Miss Marple - Le mystère de Sittaford

This is a big budget Miss Marple. Casting went for unusually handsome males like Timothy Dalton, Laurence Fox and James Murray. (Their unusual good looks turn out to be necessary for the plot.) The females are delightfully eccentric, including Rita Tushingham whom baby boomers will remember fondly. There are realistic looking Egyptian treasures, and two delightfully creaky English houses.

Miss Marple starts out a bit nuts. Then she disappears while others do the sleuthing. Then she comes in at the end to sort out who murdered who. That is not the usual formula. Everyone has motive to commit murder, or at least some crime. It all sorts out in the most implausibly complicated way. I think you would have to watch perhaps five times before you were sure you had all the motives and murders sorted out, including the raptor's. Can you spell coincidence?

The cinematography is done with just candles and firelight. It gives a very snowed in cosiness. The music is wonderfully spooky, not just the standard theme repeated.

This is probably my favourite Miss Marple episode.

This is a review of the first installment in a two-part version of THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY on TV. Once again, although there is no Miss Marple in the original story, the writers have planted her in the midst of all the characters staying at an old inn. That's not the objection most of the comments here have to make. What IS resented is the fact that story elements have been drastically changed by the writers of the teleplay, even changing the identify of the murderer in the original story.

This is the kind of thing bound to upset purists who want their Agatha Christie stories told without all the unnecessary changes. What upsets me is that, first of all, GERALDINE McEWAN does not make a plausible Miss Marple. She's much too mild-mannered and lacks the intelligent inquisitiveness that Joan Hickson displayed so well in her interpretation of the role on the former British series.

But secondly, not having read the original recently, I was totally unaware of all the changes when viewing the first hour and I found it an engrossing kind of story, if a bit confusing in the way the narrative unfolded, especially with regard to the opening scenes at the Egyptian tomb. But TIMOTHY DALTON gave a compelling performance, using his personality to put some life into the role of Captain Trevelyan (whom I later found out dies in the first chapter of the Christie story). It took a whole hour for his death to take place here.

But that was a minor change, according to all these other comments, and at this point I have no idea what awaits in the second installment.

I can only say that despite all these "flaws" in the presentation, I thoroughly enjoyed the story with its ingredients of a fierce blizzard, an old country inn, a seance where a death is predicted, an assortment of strange guests, and a bevy of competent British players, some of whom (Rita Tushingham in particular) I never would have recognized without reading the cast list. It was nice to recognize JAMES WILBY as Mr. Kirkwood, proprietor of the hotel.

So, while I confess I did enjoy the first segment, I can understand why many were disappointed in the drastic changes to the story. The writers did the same thing with several other Christie "adaptations," including one of my favorites, EASY TO KILL (even the title was changed to "Murder Is Easy" and it ruined a perfectly good Christie story by changing the emphasis to the romantic leads and practically leaving the murderer out of the story).

Personally, I enjoy all of these Christie stories but do not think Miss Marple or Poirot should be injected for the sake of whatever following these kind of things have on TV.

With Sir Winston Churchill ailing and set to step down as English Prime Minister, Clive Trevalyn looks set to become the next PM. A popular war hero who made his initial fame and fortune as an explorer and archaeologist in Egypt, he seems to have the world at his feet. While staying at his residence in the village of Sittaford he is murdered in his bedroom. There are several guests at his house, so the suspect list is long. Luckily Miss Marple is on hand to solve the mystery.

Fairly interesting mystery. A bit dry though - the engagement level is quite limited and Miss Marple is quite a bland character. The formula in this series has been to give much screen time to a non- Marple character, making them the central character, allowing them to carry the episode and thus take the attention away from Marple. This also makes for interesting sub-plots. In this case, no non- Marple central character emerges, so it is a bit duller than usual.

Can't fault the cast though: Timothy Dalton is charming as Clive Trevalyn. We also have Carey Mulligan, Zoe Telford and Mel Smith. Smith is the pick of the bunch, bringing some humour, resourcefulness and tough-mindedness Trevalyn's loyal assistant John Enderby.

Let's get one thing straight: I couldn't possibly care less that these ITV mysteries don't bear any resemblance to the Christie novel. I've never read more than a couple of chapters of an Agatha Christie mystery, and I never intend to. I don't read *any* mysteries, for that matter, and so the reviewers' constant harping that these adaptations aren't true to the writer's "vision" carries little weight.

What I *do* enjoy are these English murder mysteries adapted for the stage and screen, and I think these ITV mysteries are good fun. Geraldine McEwen is a delight. I have never liked previous interpretations of Miss Marple, where she has come off as nothing but a dried-up, prunish, humourless busybody, but McEwen plays her with an amused twinkle in her eye.

That could characterize the entire production. They're witty and tongue-in-cheek, complete with bad "special effects" and cheesy music and title credits. The actors appear to be having the time of their lives, and it makes for a fun and fizzy mystery. There are worse ways to spend two hours on a Sunday night.

Faithful Shmaithful. Who cares? If you want Christie, read the book. If you want a fun evening, you could do far worse than these Marple mysteries.

OK it's not a Miss Marple book and the murderer is changed. Does this really matter Personally I want to see something different to the book. What's the point of seeing a film of a book that you have read when you know exactly what will happen. The acting was good especially Timothy Dalton, Zoe Telford and Mel Smith. It's all very atmospheric and I enjoyed it. The Plot? A middle aged MP/Government minister/War hero is on the verge of replacing Winston Churchill as Prime Minister. Before he can accept he has something to do. It appears that he needed to get married. Following a Ouija Board session in a small hotel cut off by snow, the MP is murdered in his bedroom. The actual murderer is the least likely suspect till the end reveal.