La dernière énigme

A slow ponderous tale, the last full-length Miss Marple to be published. It had in fact been written during the forties and Christie had intended it to be published after her death. It has the usual surprise twists and turns that we have come to expect from Dame Agatha, but this substandard television production lacks pace and the invasive music ruins any sense of atmosphere. The acting is equally uninspiring, however, John Moulder-Brown appears to be perfectly cast as the vacuous male lead.

A young couple are looking for a home. The wife is from New Zealand and reared by relatives after her parents die. They locate a home and begin to remodel. As they do, the woman begins to feel like she's been there before identifying features of the house that were long ago removed. Most significantly, she suddenly recalls seeing a woman being strangled in the house. A woman named Helen...

This was the last of the Marple mysteries published and (to my mind) thankfully, Christie didn't kill off her detective (as she eventually does with Poirot). But the mystery is nothing special to be honest but the couple is attractive, and as they revisit the past, they stir up a murderer who strikes again and then comes after the young wife (nicely played by Geraldine Alexander) in a fairly suspenseful climax (for a Christie-based film).

P. S. One odd thing about this episode. We briefly meet Miss Marple's nephew Raymond and his wife, Joan (played by Amanda Boxer). For some reason, the writers create unspoken hostility between Joan and Miss Marple. It's never explained and once the mystery gets going it's never referred to again. Puzzling.

The 1980s adaptations starring Joan Hickson are on the slow side by modern standards. This was in fact the last golden age of television before it was ruined by too many channels and the advent of the MTV attention span -- which has sadly affected us all, I fear. This version is lovingly crafted with delightful period details.

Although, in its slowness, this version fails to build up the various suspects as sufficiently menacing, it is a good version which keeps quite faithful to the book. Geraldine Alexander is excellent as Gwenda and to my ears does a super New Zealand accent. John Moulder-Brown is a let-down as her unconvincing animatronic husband, beautifully dressed in the gent's outfitters styles of the period, but far too mannered in his perfect elocution. Joan Hickson does her stuff very well as usual.

It is interesting (if depressing) to compare this with the travesty version starring Geraldine McEwan, where the plot has been mangled -- and garbled -- beyond recognition.

'Sleeping Murder' keeps rolling around on afternoon BBC television, and I have been drawn into the story twice so far. I don't like Miss Marple, so perhaps that is why I find this a decent story - I can't compare it to the books, and the world's oldest detective only crops up every now and again to explain the plot to the newlywed couple. I love the idea of Gwenda subconsciously buying a house from her past, and the details she uncovers, such as the pattern of the wallpaper in the cupboard and the steps in the garden. The history in the house, and the subsequent family tree research, had me hooked. The 'whodunnit' wasn't exactly taxing - just look for the most dubious character, battling with a bad case of pantomime villain - but the unravelling of the clues kept me interested (just about - at times this felt like an epic, instead of an installment of a detective series). The setting, period detail, and characters were all evocative of a storybook version of an era gone by. Perfect Sunday afternoon fodder.

I love the film adaptations of Agatha Christie's books starring Joan Hickson. You can't help but love them for their purely English decorum and a certain primness, for their slowness and attention to detail. "Sleeping murder" is somewhat different from such classic films as" The Moving Finger" or "The Murder on Vicarage" because it is one of lady Agatha's most terrifying stories. But at the same time, the film retains its slowness and true English atmosphere. I must admit that I was somewhat lacking in the disclosure of the characters of Gwenda and especially Giles, who turned out to be a rather gray character. Kennedy, of course, is excellent, played just brilliantly. The film itself is very atmospheric and brilliantly staged. The finale is just great, congratulations to the creators! In General, it is one of the best film adaptations with Joan Hickson in the title role. 10/10