The producers of "Marple" for some quirky reason that only they know of, came to their senses with this adaptation. Was the only reason this happened because it was Julia McKenzie's first outing as Miss Marple? I can't imagine that they finally realised that Dame Agatha knew best after all.
This was a faithful and a reasonably good adaptation of her novel, and after severely denigrating most of the other episodes of "Marple" stated (falsely in my opinion) to have been based on Agatha Christie's works, it's a pleasure for me to actually commend at least one of them. One can only wonder why Agatha Christie's other works (including the later "adaptations" starring Julia McKenzie) weren't treated with the same respect?
One query, and I'm by no means a prude...why was a totally irreverent and irrelevant 10 second panting sex scene included? Definitely not a Christie idea. Have such crude scenes become an essential factor in the modern era of film-making?
For that silly scene I must deduct a point, another point deducted for a somewhat stodgy over-all production, and yet one more deducted as I'm of the opinion that Julia McKenzie is a little too young and a tad too forceful for the role. Otherwise I would have awarded ten points. This episode and "A Murder is Announced" are by far the best of the episodes in the entire series, because only in those two, was the genius of Agatha Christie not abused.
This was a faithful and a reasonably good adaptation of her novel, and after severely denigrating most of the other episodes of "Marple" stated (falsely in my opinion) to have been based on Agatha Christie's works, it's a pleasure for me to actually commend at least one of them. One can only wonder why Agatha Christie's other works (including the later "adaptations" starring Julia McKenzie) weren't treated with the same respect?
One query, and I'm by no means a prude...why was a totally irreverent and irrelevant 10 second panting sex scene included? Definitely not a Christie idea. Have such crude scenes become an essential factor in the modern era of film-making?
For that silly scene I must deduct a point, another point deducted for a somewhat stodgy over-all production, and yet one more deducted as I'm of the opinion that Julia McKenzie is a little too young and a tad too forceful for the role. Otherwise I would have awarded ten points. This episode and "A Murder is Announced" are by far the best of the episodes in the entire series, because only in those two, was the genius of Agatha Christie not abused.