User reviews

If "A Caribbean Mystery" (1983) was the traditional "murder at an exotic resort during the holidays" story, "Murder with Mirrors" (1985) is the traditional "murder in a huge English countryside manor" story. It was the second and last appearance of Helen Hayes as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, and it's a shame she didn't make any more: she is a very wily yet very human Marple, and acts quite youthfully for her 80+ years. The films themselves are better than the TV movies with Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot that were made around the same time, mainly because they don't overplay the comedy. Although the big names in the supporting cast are an old Bette Davis and a young Tim Roth, if anyone stands out it's the beautiful redhead Liane Langland and Leo McKern as the inspector on the case. The story contains the typical AC false assumptions and crafty illusions, and I, for one, did not have a clue what was going on until Miss Marple and the inspector revealed it. A good solid outing for fans of the genre. (***)

This is a made-for-TV movie starring Helen Hayes as Miss Marple and features several prominent stars - Bette Davis, John Mills, Dorothy Tutin and Leo McKern.

Miss Marple is asked to visit an old friend, Carrie-Louise Serrocold (Davis) by her stepson who is concerned that his stepmother is being slowly poisoned. Once Miss Marple arrives at the English country estate, she soon discovers that all is not as it seems.

The location scenery is lovely, however the story is set in the 1980's, losing the authentic period atmosphere so closely associated with Agatha Christie.

Helen Hayes gives a decent performance, although Bette Davis is under-used and looks visibly frail. John Mills is good, as always, and Dorothy Tutin gives a sympathetic turn as Davis's down-trodden daughter. Leo McKern portrays the police inspector with relish, including several entertaining exchanges with Miss Marple.

The plot keeps you guessing, complemented by the usual red herrings supplied by Agatha Christie. Overall, an enjoyable film.

In Agatha Christie's "Murder With Mirrors", the First Lady of the American Screen (Bette Davis) goes head-to-head with the First Lady of the American Stage (Helen Hayes). Unfortunately, 77- year-old Davis had clearly not aged as well as 85-year-old Hayes. Davis suffered a stroke a couple of years earlier and it shows. For those interested in seeing Bette Davis at her best, this is definitely not the movie to see.

Nevertheless, this still rates a "7" out of "10" for the opportunity to see the spry Helen Hayes as Agatha Christie's redoubtable Miss Marple. In addition, Miss Hayes is assisted by a great cast of veteran British actors, including John Mills, Leo McKern, Dorothy Tutin, John Woodvine and Anton Rogers. In addition, look for a young Tim Roth, doing his best to steal a few scenes from his elders.

One of Agatha's easier mysteries to solve begins with some decent location atmosphere and solid characters then soon nosedives, like most Christie adaptions, into the silly. I agree that Dame Bette looks sadly old here and is basically wasted, so Helen Hayes makes up for a lot as the nosy Miss Marple. The funniest part of unintentional giggles, next to that exploding car crashing thru the gate, which never happened in book form, is seeing Tim Roth as a so called delinquient teen. He's a riot here and helps the disappointment factor from jumping too high. It's also nice to see Leo McCern from Rumple of the Bailey in a token, gruffy, voice-of-the-law role which plays off the Hayes cuteness level without too much strain. Too bad the plot wasn't as meticulously handled as the scenery...

Based on Agatha Christie's They Do It With Mirrors, this TV film is entertaining if rather too obvious at times. I will admit though, the book isn't Christie's best, but it is an interesting read. Here, the mystery is updated, and does deviate from the book. I will admit, although the Joan Hickson version wasn't that faithful to the book, I admit I do prefer it. Back to Murder With Mirrors, the adaptation does have some nice camera-work, some lovely locations, and the costumes while nothing fancy were pleasing to the eye. Helen Hayes, in her swansong, gives a very enjoyable performance as Miss Marple, and is quite cute too. Out of the supporting actors, Leo McKern comes out on top, with a gleefully gruff portrayal of Inspector Curry. Nice turns also from Dorothy Tuton and Tim Roth. However, Bette Davis and John Mills, two fine actors, and two of the three main reasons why I wanted to see this, the other bring I love Agatha Christie, have very little to do in their roles. But my main problem with the film, other than the rather contrived final solution, was the screenplay. I thought every character was badly underwritten, and most of the plot changes are badly underdeveloped. Also, Miss Marple's speech before she is almost killed in the theatre, was very poorly written, but maybe that's just me. All in all, entertaining but could have been better. 6/10 Bethany Cox

An old friend asks elderly sleuth Miss Marple to root out her stepson's killer, who she suspects is also out to get her grand ancestral home - but the plot begins to thicken when it emerges the deceased had a host of enemies.

