"But it's so important, isn't it, to be quite sure? Which is where my little plan comes in." - Geraldine McEwan as Miss Jane Marple
Agatha Christie's Marple: Series 1 DVD Review
By A.J. Carson
The top of her vanity is filled with items that wouldn't be out of place on your grandmother's: tins of delicate powders, fine combs, perfumes in fancy bottles. But look closely and you'll see a copy of Raymond Chandler's The Simple Art of Murder, a book whose blood-spattered cover art is not grandmotherly at all. For while Miss Jane Marple (Geraldine McEwan) may look like a brittle, weary songbird, behind her rheumy eyes is a sharp mind capable of honing in on a dead body faster than any vulture. Yes, Agatha Christie's beloved character has come back to the small screen, this time in a series of four films co-produced in 2004 by British TV and PBS' Mystery.
This latest series presents films based on four of Christie's novels: "The Murder at the Vicarage," "The Body in the Library," "A Murder is Announced," and "4:50 from Paddington." Set in 1951, the films center on Jane Marple, an amateur sleuth whose unassuming personality lets her blend into the background while solving the mysteries that seem to pop up around her like weeds. But while she is unassuming, she's not a shrinking violet. Miss Marple is the quintessential busybody - smarter than everyone else in the room, but a busybody nevertheless. So murderers, beware. Miss Marple is back on the case.
"The Murder at the Vicarage"
Colonel Prothero (Gosford Park's Derek Jacobi) is a loud, obnoxious bully who treats his position as warden of the church as if he is still leading an army regiment. He is so disliked that at a dinner party even the church's kindly vicar, Leonard Clement (Tim McInnerny), jokes about killing him, prompting the other guests to chime in with exactly how each would do the deed. When Prothero is murdered in the vicarage, it's up to Miss Marple to figure out which friendly enemies might hate the colonel enough to actually kill him. Could it be the controversial painter Lawrence Redding (Jason Flemyng) who has been causing a stir by painting nudes.and carrying on with Mrs. Prothero (Janet McTeer)? Then there's the colonel's daughter, Lettice (Christina Cole), who has created a scandal by posing for Redding. Augustin Dufosse (The Pink Panther's Herbert Lom) claims to be writing a story on the colonel's home, but he and his daughter seem to have something to hide. Toss in a mysterious stranger (Jane Asher), a jealous suitor (Julian Morris), and a couple of busybodies (Angela Pleasence and Miriam Margolyes) and it appears that half the village could be considered suspects.
"The Murder at the Vicarage" brings these latest Miss Marple adventures to a delightful start. As the sleuth begins to investigate the crime, lie upon lie is revealed, giving the village of St. Mary Mead the gossipy feel of Peyton Place. Nothing is as it seems, and many "clues" turn out to be wholly unrelated to the case. These clues never feel like red herrings, but instead add another layer to the portrait of Miss Marple's little community.
"The Body in the Library"
When the body of a blonde bombshell turns up on the tiger-skin rug in her library, Dolly Bantry (Absolutely Fabulous' Joanna Lumley) turns to her old pal Miss Marple for help. Dolly is worried that her husband, Colonel Bantry (James Fox), may have been the murderer. As she observes, "He's sometimes silly about pretty girls, but why not? After all, I have the garden." Miss Marple, however, has her doubts. The victim, strangled by the waistband of her spangled dress, turns out to have been a dance hostess at the chichi Majestic Hotel. This leaves our sleuth with a resort's worth of suspects, including a respected citizen (Ian Richardson) who lost most of his family - not to mention his legs - during a WWII air raid, his widowed daughter-in-law (The Student Prince's Tara Fitzgerald), a professional dancer (Adam Garcia) who makes as much money between the sheets as he does on the dance floor, and the bombshell's equally vivacious cousin (Mary Stockley). Will Miss Marple manage to piece together the puzzle before the police superintendent (Coupling's Jack Davenport) and Colonel Melchett (A Room with a View's Simon Callow) can?
