Agatha Christie - Miss Marple Collection 1 - Boxed Set [VHS]
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VHS Movie Reviews of Agatha Christie - Miss Marple Collection 1 - Boxed Set [VHS]
Movie Review: Great Miss Marple, Bad A&E
Summary: 3 Stars
A delightful collection of Miss Marple classics, with excellent sets and period design. Excellent direction and wonderfully adapted texts. The only thiing which prevents me from giving this set a full five stars is the poor sound quality (the original titles having been shot in actual English locations and not in sets). The absences of subtitles is also a downfall for those of us who are hearing impaired. Other than this flaw, Joan Hickson delivers an impeccable Marple and the supporting cast are, in general, outstanding. This set is well worth the money.Movie Review: Be aware of editing.
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm not going to comment on production and performances because these are all excellent.
Unfortunately these episodes are not complete. These titles were originally shown by the BBC and the Seven Network in Australia as 3 episodes per title, each with their own openings and credits. If you buy the 3 disc set released by the BBC of the three titles not released in this set (Body in the Library; A Murder is Announced; A Pocketful of Rye) you will see that they are in this format and complete.
Sadly, most of the titles in this set seem to have the first episode complete and then the last 2 episodes are cut and hacked together to make a movie length feature. I had a lot of these titles taped off the television and when I got the DVD set I went ahead and wiped them. Imagined my frustration when I realised that many scenes are missing. In particular, the Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side has a lot missing.
So, I thought I'd share this information for the benefit of anyone else about to make the same mistake I did.
If you've never seen them before you might not mind - although some of the changes interfere with the flow of the story, but if you are buying them as replacements - forget it.
UPDATE 14 Jan 2008 - I have since discovered that you can get a 12 disc complete set (with all episodes) from amazon.co.uk and all the episodes in this set are unedited and complete. If you want full versions, and you have a multi-region dvd player, then I suggest you purchase this set.
Movie Review: "More tea, vicar?" With that we say good-bye to the last of the marvelous Miss Marple movies with the incomparable Joan Hickson
Summary: 5 Stars
"Why didn't we think of that?" asks Gwenda Reed as she and her husband, Giles, walk in the garden of their estate. A murderer had been captured the night before with his hands around Gwenda's neck, and she and Giles couldn't understand how they had been so deceived by the person.
"Because you believed what he told you," Miss Jane Marple patiently explains to the young couple. "It's very dangerous to believe people. I haven't for years." And so ends Sleeping Murder, one of four full-length Jane Marple mysteries, all part of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple - Collection 1.
No murderer should 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. 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." 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.
Each mystery runs about 1 hour and 40 minutes. Sleeping Murder (1987) involves a long-ago crime, an obsessive love and recollections of the past by Gwenda Reed which may be madness or may be true.
4:50 From Paddington (1987) is the story of a murder glimpsed on a passing train. When Miss Marple arranges for a young woman to be placed as a maid in Rutherford Hall, murder begins to stalk the Crackenthorpe family, already beset by intrigue and snide jealousy.
A Caribbean Mystery (1989) sees Miss Marple in the Bahamas, where ruthless murder is let loose in the small resort where she is staying. Here is where Jane Marple first meets the rich Mr. Jason Rafiel, who much later sets her inquisitive and ruthless instincts to work in Nemesis.
The Mirror Cracked From Side to Side (1992) gives us a tragedy which leads to retribution, encompassed by a story of love. Miss Marple finally understands what has happened, and it is a bitter-sweet resolution.
Joan Hickson is a marvel as Jane Marple. Many have played the character, usually with distinction, but Hickson has set the bar extremely high. She filmed all 12 Miss Marple books, starting with The Body in the Library in 1984 when she was 78 through the last, The Mirror Cracked. She was 86 then, and died six years later in 1998. As good as the other Miss Marples have been and are, she still is the best. Lending great support in these four movies are a wide range of superior British actors, including such favorites as Fredrick Treves, Donald Pleasence, Frank Middlemass, John Castle, Claire Bloom, Maurice Denham and Joanna David.
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, the 12 Miss Marple movies with Joan Hickson are treasures worth owning. Perhaps it's best to leave with the last words Hickson graciously utters as Miss Marple, from The Mirror Cracked. "More tea, vicar?"
Movie Review: Impeccable Acting and Terrific Agatha Christie Adaptations
Summary: 5 Stars
I have this set and enjoy it immensely, mainly for my all-time favorites, "Nemesis" and "Bertram's Hotel."
Joan Hickson nails Miss Marple as does everyone associated with this series production. I read all the books before watching the series so I knew what Miss Marple was supposed to be. This Marple series maintains the integrity of Agatha Christie's writing and that's pretty difficult to do when transferring a book to film.
The sets are sumptuous and we get great views of the English countryside. Miss Marple is appropriately a spinster with a mind like a steel trap. She's underestimated by the murderer mainly because no one can believe that a senior citizen can be so smart. But Jane Marple is just that and she uses the ruse to get information that no police detective could.
I won't go into details about each movie since someone else has done that here. I will suggest that if you want to really see AGATHA CHRISTIE'S MISS MARPLE, you will buy this set. The newer Miss Marple with Geraldine McEwan is a major disappointment and totally unrecognizable to Christie's superb writing.
Movie Review: Bad Batch?
Summary: 1 Stars
I ordered this DVD set and we were looking forward to many hours of enjoyable viewing. Some of the DVD's in the set, however, had digital scrambling problems, so we did the Amazon return thing, requesting that a replacement set be sent. When we received that replacement set, we were very disappointed to see that the digital scrambling was exactly the same as in the first set. I don't know if we got two from the same bad batch, or what, but now we don't have the set we were looking forward to placing in our video library.