An efficient version of Dame Christie's They do it with mirrors, that follows the literary source in general fashion - it keeps one interested, though it just gets better after the murder in the room with the gunshot going off.

Helen Hayes is excellent as Miss Marple, and unfortunately it's her final film. Bette Davis, who was clearly ill, made three more films before the curtain came down on her illustrious career. The rest of cast, especially Leo Mckern is fine. Entertaining enough mystery.

This film is interesting for a number of reasons - not so much as a sharp pot-boiler that will keep you guessing to an enthralling climax while being stylishly stuffed full of Joan Hickson-esque quintessential old world charm - but more so because of when and how it was made, and who appears in it.

The 1980's embraced the TV Movie, and the major studio players from the 30's, 40's and 50's, were still to be found appearing on screen in them, some times looking ridiculously out of place and, quite frankly, far too old and somehow exercising a diminished talent. But often still giving assured and classy performances, showing that to 'The End' (quite literally) they maintained their professional ability and standing. One can only look at Helen Hayes - The First Lady of the American Stage as she was referred to (I suppose this is why she begins quoting Shakespeare when she is seen on stage in this film) - and revel in her warm and intelligent final film appearance, and then recall poor Joan Crawford, an Oscar winning actress who thrilled and chilled in many movies, iconic in fashion and style for most of her adult life, whose final film appearance was the appalling 'Trog', where she looks old, embarrassed, and barely able to act at all. (Mind you, in fairness, she is romping about for most of it with a man in a dodgy gorilla suit grunting and moaning - the gorilla, not her.) The TV Movie could be regarded as a safe house cum retirement home for the once famous. (Channel Five daytime scheduling entertains quite a few, and you will often find an ex-Charlie's Angel or Dynasty cast member crying a lot, usually over the abduction of a child or diagnosis of an incurable disease). The plot lines and characters within a lot of these types of 'based on actual events' or biographical stories are almost echoes of some of the dramas being made on film by the big studios (particularly Warner Brothers and Universal) in the 40's and 50's. If they were shot in black and white, the short and sharp narratives, and economic style of shooting and limited camera work, could almost put them in to the B-movie Film Noir category. They are modern day (or 80's into 90's into today) versions of the pulp fiction and magazine serial type stories of times gone by.

As a film fanatic, with a great love of actresses of the 30's and 40's, I cherish a movie like Murder With Mirrors. It seems crazy to have Margo Channing from All About Eve, the nurse from Farewell to Arms (the character name escapes me - I could have said one of the nannies from One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing, but great as that movie is, it is not Miss Hayes's finest celluloid moment),Miss Jones from Rising Damp along side Rumpole of the Baily, the husband from Fresh Fields and a 'teenage' Tim Roth. There's a kind of Sunday night 'bath and hair-wash and finishing off your homework' type of cosiness about this movie as well.

It does lack humour, especially compared to Ustinov's Poirot, and it is not at all charming in the lavender water scented fashion that seems to go hand in hand with Hickson or even Margaret Rutherford's Marple (the contemporary setting has a lot to do with that - no one even speaks in a faux country bumpkin accent until the police constable opens his mouth!), but it zips along in a pacey soap opera kind of way, and Leo McKern is laid back and commanding while Dorothy Tutin is extreme and commanding.

Bette Davis was in pain for much of the shoot (according to her book 'This 'n That') and she doesn't seem to be enjoying herself much. But the short scenes she shares with Mills and Hayes are so solid and well acted (she is so frail and laden down with make-up, it is a wonder she doesn't actually topple over forwards!) that it is a blessing to see her still working.

This film is not so much about the story or the style, it is about cherishing the starry cast who all contribute as best they can and somehow, make you feel engrossed by and sympathetic to their altogether quite flimsy characters.

