Elstree

Elstree is the location of the English studio where Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer produced the 1966 film version of The ABC Murders. The adaptation, released as The Alphabet Murders, marked a shift from the novel’s literary setting to a screen production made near London.

Studio Setting

More than thirty years after the novel’s initial publication, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer made the film at its English studio in Elstree, near London. The location is specified as the production site; the evidence does not describe the studio’s facilities or any other role for Elstree in the novel’s plot.

The Film Production

The film was released as The Alphabet Murders. Its production at Elstree brought together American director Frank Tashlin, known for comedies and Bugs Bunny cartoons, and a cast that included Tony Randall as Hercule Poirot and Robert Morley as Arthur Hastings. Margaret Rutherford and Stringer Davis also made guest appearances. The adaptation was scripted by David Pursall and Jack Seddon, whose treatment is characterized as a substantial departure from the novel.

Abandoned Project and Significance

The Elstree production followed an earlier project that did not proceed: British director Seth Holt had been due to direct a version starring Zero Mostel as Hercule Poirot. That plan collapsed on what was supposed to be the first day of shooting, after Agatha Christie objected strongly to a script that included a bedroom scene for Poirot. The eventual film made at Elstree was therefore not the realization of that original project, but a later production with a different director and lead actor. Elstree’s significance in the account is as the site of this completed screen adaptation, distinguished from the abandoned plan that preceded it.