Customer Reviews

Miss Marple - 3 Feature Length Mysteries (The Body in the Library / A Murder Is Announced / A Pocketful of Rye)

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My favorite Miss Marple film is BODY IN THE LIBRARY, which is included in this set. First off, unlike for some other reviewers, the films are crisp, no dark multi-gen'd versions on my disks. Re the set appearance itself, quite charming overall, as if one should sit down with coffee, tea or cocoa while perusing. The individual disk decor is lovely, with photos from the particular installment, and the disks contain chaptering of the installments (you can elect to view all three eps on disk 1 & 2 in one go or do it on an individual basis). The real drawback with high irritation factor is the BBC-A ads that appear at the beginning of each disk, you can fast-forward through both, but really they shouldn't be there at all. One point of possible confusion is John Castle, who played Miss Marple's inspector nephew elsewhere is actually an inspector of non-relation in A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED. The introduction of the Inspector Slagg character, who resented Miss Marple's detecting skills, is introduced in BODY IN THE LIBRARY. There is also - on Disk 3 - which contains the two-parter of POCKETFUL OF RYE - a half-hour documentary on the birthplace of Agatha Christie celebrating the centenary of her birth. In this, the Orient Express makes an appearance as well as the actors who played Marple and Poirot (david suchet) appearing in character and meeting each other formally and for the first time.

Every once in a while, an actor comes along who not only plays the role of Sherlock Holmes, but actually redefines the role. Well, this has now happened with Agatha Christie's detective, Miss Marple! In 1984, veteran actress Joan Hickson (1906-98) was tapped to play Miss Marple, and the rest, as they say, is history.

This is a great DVD collection, containing three of the excellent Joan Hickson/Miss Marple episodes, each of which is a great small-screen adaptation of Agatha Christie's excellent book of the same name. If you are a fan of great mysteries, then this is for you. Heck, even if you just like high-quality British drama, then you will love these movies. I love this DVD set, and give it my highest recommendations!

The three episodes are:
The Body in the Library - Episode #1, 1984 - When the body of a murdered young woman is found in their library, the Bantry's bring in their old friend, Jane Marple. There's a mystery within a mystery here: who is the murdered girl, and how did she get from where she was last seen to the Bantry's library?

A Murder is Announced - Episode #2, 1985 - When a personal item in the Chipping Cleghorne Gazette invites people to a murder at the home of Miss Blacklock, they show up to be part of a real murder! The police are baffled as to what happened and why, and that leaves only one person who can unravel this mystery - Miss Jane Marple!

A Pocketful of Rye - Episode #3, 1985 - When a rich man dies under very mysterious circumstances, Miss Marple quickly realizes that more murders are sure to follow. This is a very deep mystery, and only Jane Marple can find out what is really going on and why!

By the way, as an added bonus, this set contains "Crime Does Pay," a 1990 episode of the British television show Western Approach. On September 15, 1890, the city of Torquay threw a celebration of the 100th birthday of their favorite citizen, the late Agatha Christie. This show is an interesting salute to Dame Agatha, and focuses on her life, her work, and her legacy.

I love the Miss Marple mysteries in both book and movie form, but unfortunately not a one of them has been transferred properly to video or DVD. While this BBC set of the longer Marple mysteries looks somewhat better than the two A&E sets, they're still pretty bad. The main reason for this (apart from the BBC's obvious indifference to whole matter) is that the transfer material is SEVERAL generations removed from the negative. The result: loads of grain, overall dark and muddy look, little detail, washed out highlights, faded color, dirt, occasional wavering picture, focus problems (except for most closeups, many long shots look as if NOTHING is in focus), contrast problems (In many scenes, anything in the lower third of the screen is so dark that all detail is lost--people's legs dissapear into a dark area, which is presumably the floor). I don't know if the BBC treats all of their projects this way or if they just have a thing against poor Miss Marple, but they need to hear from us. People should not receive defective merchandise for their money.

One of the most irritating things about this set is that each movie is split up into 3 episodes, each with the same opening and closing credits, just like they are broadcast on TV. Of course, the viewer can fastforward through this, but it was a stupid thing to do, and it's just another indicator of the lack of care in making this set of DVDs.

It's wonderful to have these mysteries available again on video, but it's aggravating to see the indifference of big business to its customers and to its own product. Buyer beware!

