Miss Marple: Le manoir de l'illusion

Christie gets in some well aimed digs at fashions in philanthropy and lets reformatory boss Lewis Serocold spout on about the need to trust young offenders and betray a creepy symbiosis with one of the delinquents who should clearly be in a cosy asylum somewhere.

Miss Marple answers a call to go the aid of her old friend Carrie Louise, who's life is seemingly under threat.

I truly love Joan Hickson's adaptations of Miss Marple; she is, in my opinion, the quintessential Jane Marple. This one however, is one of my lesser favorites in the series. I'll try to explain why.

The novel itself isn't one of my favorites; I find the trickery of the murder works better in the book (in my mind) than it does on screen. In terms of production, I find it safe but still very good; when compared to other adaptations, it's quite not there.

On the plus side, the acting is superb; Hickson is, as always, excellent, and Holly Aird is wonderfully youthful and vibrant as Gina. The legendary Jean Simmons is incredibly sweet; she gave a sensitive and believable performance of the fragile Carrie Louise. I am a bit biased when it comes to Joss Ackland; he is hugely charismatic, at times almost overpoweringly so, but here we see a restrained, dare I say, touching performance; his voice makes him incredibly watchable.

The scene I enjoyed most of all, I think, was the stage play. Ruth looks on awkwardly, but Marple watches intently. It's there to show that events are sometimes smoke and mirrors, it's very cleverly put together. I also like their later fireside chat where she talks about the robberies committed by starting the bonfires early.

I would still call it a very good adaptation, it's just that I have such high regards for others in the series. I must say I find ITV's later Marple adaptation to be particularly good, a series people often moan about.

8/10.

This was quite a poor dramatisation and illustration. It felt too long and drawn out. When we finally arrive to the murder and how it was executed it was very rushed and they annoyingly did not show how it was done, they just said who did it but not how. In Agatha Christie stories the greatest value is delivered at the end when the how and story comes full circle. The viewers were cheated of this.

Not a good production at all and a waste of time.

Miss Marple visits an old friend, Ruth van Rydock, on a large country estate. Ruth lives there with some relatives and an assortment of characters. When someone is murdered, Miss Marple starts investigating, as does her old sparring partner, Detective Chief Inspector Slack.

The weakest episode of the Miss Marple series. Quite unengaging: the characters aren't particularly likeable or well-developed and, despite the cast, the performances largely seem over-acted. The plot is drawn out in the extreme: the murder doesn't happen until about the half-way mark and even after that things just crawl along.

After all this when the murderer is revealed it all seems random and far-fetched, complete with trite ending.

There is still a fair degree of intrigue and this keeps it going and makes it watchable, but only just.

This version tries to bring Christie's story accurately, but the editing is so choppy the details of plot are often hard to follow. Not to worry, though, intuitively if not deductively, you'll spot the murderer without much trouble. Good cast, especially Jean Simmons, and great scenery make it a pleasant watch. Joan Hickman, though, as Miss Marple just didn't quite cut it for me.