Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)There she sits: A white-haired lady dressed in tweeds, a pair of knitting needles in her lap, more interested in village gossip than in the goings-on of the world at large - and out of nothing, she utters sentences like that.
For more likely than not, another murder has been committed; and Miss Jane Marple, elderly spinster from the village of St. Mary Mead, just happens to find herself near the scene of the crime. And also more likely than not, while the police are still toddling around searching for clues she'll find the solution - relying on her ever-unfailing "village parallels;" those seemingly innocuous incidents of village life that make up the sum of her knowledge of human nature, and to which she routinely turns in unmasking even the cleverest killer. "Miss Marple is a white-haired old lady with a gentle, appealing manner - Miss Wetherby is a mixture of vinegar and gush. Of the two Miss Marple is the more dangerous," already observes Vicar Clement, the narrator of Miss Marple's literary debut, 1930's "Murder at the Vicarage" (although in the BBC series, only her fifth adventure).
Originally airing in the 1980s, the BBC's adaptations of Agatha Christie's twelve Miss Marple novels featured Joan Hickson in the title role; quickly establishing her as the quintessential Miss Marple even in the view of the grandmother (or rather, grand-aunt) of all village sleuths and "noticing kinds of persons"'s creator, Dame Agatha herself. (After seeing Hickson in an adaptation of her "Appointment With Death," as early as 1946 Christie reportedly sent her a note expressing the hope she would one day "play my dear Miss Marple.") Prior versions, partly involving rather high-octane casts, had seen as Miss Marple, inter alia, Angela Lansbury and Margaret Rutherford, but had been decidedly less faithful to Christie's books. While Lansbury holds her own fairly well when compared to the character's literary original in 1980's "Hollywood does Christie" version of "The Mirror Crack'd" (and that movie's ageing actresses' showdown featuring Elizabeth Taylor and Kim Novak is a delight to watch), the four movies starring Rutherford are only loosely based on Christie's books: Dame Margaret's Miss Marple, although itself likewise a splendid performance, has about as much to do with Agatha Christie's demure and seemingly scatterbrained village sleuth as Big Ben does with the English countryside, and of the scripts, only "Murder, She Said" is an adaptation of a Miss Marple mystery ("4:50 From Paddington"), whereas two of the others - "Murder at the Gallop" and "Murder Most Foul" - are actually Hercule Poirot stories ("After the Funeral" and "Mrs. McGinty's Dead," respectively), and "Murder Ahoy" is based on a completely independent screenplay.
Following the rule that ever since Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Lestrade every great private detective needs a policeman he can outwit, the creators of the BBC series inserted the character of Inspector Slack into almost all storylines - hardly in keeping with the literary originals, which are set over a period of more than 30 years and thus, exceed the career span of a policeman already advanced on his professional path at the time of his first encounter with Miss Marple; even if the BBC's Slack is promoted from D.I. in the series's first instalment, 1984's "The Body in the Library" (where he really does appear) to Superintendent in 1992's "The Mirror Crack'd" (which is originally only an Inspector Craddock story). Yet, Hickson's and Horovitch's face-offs are a fun addition; and one is almost ready to pity Slack, who hardly ever gets a foot down vis-a-vis Miss Marple's quick rejoinders and, in the words of her friend, retired Scotland Yard chief Sir Henry Clithering, "wonderful gift to state the obvious." (During a conversation with Craddock [John Castle] in "The Mirror Crack'd," Slack - whom Miss Marple herself, in the TV adaptation of "Murder at the Vicarage," has already likened to a railway diesel engine, or in that story's literary original to a shoe vendor intent on selling you patent leather boots while completely ignoring your request for brown calf leather instead - unaware that he is talking to one of Aunt Jane's nephews, rather unsubtly credits her with having "a mind like a meat cleaver.")
Although Agatha Christie herself reportedly preferred Miss Marple over Hercule Poirot, her audience's demands compelled her to bring back the moustachioed Belgian with the many little grey cells much more frequently than the village sleuth from St. Mary Mead. All the greater the tribute paid to "Dear Aunt Jane" in these lovingly-executed adaptations - now, if only this set also contained the series' first three entries ...
Episodes included:
"Murder at the Vicarage" (1930, BBC 1986; Christie's first Marple story)
"The Moving Finger" (1942, BBC 1985)
"They Do It with Mirrors" (1952, BBC 1991)
"4:50 From Paddington" (1957, BBC 1987; a/k/a "What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!")
"The Mirror Crack'd" (1962, BBC 1992; title taken from Tennyson's "Lady of Shalott")
"At Bertram's Hotel" (1965; BBC 1987)
"A Caribbean Mystery" (1965, BBC 1989)
"Nemesis" (1971, BBC 1987; sequel to the above)
"Sleeping Murder" (1976, BBC 1987; Christie's last Miss Marple mystery)
Episodes not included:
"The Body in the Library" (1942, BBC 1984, the first adaptation starring Hickson)
"A Murder Is Announced" (1950, BBC 1985)
"A Pocket Full of Rye" (1953, BBC also 1985)
Also recommended:
Murder at the Vicarage: A Miss Marple Mystery (Agatha Christie Collection)
Agatha Christie: Five Complete Miss Marple Novels (Avenel Suspense Classics)
Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories
Miss Marple - 3 Feature Length Mysteries (The Body in the Library / A Murder Is Announced / A Pocketful of Rye)
The Mirror Crack'd
Click Here to see more reviews about:
Marple: The Classic Mysteries Collection (Caribbean Mystery / 4:50 from Paddington / Moving Finger / Nemesis / At Bertram's Hotel / Murder at Vicarage / Sleeping Murder / They Do It with Mirrors / Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side)Return to post-war England for mystery and a cup of tea with Agatha Christie’s most popular creation. The consummate prim and proper crime-fighting spinster, Miss Jane Marple sets down her knitting needles to unwind the most ingenious crimes. As she travels from city to countryside and even the Bahamas, murders, missing bodies and haunted dreams have a habit of falling across Miss Marple’s path--which is precisely when, "tail up and head down," the beloved aunt and godmother goes into action. Digitally re-mastered and faithfully adapted from Agatha Christie’s best-selling novels, THE CLASSIC MYSTERIES COLLECTION features Joan Hickson (Christie’s personal choice to play the spinster sleuth) in over fifteen hours of suspense, misdirection, rich period detail, and the cleverest solutions imaginable.DVD Features: Complete Index of all Miss Marple Stories; Agatha Christie Bio; Joan Hickson Biography/Filmography; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection
Get 48% OFF
Click here for more information about Marple: The Classic Mysteries Collection (Caribbean Mystery / 4:50 from Paddington / Moving Finger / Nemesis / At Bertram's Hotel / Murder at Vicarage / Sleeping Murder / They Do It with Mirrors / Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side)
