as more of a parody than an actual mystery. Instead of going for the story, they went for the jokes, and not very good ones either. It puts a dent in the spirit of Agatha Christie. Focus is not on the intricate murders but on the silliness and overacting. Randall comes off more like Inspector Clouseau than Hercule Poirot.