I LOVE Margaret Rutherford ! My first introduction to Agatha Christie were the Miss Marple films back in the 60s, and she will always remain my perfect Miss Marple - and yes I know she does not resemble the character in any shape or form, but I suppose her being the 'first' as it were she will always uppermost in my mind whenever I think of Miss Marple. I've loved all the actresses who have since played her on screen, with perhaps the possible exception of Helen Hayes - not that I disliked Hayes as an actress, I just couldn't accept an American in the role with no attempt made at an English accent.

I too loved Margaret Rutherford in the Role of Miss Marple I know her Miss Marple was more a Charicature of the Character and I know that of the 4 films she did only one was based on a Miss Marple story but I just find her and the films very entertaining and even though Agatha Christie didn't like the films and didn't like the fact that Miss Marple was taking on 2 of Poirot's Books Mrs McGinty's Dead and After The Funeral (although both times the Titles were different) the films show how Miss Marple couold do someone else's Mysterties and IMHO do them well, IMHO she is not as good as Julia McKenzie and on a par with Angela Landesbury but she better in my opinion than Helen Hayes who is better than Geraldine McKewan, Oh yes and Joan Hickson is the best of them all but I would have loved to see the version of A Murder Is Announced starring Gracie Fields 

Margaret Rutherford: worst interpretation of MM ever.

Margaret Rutherford: such a smashing comedic actress it succeeds nonetheless.

I've always loved old black and white films and spent hours watching them when I was younger and had more time for such things. I used to really enjoy anything with Margaret Rutherford in it as she was just THE most wonderful actress. I remember seeing her 'Miss Marple' films and being hugely entertained by them but, at that time I hadn't begun to read AC in earnest and, therefore, was unaware of the character of Miss M and the plots of the books.

Now I am (sadly) older and am more fussy in how I like to see one of my favourite characters portrayed. I haven't seen any of those films for a long time, but I still remember how much fun they were, regardless of the ridiculous plots! I'm sure, if I was to see them again now, I would still enjoy them, even though I know they (and Miss Rutherford herself) are way, WAY wide of anything AC ever wrote.

But she is such a delight, it's so very hard not to be charmed by her!

You and I will have to agree to disagree, I think Geraldine McKewan's Portrayal is much worse than Margaret Rutherford's GM's might have played Miss Marple the way AC Originally wrote her but I find the Films with MR more enjoyable but I did like GMs A Murder Is Announced and By The Pricking of My Thumbs 

The point is that McEwan is more like the character than Rutherford. Rutherford is a comic caricature; an entertaining one, but not the character. Even Angela Lansbury in the role sitting down to smoke a cigarette is more like MM than what Rutherford does.

By the way, Christie referred to "Murder Most Foul" one time in a book as a terrible alternative title an editor would come up with. I forget which it is though; I think it may have been a short story in The Listerdale Mystery.

Whatever production Margaret Rutherford was in she always played Margaret Rutherford!

Whether you enjoyed McEwan or Rutherford or not makes no difference. McEwan is more like Miss Marple than Rutherford. Miss Marple doesn't dance the charleston, feign heart attacks, climb up walls, play golf, or fence. Rutherford was simply a parody, and nothing like Miss Marple at all. The fact is that Geraldine McEwan is simply more like the Miss Marple Agatha Christie wrote about. It doesn't mean she has to be the most enjoyable.

People can differ on their opinions as to how enjoyable a role is; there's no law stating that Heath Ledger is the best Joker and The Godfather the best crime movie. But this here is very simple, and I don't see what there is to disagree about: Rutherford was a parody, McEwan was a serious portrayal. McEwan is closer to AC's character than Rutherford ever was.

Like I've said, it doesn't matter two cents how subtly McEwan played the role. Margaret Rutherford's Miss Marple was simply a spoof; her golf, horse-riding, etc. done purely for laughs. Miss Marple is too old to be as active as Rutherford was, and that's the simple reason why she isn't the MM Agatha wrote about.

No, she isn't the Miss Marple AC wrote about, but then the plots aren't her plots either. I think MR's films are best described as 'LOOSELY based on a character created by Agatha Christie'. Actually, we could just rename the character so she has nothing to do with Miss M and then we can just get on with enjoying the films for what they are! Entertaining and fun with Margaret Rutherford playing herself with all her comic charm, oh, and a little bit of (dodgy) mystery thrown in. Will that do?

The word "spoof" is not a derogatory remark. A spoof is quite simply a comic homage to the original source material, and that is precisely what the Rutherford films are: enjoyable, entertaining spoofs. It is no insult, because it is the perfect truth.

The films you mentioned are all spoofs, with only Murder by Death directly spoofing AC with Milo Perrier and Miss Marbles. But even "Miss Marbles" is more like MM. Rutherford simply does too much, what with the golf, the charleston, the climbing up walls, and the fencing. She is still entertaining, but you can't deny she is a comic caricature of the character, and therefore, qualifies as a spoof.

Whatever point you're trying to make is extremely weak. You quite clearly made the connection between calling the films spoofs and insulting the filmmakers, and therefore, a derogatory remark:

Tommy_A_Jones

(...) to call Margaret Rutherford's Miss Marple a Spoof is just wrong, (...) but the Films where Margaret Rutherford played Miss Marple werew not by any step of the Imagination spoofs and calling them spoofs is an insult to Margaret Rutherford, Charles Tingwell, Stringer Davis, Robert Morley, Lionel Jeffries, Derek Nimmo, Nicholas Parsons and the other Actors who appeared in them.

But even the investigation is handled comically; in order for Rutherford to hear Aunt Cora's statement in Murder at the Gallop, she and Mr. Stringer (quite comically) cooperate to "hoist" her up. Note all the pranks by Alexander in Murder She Said (or the comic line that destroys a tense scene: "Despite the double negative, I'm sure you will."). The films are primarily concerned with laughs, not the mystery, and are basically spoofs, not mysteries. The comedy is not material to pad it out. Even in the confrontation with the killer of Murder She Said, the culprit can't resist cracking a joke about why the death won't be murder.

There's nothing wrong with them as spoofs, but as mysteries alone, there's a lot wrong. I don't see what's wrong with the word; plenty of good, enjoyable films are spoofs, from Murder by Death to Clue. And essentially, that's what the MR films are.

I am not being deogotary to the films, Far from it, I nam saying you my friend is the one being deogatory by calling the MR Films Spoofs, Spoofs have week Jokes for the sake of it and are a Coical look at the Genre they are Parodying, which is what Murder By Death and Clue did, Murder At The Gallop, Murder She Said abnd the other two did not do that so can't be called "Spoofs"

Who said anything about spoofs having weak jokes? That's not a trademark of good spoofs in the least.