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Review: The Mirror Crack'd

go_leafs_nation 07 Jul 10 at 3:38 p.m. GMT

The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side is one of Agatha Christie’s weaker books, yet at the same time, it is an excellent read. The mystery is easier to solve, perhaps, but the tragedy surrounding the murder is genuinely touching. I wouldn’t call the novel mediocre, but it isn’t excellent either. It needs little alteration to get in translated onto TV, and for once, the producers got the hint. This is a very reasonably faithful adaptation—some things are altered, and for no apparent reason, Ella Zielinski’s name is changed to Ella Blunt. But these are minor issues, and with the recent epidemic of incest and homosexual subplots in Christieverse, they are best left ignored.

The Mirror Crack’d has been adapted twice previously. One version starred Angela Lansbury as Miss Marple, who at one point sits down and lights a cigarette to mull everything over. That version is pretty awful, with a distinct 80s kind of feel, and a lot of really unnecessary, explicit sexual jokes (which aren’t all that funny). Like the masterful line “What are you, a birthday cake? Looks like everyone’s had a piece.” Or something like that. Anyway, it wasn’t much of an adaptation or a film. It was pretty dull, really, and with all due respect to the great Liz Taylor, she wasn’t all that great in the movie. The second adaptation of the novel concluded the Joan Hickson series, and it is really wonderful. It captures the tragedy of the central death well and is fairly entertaining.

So Julia Mackenzie picks up the knitting needles and plays Miss Marple in this third adaptation, which is actually surprisingly excellent. PBS again butchered the sound and shortened the entire thing by about ten minutes (why they insist on doing so is beyond me). However, enough of the original, intended material shines through and the result is a very pleasant 90 minutes of entertainment. It is basically pulled off very well, and I really think Lindsay Duncan is the best Marina Gregg we’ve had yet. She completely outdoes Liz Taylor, especially when it comes to the stare she gives (which causes Dolly Bantry to quote Tennyson’s Lady of Shallot—Joanna Lumley reprises her role). She has great chemistry with Nigel Harman, who plays her husband, Jason Rudd. Julia Mackenzie plays Miss Marple with great charm, and yet more energy than Joan Hickson did—she really comes across well. Another standout performance comes from Charlotte Riley as a photographer, Margot Bence.

The entire cast does a good job, really, and along with the director and screenwriter, translate the original Christie novel well. It’s really unlike the disasters we’ve had in the past. There aren’t many significant changes to comment upon, and Dominik Scherrer continues to compose excellent music for the series, be the episodes laughably bad or quite good. The production is nice and stylish, and the entire thing is basically entertaining to watch.

Now if only PBS could leave the thing alone as it was. I could do without an introduction, and I’m puzzled as to why they tinker with the sound, which they indeed must do for some reason. I know this because in the past, I compared the sound quality of three Marple episodes (Nemsis, At Bertram’s Hotel, and Ordeal by Innocence) with the sound on the DVDs that are released. The sound in each broadcast is simply horrendous, and you can’t make out half the things the actors say. The sound on the DVDs is perfect.

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MissQuin 11 Jul 10 at 12:28 p.m. GMT

MMM. This adapt has to better than Chimenys. Although watching paint dry sounds entertaining compared to how bad SOC is..