The Alphabet Murders
Frank Tashlin’s tongue-in-cheek adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The A.B.C. Murders is a very curious curiosity, with Tony Randall bringing more than a touch of Inspector Clouseau to the role of the brilliant Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. Zaftig Anita Ekberg further tips the scales towards pure farce—it is a Tashlin film after all—but even with Margaret Rutherford making a cameo as Miss Marple, this balloon never gets off the ground.
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About Michael Schlesinger
Michael Schlesinger was widely acknowledged as the dean of classic film distributors, having worked for more than 25 years at MGM, Paramount and Sony, keeping hundreds of vintage movies in theatrical release (and later DVD), and instigating the restoration of many more, including the completion of Orson Welles' 1942 documentary It's All True some 50 years later. Behind the camera, he wrote and produced the American version of Godzilla 2000, co-produced such Larry Blamire parodies as The Lost Skeleton Returns Again and Dark and Stormy Night, and has written, produced and directed several short films featuring the faux-1930s comedy team of Biffle and Shooster. No power on Earth would have ever convinced him that It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World was not the Greatest. Movie. Ever. Sadly, Michael passed away on the morning of January 9, 2025.
Interesting Clouseau is mentioned, as this completely reminds me of the miscast 1968 downer ‘inspector Clouseau’, with Alan Arkin.
I recently saw Tashlin’s last name, the 1968 stillbirth The Private Army of Sgt. O’Farrell starring Bob Hope. I should probably note that I mainly know Bob Hope as the man who took Playboy bunnies to Vietnam and later made fun of AIDS-afflicted people. Is it any wonder no doyenne of New Hollywood wanted to co-star with him?
The drill is: early Hope = good/ ’60’s Hope = bad.