I loved this movie. Helen Hayes is perfect as Miss Marple. Her character has depth and range; it can be kindly and understanding, and then hard and logical. Hayes was a great actress in American theater. In one marvelously gratuitous episode, Hayes finds herself on a stage, looking out at the chairs in the auditorium, and is reminded of her earlier days in theater. She then delivers a fiercely dramatic monologue of Lady Macbeth and then segues into Portia's "quality of mercy" speech from The Merchant of Venice, at which point she is almost killed by a falling stage prop. All this lasts only a few minutes, but it is thrilling. When it comes to the scene where Miss Marple explains everything and denounces the killer, Hayes is fine, every bit the equal of Joan Hickson, who is also fine.

A great merit of this movie is that the actors and actresses enunciate. One can almost always understand the words, notably with the superb Leo McKern of Rumpole fame -- unlike the travesties made with Geraldine McEwan, in which most of the words are incomprehensible.

On the whole, Murder With Mirrors is faithful to the Agatha Christie novel. The only real weakness was poor Bette Davis, who was frail and recovering from a series of strokes. Out of mercy, she should not have been cast.

In what turned out to be Helen Hayes's farewell role, she reprises the role of Agatha Christie's famous spinster sleuth Jane Marple in Murder Is Easy. This also gives Hayes the once in a lifetime opportunity to work with another legend, Bette Davis who is the prospective victim of a poisoning plot.

Helen's solicitor is worried about some strange goings on at his stepmother Bette Davis's place and is in fear for her safety. It turns out that the solicitor is the murdered party, shot while everyone else is seemingly accounted for. It's a typical Agatha Christie setup and of course there's the ever helpful Jane Marple to aid the police, in this case in the person of Leo McKern. Two more deaths occur before the mystery is solved.

It's a delight to see both Hayes and Davis together and that's what the film is designed primarily to do. But frankly it's one of Agatha Christie's weakest plots. If you cannot figure out who did the crime almost immediately after the deed is done, you have not seen too many of these films. It's really rather obvious.

Still for fans of Helen and Bette, it's not to be missed.

Murder with Mirrors (1985) is another adaptation of the Agatha Christie story "They Do It with Mirrors." This version stars Helen Hayes as Miss Marple. The other version was part of the series starring Joan Hickson as Marple.

Hayes was 84-85 at the time. After this film, she retired, dying in 1993. I happen to love Hayes as Marple. She was warm, energetic, and charming. This film has a great cast: Bette Davis, Leo McKern, John Mills, Tim Roth, Dorothy Tutin, and Frances de la Tour.

The plot is the same with tiny differences. In this one, Gina (Liane Langland), Carrie-Louise's granddaughter, is cheating on her husband rather than just having problems. She has a larger role in this. I don't recall the murder victim being related to Mildred (Tutin). Also there's no cousin who asks Marple to visit; it's a solicitor.

The murder of a visitor, Christian Gilbranson (John Woodvine) takes place while he is typing a letter. Elsewhere, Lewis Serrocold (Mills) is arguing with a young man, Edgar Lawson (Roth) in the room next to where Marple, Carrie-Louise (Davis) et al are sitting.

A gun goes off, but Lewis isn't hurt, and he assures everyone Edgar didn't intend to use it. But Gilbranson in another room is dead.

Inspector Curry (McKern) knows of Miss Marple and entertains her theories and eavesdropping. She comes up with whodunnit and how.

This TV movie moves faster than the Hickson version; the murder takes place sooner. The remarkable thing here is the cast - imagine Davis and Hayes together.

Davis wasn't particularly well, but she worked three more times after this. She sounds like she's imitating herself as her speech is more hesitant, but she's wonderful. Hayes gets to recite a little Shakespeare.

All in all, delightful and bittersweet.

Christian Gilbranson (John Woodvine), Miss Marple's (Helen Hayes) lawyer, persuades her to go visit his stepmother and her childhood friend, Carrie Louise Serrocold (Bette Davis), at her country estate. Carrie Louise's husband, Lewis Serrocold (John Mills), is convinced that someone is slowly poisoning his beloved wife with arsenic. But who would want to kill such a kind woman? Is it one of the family, a trusted employee or one of the dozens of juvenile delinquents living on the estate as a kind of halfway house and social experiment? When someone murders Christian, the case becomes even more complicated and Miss Marple will have her hands full trying to keep Carrie Louise alive while solving the murder.

