My first acquaintance with actress Helen Hayes in the role of Miss Marple, one of my personal favorite fictional characters of all times, was a pleasant one! Hayes depicts a timid but solid Marple, and that puts her somewhere in between the eccentric Margaret Rutherford and the inconspicuous Geraldine McEwen.
In her second, and already last, portrayal of the clever and deductive spinster of St.-Mary Mead, Hayes is surrounded by a solid supportive cast including the almighty Bette Davis (amazing how she is 10 younger than Hayes and yet looks 20 years older), John Mills, Leo McKern, and Frances de la Tour. The most remarkable face in the cast, however, is a very young Tim Roth as one of the juvenile delinquents in the reforming institute where Marple is resolving a murder.
What can I say about the plot? The film is an adaptation of Christie's novel "They Do it with Mirrors", which is actually a much better title than "Murder with Mirrors" since it refers to magicians' tricks. Actual mirrors have nothing to do with the murder(s). What makes this one AC tale terrific is the setting within an aristocratic family that also runs a reform-institution for delinquent young men. The red herrings and other attempts to mislead the viewer are rather weak, but - of course - that's easy for me to say since I read the novel and watched two other adaptations of the same novel already.
In her second, and already last, portrayal of the clever and deductive spinster of St.-Mary Mead, Hayes is surrounded by a solid supportive cast including the almighty Bette Davis (amazing how she is 10 younger than Hayes and yet looks 20 years older), John Mills, Leo McKern, and Frances de la Tour. The most remarkable face in the cast, however, is a very young Tim Roth as one of the juvenile delinquents in the reforming institute where Marple is resolving a murder.
What can I say about the plot? The film is an adaptation of Christie's novel "They Do it with Mirrors", which is actually a much better title than "Murder with Mirrors" since it refers to magicians' tricks. Actual mirrors have nothing to do with the murder(s). What makes this one AC tale terrific is the setting within an aristocratic family that also runs a reform-institution for delinquent young men. The red herrings and other attempts to mislead the viewer are rather weak, but - of course - that's easy for me to say since I read the novel and watched two other adaptations of the same novel already.