Has that look come into her eyes and the Inspector sees it as well - "You know who the killer is don't you?". It was also clearly obvious to me who the killer had to be. She fills it with police interviews of the suspects and then the ending is awful because there is no classical denouement of Miss Marple telling everyone who the killer is. They Do It with Mirrors struck me as one of Christie's lazier works. I have only seen a few of these - McEwan is lacking in energy and McKenzie has too much of it. Or Ordeal with Innocence, a very good Christie novel but nothing to do with Miss Marple. For example, she appears in a Tommy and Tuppence story - they had had their own TV series back in 1983. They cover the same 12 novels but then oddly insert Miss Marple into Christie books where she didn't belong. In 2004 another TV series was begun first starring Geraldine McEwan (2004–2008) and then Julia McKenzie (2009–2013) as Miss Marple. But that was not to be the end of Miss Marple. She was to make one small appearance after her last Miss Marple film and then retired. BBC had decided to make a series of Miss Marple films and wanted to play them straight. By 1984 her appearances had dwindled down to one or two a year though in 1980 she was Miss Havisham in a mini-series adaptation of Great Expectations. In an odd twist, when Christie saw her in one of her plays in the 1940s, she wrote Hickson a note saying "I hope one day you will play my dear Miss Marple". She is recognizable even in her early films but she was never an attractive woman and the roles she got affirmed that. She had been in film since 1934 playing secondary roles in films and TV. Hickson was 78 years old when she first played Miss Marple and was 86 when she filmed the last one. That moment when you know she has figured out who the killer is told in her eyes. But Hickson is perfect, quietly observing everything, her light blue eyes in thoughtful repose. Angela Lansbury took her on in The Mirror Crack'd in 1980 but that was a bloated film full of stars and Lansbury was closer to her character in Murder, She Wrote than Miss Marple. Margaret Rutherford of course played Marple in the four fun films in the 1960's but her portrayal of the character is absurdly comic and eccentric. Hickson and the filmmakers finally got Miss Marple right. It was 12 episodes for the 12 Miss Marple novels and ran from 1984 to 1992. This is from the series with Joan Hickson as Miss Marple. Theatrical if possible but a TV film if not. I have gotten into the habit of reading an Agatha Christie novel and then finding a film of it.
0 kommentar(er)