Review:

I thoroughly enjoy Helen Hayes's portrayal of Miss Marple. She looks and acts like Agatha Christie's iconic character, but adds a real sense of humor to her that I never noticed before. There is a twinkle in Helen Hayes's eyes and a kind of wry self awareness that enables her to see the humor in many situations. She has several witty one-liners that Helen Hayes and Bette Davisbrought a smile to my face, but you have to listen carefully or you will miss most of them! My favorite part of the movie was that Miss Marple is not able to slide under the radar as a dithering, elderly spinster. Inspector Curry (Leo McKern) is on hand to investigate the murder of Christian Gilbranson (John Woodvine) and he has heard all about Miss Marple from a friend and fellow inspector who works in the St. Mary Mead area (Miss Marple's home village). His description of Miss Marple as "deceptively cooperative" is just perfect! John Woodvine is a wonderful counterpart to Helen Hayes and the scenes that they have together, though few, are really the highlights of the film for me.

I usually get a kick out of Miss Marple's little tales that she shares with people to weasel information out of them and this movie was no exception, particularly since everyone in the house is used to Miss Marple's tricks. Gina Markham (Liane Langland) in particular gives as The First Murder Victimgood as she gets when Miss Marple tries to encourage her to drive slower, be faithful to her husband, etc. Gina has Miss Marple believing that one of the juvenile delinquents was imprisoned for mugging little old ladies and has Miss Marple looking over her shoulder the entire time she is on the estate! The other character to look out for is a young Tim Roth playing Edgar Lawson, a young man who was imprisoned for claiming to be the son of famous men to get what he wanted. Tim Roth is super over-the-top in his role and unintentionally brought a great deal of humor to the movie. Bette Davis seems to have received a great deal of criticism in her role as Carrie Louise Serrocold, but I did not have any complaints with her or her abilities. Bette Davis appears to be at death's door as she is super thin, very frail and speaks with a bit of a slur, but she is supposed to be an elderly woman who is slowly dying so it looked fine to me!

Murder with Mirrors is supposed to be a serious movie adaptation of Agatha Christie's book, but it has not aged gracefully. It was released in 1985 and the hair, makeup and clothing reflect the popular trends of the time period. I have to admit that I did get a bit of a giggle out of the styling and costumes in the movie, but this added to my enjoyment rather than detracted from it. A lot of the acting is cheesy and overdone, but, again, I found this more entertaining than anything else. There is a great deal to enjoy in this movie and the mystery is solid and interesting. With a houseful of suspects (all of whom act extremely suspiciously and have very good motives), several murders and a hint of romance, Murder with Mirrors will be sure to appeal to older Agatha Christie fans.

Content:

This movie contains multiple murders. Victims die from gunshot wounds, car accidents and drowning. Bodies are shown briefly, if at all, and show very little blood. There are hints of an affair and flirtations between married women and unmarried men. There are several juvenile delinquents in the film so many different crimes are mentioned (public nudity, mugging, false representation, theft, etc.). There is some mild language and scenes of drinking. Recommended for ages 10 and up.

The only reason I saw this was for Bette Davis. She was frail as a bird, yet beautiful in her old age. Love that she's wearing big false eyelashes!!! Otherwise this Agatha Christie movie was so DULL! With so many missed opportunities for some entertaining mystery!

It was badly filmed and cheap-looking and virtually suspense-free! The murder scene when the people are in the drawing room was botched by the director. No atmosphere at all!!!!

Almost no fun dialog that said much about the characters. The only good actors were the woman playing Mildred and John Mills. Helen Hayes was really shaky as ms. Marple. Her American accent came through much too much -and she was supposed to be a great stage actress!!!! Leo McKern was the only one adding some personality to his character. The young actors were terrible but the American guy was at least not wearing underwear under his jeans...!!!!

This is certainly NOT one of the classic Agathas and does not deserve to be mentioned!

In the last role of her career, Helen Hayes gives a fine performance as Jane Marple, in this Agatha Christie whodunit, set mostly at an English estate. Although not one of my favorite Christie puzzles, the story is still pretty good, and worth watching, once. Character relationships are a bit complex, but the suspect pool is still manageable at seven or eight people.

With breaks where the commercials would be, and cheap, nondescript background music, the film has a very made-for-TV look and feel. Some of the dialogue in the first ten minutes can be easily misinterpreted, so you must listen carefully or you will be led astray. As usual, clues are pleasantly subtle. Once you figure out the main clue, identifying the killer is easy.

