JFWAF

Even though I had my doubts as to whether American TV could do the storyline justice, I felt I really had to watch this newer version. I've watched the 1975 film multiple times (including a midnight Halloween showing back in the '90s), the 40th anniversary version, and was lucky enough to have stumbled across the original 1973 London stage show starring Tim Curry (who, contrary to what another reviewer seemed to think, is the original Frank N. Furter) ably supported by Julie Covington (later seen and heard in Rock Follies), Nell Campbell, Patricia Quinn, and (of course) Richard O'Brien.

Unfortunately this new version failed to meet even my low expectations. This is supposed to be an homage to the type of horror film you'd find showing at the "late night picture show", so you might expect there to be some kind of credible threat to the Hero/Heroine. Instead we got a character who, if they inspired anything, was more likely to be pitied than feared - there was none of the insanity and menace that one might expect from a melodrama villain.

I felt the best performances in this version came from Eddie and Columbia (although not up to the calibre of the performances from Meatloaf and Little Nell), but that's not enough to recommend the show. Apart from those, and occasional moments from Janet, there's not really anything I'd bother to watch again.

Was it really thirty years ago I watched this?

I haven't seen it again since then, but I recently got a chance to watch the British DVDs (the series isn't released in the USA). Seeing the awful boyfriends (Spike and the commune, Jack & Carl) rang all too true - I was at University with some of these guys. The music, of course, is excellent - what else would you expect from Roxy Music? But what really tickled me was seeing several of the 1981 Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy cast - Stephen Moore, David Dixon and Simon Jones (plus, of course, Rula Lenska). In fact some of Stephen Moore's lines as Jack sound as though they could have been written for Arthur Dent - at one point he even complains about Thursdays.

One of the things I really like about Agatha Christie is the scrupulously fair way she presents you with all the clues necessary to solve the mystery, but manages to do so in such a way that you usually overlook them.

There's little chance of doing so in this dramatisation - significant plot elements have been rearranged, and are forced on you with sledgehammer over-emphasis. Sublety, a hallmark of Christie's work, is totally missing here.

On the plus side, Geraldine McEwan seems to be coming to terms with her characterisation of Miss Marple. We see flashes of the shrewd observer beneath the fluffy exterior. And the guest cast is full of recognisable faces, so at least there is some mystery left - you can't simply spot the culprit by studying the cast list.