Restricting my comments to the quality of the 3-disc release: I was very worried, based on a review published here, that the video quality of this product might be poor. It isn't; in fact, it's very good. I don't know why the reviewer would have complained about this unless his/her copy of the DVD was really as poor as described, which I have to accept that it was. All I can say is, mine isn't. A couple of nights ago, one of our Bay Area PBS channels did re-broadcast one of the 3-part episodes on this disc, and the quality of their print was awful. So, I can tell the difference between grainy and spotty on the one hand, and sharp and clear on the other...it's quite plain on my equipment, which is only average. Unlike the other reviewer's, my discs are quite sharp.

My Gift Set Miss Marple DVD collection is of excellent quality. Miss Marple is my favorite Christie sleuth and I am so pleased to have these episodes (Body in the Library, Pocket Full of Rye, Murder is Announced) on DVD. I noticed no grainy quality whatsoever. There are a few ads in the beginning and the episodes are individually split up into separate parts as in when they were broadcast on TV but these facts really did not bother me. I especially enjoyed the "Who's Who" feature which gave brief bios of the BBC actors. All-in-all very enjoyable!

My 3 favorite Miss Marple programs. Video quality excellent. If they had left off all the ads at the beginning of each CD it would have been even better. A nice value.

"You're telling me to look for a Mr. X," says Inspector Craddock (John Castle) to Miss Jane Marple (Joan Hickson) during tea. The inspector had thought he was dealing with a rather straight forward case of murder in the village of Chipping Cleghorn.

"A Mr., Mrs. or Miss X, I should say," replies Miss Marple. She is an old woman who may knit and garden, but she has very sharp eyes. "You know, Inspector," she continues, "some of the best murderers are women, especially in an English village. Turn over a stone and you'll have no idea what will crawl out." Miss Marple takes another sip of tea.

Nor should any murderer underestimate this slightly frail, inquisitive and observant woman, long a resident of the English village of St. Mary Mead, who is given to wearing tweeds and sensible shoes. Miss Marple has a mind as logical as a trap. As she says, "It's very dangerous to believe people. I haven't for years." When murder has been done, those aged eyes see things, especially in the behavior and habits of those around her, which lead to retribution. As played by Joan Hickson, Miss Marple is invariably courteous and very much of the old school when it comes to manners. She may occasionally offer advice, but is remarkably realistic. "Good advice is almost certain to be ignored," she says, "but that's no reason for not giving it." She may take part in a bit of gossip, but almost always she is giving a bit of information in order to get even more back. Hickson's Miss Marple is not without empathy or friends, but she essentially is a person quite satisfied to do her gardening. She does not twinkle.

In A Murder Is Announced (1985), one of three feature-length made-for-TV movies in this collection, Miss Marple finds herself dealing with an almost intractably clever series of murders set in the picture-perfect village of Chipping Cleghorn, all driven by a family relationship that goes back a generation. The mystery is complex, the motives selfish, the manners of the characters are all genteel, and the bodies pile up. The murderer is singularly ruthless.

With The Body in the Library (1984), Miss Marple finds herself with a seemingly anonymous body found in the library of Gossington Hall, stately home of the stately Colonel and Mrs. Bantry.

And with A Pocketful of Rye (1985), Miss Marple finds that with the Fortescue family, she will need all her powers of observation to sort through the many motives of envy, greed, resentment and longing.

Joan Hickson is a marvel as Jane Marple. Many have played the character, usually with distinction, but Hickson has set the bar extremely high. As good as the others have been and are, she still is the best. Lending great support in these three movies are a wide range of superior British actors. In addition to John Castle, some others who show up in the three stories include such favorites as Renee Asherson, Joan Sims, Moray Watson, Tom Wilkinson, Ursula Howells, Peter Davison, Joyce Carey and so many more.

Each mystery runs about 2 hours and 40 minutes. The DVD transfers could have been better; they have the quality of a mid-range VHS tape, not good but not too bad. Regardless of the quality, if you enjoy mysteries with complex plots, fine acting, good manners and featuring a relentless solver of murders, these Miss Marple movies are the real thing.

... so you'd think," retired Scotland Yard chief Sir Henry Clithering (Raymond Francis) says when describing St. Mary Mead's best-known inhabitant to his friend, wealthy paraplegic Conway Jefferson in the first adaptation of a Miss Marple mystery, "The Body in the Library." "Yet," Sir Henry continues, "her mind has plumbed the depths of human iniquity, and taken all in a day's work." And Vicar Clement, the narrator of Agatha Christie's first Miss Marple story, 1930's "Murder at the Vicarage," couldn't agree more: "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," he observes on one occasion.