In addition to Helen Hayes, actor Leo McKern, as the gruff inspector, also gives a nice performance; he seems like he's enjoying his role. Other performances tend to be perfunctory or stagy. Bette Davis, looking embalmed, has little to do; mostly she just sits or stands, as she mouths her few lines, and makes facial expressions suitable to the scene. I suspect she was brought in only for her star power, to draw in viewers.

"Murder With Mirrors" will appeal mostly to viewers who like whodunits, especially Agatha Christie whodunits. Although the story is a somewhat generic murder mystery, it does have entertainment value.

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.

I cannot explain why but, when Agatha Christie is brought to life by The BBC or ITV it has a magic and quality that cannot be matched, when it's made on the big screen it always seems flashy, and Murder with Mirrors is another example, the story is lost in favour of celebrities and showy staging. The screen play is dull, it's not one of Christie's finest plots, but it's still decent, this adaptation does not make the most of the subtleties of the plot. Once again, filling the production with stars is an attempt to make something good, but it fails miserably. Bette Davies dazzled in Death on the Nile, but I find it quite sad watching her in this, her delivery is a little laboured. I didn't care for Helen's characterisation of Jane Marple, she simply isn't the character in the text. I also find the accents really irritating, too many attempts at sounding 'English,' not everyone in the UK sounds like Queen Elizabeth. On the plus side, Frances de la Tour and Leo McKern are both very good, and it starts off well, but ten minutes in it becomes a struggle to watch.

She's never been near St Mary Mead in her life, watch Hickson's version for the definitive production, even Julia McKenzie's is superior.

Poor 4/10

Amateur sleuth Miss Marple visits London, is asked by an old friend to drop in on an elderly woman acquaintance whose life may be in danger. Despite Helen Hayes as Jane Marple, and Bette Davis in one of her final performances, this television-made Agatha Christie yarn is colorlessly cast, poorly written and directed, creaking and dreary the entire way through. Our introductions to the square, galumphing characters are impossibly awkward, and Hayes doesn't give her famous character the fresh spin required. Still doing what she did in 1970's "Airport" (and most likely beyond), Hayes slips around corners with 'cute' wide eyes and disagreeable looks, like a perturbed squirrel. Davis, John Mills, and Leo McKern (reunited with Hayes from 1977's "Candleshoe") try somewhat to inject a little bounce into the scenario, but it's a leadweight affair with no particularly inventive denouement.

Apparently Bette Davis fans will watch her in anything, which explains why even though she was deathly ill she agreed to travel to England to do this made-for-TV mess. She looks far more ill than the role suggests, supposedly in her current condition because of a bout with the flu. Indeed, she looks ghastly in over-emphasized make-up and is unable to give anything but poor line readings to her role as the woman who is rumored to be the victim of a poison plot.

Even older than Bette is Helen Hayes as Miss Marple, but she at least is spry enough to convince us that she could be the meddlesome type her character is supposed to be. Her scenes with Leo McKern, as a befuddled police inspector, are a joy to watch.

The less said about the rest of the cast, the better. Even pros like John Mills fails to make his character believable as the head of the household. The usual red herrings don't work here, as the murderer is revealed far too soon for anyone paying attention to details.

Chalk this one up as another misfire in an attempt to do justice to Agatha Christie's work.

It was with a sceptical frown that I put the tape in the machine and pressed "Play" - I had already seen four atrocious US TV films from the '80s. I was surprised enough to manage to watch it all the way through. FInally, the production team was starting to get the hang of Agatha Christie... just. However, I will not pretend that more Hayes-Marple films would be a good thing.

The updated plot is ridiculous and fanciful. The cast aren't even trying. Sparks flew between Bette Davis (Playing the kindly Carrie-Louise) and the rest of the cast. This shows, subtly, in that none of the cast will touch her and they always stay a good foot or two away, even in the friendly greeting scenes.

This is always advertised as "One of Bette Davis's last films", but most people fail to realise it was Helen Hayes's very last film, and Miss Hayes was critically ill at the time of shooting. This may be why everyone involved seems to lack passion. I don't like the cheap American titles, the cheap American sets, the cheap American costumes, the cheap American accents and the cheap American attitudes.

Guess which two words spring to mind (they begin with "C" and "s"). Frances de la Tour is more irritating than her character gives scope for, John Mills gives a reliable performance, as ever, but it is sadly wasted. The viewer can tell that the cast-members have just had a laugh at the writer's expense.

Compared to the less-than-perfect 1991 version, this is just a waste of film.