As with many fictional sleuths, Miss Marple often seems to solve cases simply because she's Miss Marple, not because of any preponderance of evidence, and this one is no exception. The problem is the motives of the suspects in "The Body in the Library" are not as finely crafted as those in the other three episodes. Despite its out-of-nowhere ending, the episode maintains viewer interest thanks to its especially strong cast. Lumley and McEwan make a fine pair, giving the episode a healthy dose of "buddy comedy"-style humor as they gamely work together to solve the case.
"A Murder is Announced"
The village of Chipping Cleghorn is set abuzz when an ad in The North Benham News/The Chipping Cleghorn Gazette proclaims that a murder will take place on Friday, September 25, 7:30 PM, at the home of Letitia Blacklock (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone's Zoë Wanamaker). Assuming that someone has planned a murder mystery party, several villagers turn up at the appointed time, including sweet Amy Murgatroyd (Claire Skinner), her mannish roommate Lizzie Hinchcliffe (Frances Barber), Colonel Archie Easterbrook (Robert Pugh), widowed Sadie Swettenham (Cherie Lunghi), and her son Edmund (Christian Coulson). What starts off as a lark soon turns deadly when the lights go out and shots are fired, leaving Letitia wounded and Rudi Schertz (Christian Pederson), an employee of a nearby spa, dead. Luckily, Miss Marple is a guest at that very same spa, and Miss Murgatroyd is the daughter of a now-deceased friend. Luckily for everyone except the murderer, that is.
"A Murder is Announced" is perhaps the most suspenseful Miss Marple tale of this series. The conceit of the lights going out and shots being fired is charmingly baroque, and the mystery - although nearly impossible for viewers to figure out - never feels contrived or strained. This episode's final twenty minutes are filled with enough genteel tension to have mystery fans sitting breathlessly on the edges of their seats.
"4:50 from Paddington"
While taking the 4:50 train from Paddington to visit her old friend Miss Marple at Christmas, Elspeth McGillicuddy (Rosemary & Thyme's Pam Ferris) is horrified to witness a murder on a passing train as they briefly pull alongside each other on parallel tracks. When an investigation fails to turn up a corpse, the police brand her a kook. Miss Marple, however, smells foul play. Using a train timetable, she determines that the body was most likely dumped near Rutherford Hall, a decaying estate owned by Luther Crackenthorpe (The Omen's David Warner). With the help of globetrotting Lucy Eyelesbarrow (Amanda Holden) and Inspector Tom Campbell (McCallum's John Hannah), Miss Marple sets out to find the victim.
"4:50 from Paddington" is just as well-crafted as "A Murder is Announced." The plot is intriguing, and the surprise ending feels like a perfectly natural one. This is also a change-of-pace episode in that Lucy does much of the sleuthing while Miss Marple watches from the sidelines. The terrific cast includes Michael Landes (Lois & Clark) and Jenny Agutter (Logan's Run).
Marple's sly humor sets it apart from other Christie adaptations. The series sends up the genre's conventions while simultaneously celebrating them. Sure, the humor may be a bit subtle for those weaned on American Pie, and the mysteries may feel slow to fans to flashy crimes series like CSI, but Marple will prove rich and rewarding to fans of the genre.
The series is especially resonant because it delves into the physical and psychic scars inflicted on England by World War II. Many of the characters lost spouses and other family members in the war, and in several cases, these losses trigger deep wounds that lead to criminal activity. Miss Marple herself is driven by the loss of her married lover in the First World War. In "The Murder at the Vicarage," she seems downright haunted by the tragic events of her past, with the implication being that she fills the void in her life by helping to bring criminals to justice.
The series' depiction of 1950s England is nearly impeccable. The production values are quite stunning. The camera seems to caress the series' locations and costumes, from vine-covered cottages to cherry-print dresses.
Agatha Christie's Marple: Series 1 consists of four discs, each holding one of the series' episodes. Each disc is housed in a standard-sized keepcase. The four keepcases slide into a cardboard outer sleeve. The cover of this cardboard sleeve is decorated with a rather unfortunate picture of McEwan which makes the star look like some sort of weird creature from The X-Files. It's an oddly unattractive image choice for such a beautifully-filmed series.
