I'm not one of those to bash the film just because it doesn't completely and exactly mirror the book. I didn't read it anyway, so judging from what we actually saw in the movie, it's safe to say that gloomy, dark whodunits go very well with the rural, romantic landscapes of English countryside. The production is on its usual high level with Julia McKenzie in the role of Jane Marple, and she actually manages to pull it rather well off. I never really liked Joan Hutchingson, so McKenzie fit the bill much better. The Pale Horse is a small town inn where Marple stays to inquire into the murder of her friend, father German, who dies the same day she received his the letter,after tending to a dying woman who gives it to him, with a list of names. What follows is a series of murders all of which are somehow linked to the The Pale inn, whose owners present themselves as witches with special powers able to control other people's psyche. Eventually, Marple discovers that there's nothing surreal about the murders and lures the culprit into the light by one of the most impressive twists I've seen in the Marple series. The downside is that it takes a bit of time until you work out the connections between the characters and their motives, and it's somehow clear from the very start that the inn owner is up to no good. There are certain echoes of "The Ninth Gate" here, albeit probably unconscious. All in all, good Sunday fun in spite of a few rough spots along the way.