The BBC's 1980s adaptations of Christie's twelve Miss Marple novels quickly established Joan Hickson as the quintessential Jane 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 "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 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" adaptation 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, 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 Milchester C.I.D.'s Inspector Slack (David Horovitch) 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 Body in the Library" (where he really does appear) to Superintendent in the adaptation of "The Mirror Crack'd" (where Miss Marple is actually only joined by Inspector Craddock, not also by Slack). 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 Sir Henry Clithering, "wonderful gift to state the obvious" ... and whose "good old-fashioned policework" is found to fall short, again and again, in comparison with Miss Marple's ever-unfailing "village parallels," those seemingly innocuous incidents of village life making up the sum of her knowledge of human nature, to which she routinely turns in unmasking even the cleverest killer.

This set contains the region 1 versions of the BBC's first three adaptations starring Joan Hickson:

"The Body in the Library" (written 1942, BBC 1984): In response to a friend's request, Christie makes a mysterious dead platinum blonde appear in the library of St. Mary Mead squire Colonel Bantry and his wife Dolly, Miss Marple's friend. (The horror! The scandal!) The murderer's trail leads from the Bantrys' Gossington Hall estate to nearby seaside resort Danemouth, when the dead girl is identified as a show dancer who used to work at one of the resort's luxury hotels. But as Mrs. Bantry will come to observe to her surprise in the end, "it all boils down to fingernail clippings and Mozart" ...

"A Murder Is Announced" (written 1950, BBC 1985): It was supposed to be "just a silly joke," that startling anonymous advertisement in Chipping Cleghorn's village gazette -- "A murder is announced and will take place Friday, October the 5th, at Little Paddocks, at 7PM." But then a murder really does occur, and the person found lying dead is the ad's author himself. In determining his connection to Little Paddocks's owner Ms. Blacklog -- his failed holdup's apparent target -- Miss Marple and Inspector Craddock (John Castle) ponder the effects of the post-WWII changes of British village society ... and the vital clue is finally provided by a remarkable cat named Delilah.

"A Pocket Full of Rye" (written 1953, BBC also 1985): A murderer uses an old nursery rhyme in a ghastly game with rich tyrannical Rex Fortescue and his family which soon has police and press speculate about black magic. Miss Marple, however, instantly zeroes in on the nursery rhyme, and finding that she has come too late to save the life of her erstwhile protege, the Fortescues' clumsy, naive maid Gladys, she does not rest until she has found the murderer, whose motive is, alas, nothing but "greed -- one knows that, naturally ..."

The series's remaining episodes (available in a variety of other sets):

"Murder at the Vicarage" (written 1930, BBC 1986; Christie's first Marple story)
"The Moving Finger" (written 1942, BBC 1985)
"They Do It with Mirrors" (written 1952, BBC 1991)
"4:50 From Paddington" (written 1957, BBC 1987; a/k/a "What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!")
"The Mirror Crack'd" (written 1962, BBC 1992; title taken from Tennyson's "Lady of Shalott")
"At Bertram's Hotel" (written 1965; BBC 1987)
"A Caribbean Mystery" (written 1965, BBC 1989)
"Nemesis" (written 1971, BBC 1987; sequel to the above)
"Sleeping Murder" (written 1976, BBC 1987; Christie's last Miss Marple mystery)

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
Marple Classic Mysteries (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)
The Mirror Crack'd

To begin, Joan Hickson is marvelous as Miss Marple--even better than Margaret Rutherford--no easy task!
The three story's in this set are quite good-though I found the first story-"The Body in the Library"-moved along a little too slowly for my taste. No such problem with the other two stories however. "A Murder is announced" is the best of the three episodes--in which an announcement of a pending murder is placed in the local newspaper. "A Pocketfull of Rye" is also an excellent story--which I especially enjoyed because of Peter Davison--better known as Tristan in "All Creatures Great and Small" as well as portraying "Doctor Who"
These storys are great to watch in a group setting--trying to figure out among yourselves "Who done it"

The movies are just as I remember. Would have prefered that they not be in the segments that were shown on PBS each week. Would have liked the movie to be without a break.