A fun installment in the four-episode film series based on the widely known Agatha Christie character Miss Marple (and subsequent novels). I've seen three of these by now, and it's clear that this series has a very rigid formula.
For one, the lead musical theme gets stuck inside my head for a (just) little longer than I'd like. Then, every episode uses, apart from the home(town) of Miss Marple, one basic location; here, it is a stud farm. Three: a murder occurs almost instantly, and several others follows at the designated location. Four: the murders are quite sophisticated (far-fetched is perhaps another way describe them, but it's not a problem), and only Miss Marple is witty enough to through-see any sort of coincidence, which makes the lead detective look rather silly a lot of the time - even if there's a mutual respect between the two. I could go on, about Miss Marple's loyal sidekick Jim Stringer ('stringing' along every single time), about the quaint marriage proposals (succesfull or not, and to Miss Marple or not) in the finales, or about the funny intermezzi (Miss Marple dancing is my favourite), but this will do.
This particular episode is a lot of fun, not because it's much different from the others in this series of course, but because it is, just like the others, obviously made with a good sense of storytelling, the actors all do their jobs admirably (though Margaret Rutherford will pretty much always steal the show), and all the good fun, mixed with eerie murders, works terrifically within this typical British style.
A good 7 out of 10.
For one, the lead musical theme gets stuck inside my head for a (just) little longer than I'd like. Then, every episode uses, apart from the home(town) of Miss Marple, one basic location; here, it is a stud farm. Three: a murder occurs almost instantly, and several others follows at the designated location. Four: the murders are quite sophisticated (far-fetched is perhaps another way describe them, but it's not a problem), and only Miss Marple is witty enough to through-see any sort of coincidence, which makes the lead detective look rather silly a lot of the time - even if there's a mutual respect between the two. I could go on, about Miss Marple's loyal sidekick Jim Stringer ('stringing' along every single time), about the quaint marriage proposals (succesfull or not, and to Miss Marple or not) in the finales, or about the funny intermezzi (Miss Marple dancing is my favourite), but this will do.
This particular episode is a lot of fun, not because it's much different from the others in this series of course, but because it is, just like the others, obviously made with a good sense of storytelling, the actors all do their jobs admirably (though Margaret Rutherford will pretty much always steal the show), and all the good fun, mixed with eerie murders, works terrifically within this typical British style.
A good 7 out of 10.