Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Miss Marple: Volume 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 27, 2015

Rarely has one actor been so thoroughly associated with a role as David Suchet has been with Agatha Christie’s inimitable Poirot, despite legendary performers like Albert Finney (who was Oscar nominated in Murder on the Orient Express) and Peter Ustinov also tackling the part. Christie’s other iconic detective, mild mannered spinster Jane Marple, has had a somewhat more varied screen life, though if one were to associate an actress with the role, chances are it would be Joan Hickson, who played Miss Marple for around eight years from 1984 to 1992. While Gracie Fields had essayed the role for television in the fifties, it was the ebullient Margaret Rutherford who was first strongly associated with Marple in a series of big screen comedy-mysteries which were quite popular in the early sixties. (In fact MGM attempted to launch a Poirot series in the wake of the Marple successes, but their only effort, The Alphabet Murders, tanked, perhaps due to the somewhat odd casting of Tony Randall in the role.) Rutherford’s Marple wasn’t exactly Christie’s character, but she was memorable and amusing. Over twenty years later Hickson (who had a small role in the Rutherford Marple Murder, She Said) stepped into the role, to the approval of Christie herself, who had evidently once told Hickson that when Hickson was a bit older, she hoped the actress would play the part. The Hickson Marples may seem quaint to younger viewers who have become used to the latest reboots featuring actresses like Geraldine McEwan or Julia McKenzie, versions which have in some instances radically changed Christie’s plotlines in a risky gambit, done perhaps to keep longtime fans guessing, that has nonetheless angered purists who feel Christie can’t be bettered. While actresses as notable as Angela Lansbury and Helen Hayes have also stepped into the Marple role, Hickson’s characterization will probably forever be held up as the paradigm. She may not have had the duration of Suchet in Poirot, but her impact can’t be minimized.

The four episodes in this second volume of Miss Marple are:

They Do It With Mirrors. This particular volume has two “mirror” stories (see below for the second), both of them fairly iconic within the Christie universe in particular and the Marple oeuvre in particular. Helen Hayes had one of her turns as Miss Marple in one of the first television adaptations of this story, which was slightly retitled as Murder With Mirrors. There was also a typically refashioned version of the tale for the Marple reboot, one that reinvented characters and various interrelationships, as has tended to be the case with the newer series, much to the chagrin of longtime Christie fans. Even one of the Rutherford Marple entries, Murder Ahoy!, at least “borrowed” certain story elements from Christie’s original mystery. The Hickson entry doesn’t stray very far from Christie’s original formulation, offering a typically convoluted mystery that involves Miss Marple’s friend Carrie Louise Serrocold (Jean Simmons), a thrice married elder whose life may be in danger. Carrie Louise lives on the gargantuan estate of her late first husband, with her (newest) husband Lewis Serrocold (Joss Ackland), a philanthropist who has transformed the estate into a facility catering to so-called juvenile delinquents.

Christie mysteries often feature large ensemble casts if for no other reason than it keeps the suspect pool appropriately diverse, but They Do It With Mirrors is one of the more overstuffed entries in this regard, one that is at times a bit hard to untangle due to the fact that both Carrie Louise and her oddly American accented sister Ruth (Faith Brook) have been married multiple times. A gaggle of Carrie Louise’s relatives are at the immense Stonygates Estate, and when the son of Carrie Louise’s first (deceased) husband ends up murdered, there is no dearth of pointing fingers alleging motive. As is typical with a lot of Christie mysteries, a second death ensues before the somewhat distracted Miss Marple can figure out what’s been going on. While They Do It With Mirrors is an enjoyable outing, this particular production has a couple of odd elements, including a surprisingly non explicit “Moishe the Explainer” denouement (some viewers may wonder exactly how the first murder was accomplished, something this edition doesn’t spell out—for a better explanation, see either the Hayes version or the reboot Marple featuring Julie McKenzie as the elderly sleuth). This episode also has a sometimes annoying music score that tends to get in the way of the proceedings. Especially distracting is a ridiculous faux “Americana” cue that accompanies the presence of the (American) husband of Carrie Louise’s granddaughter.

A Pocketful of Rye. Christie evidently had a thing for nursery rhymes, for not only does Miss Marple find a connection between “Sing a Song of Sixpence” and a series of grisly murders in this episode, fans of Poirot may remember a somewhat similar presentation (including an echo laden use of children vocalizing) of another childhood ditty in “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe.” In this particular outing, a somewhat nasty entrepreneur named Rex Fortescue (Timothy West) is poisoned, but what really intrigues investigating Detective Inspector Neele (a young Tom Wilkinson) is the fact that Fortescue’s suit jacket pocket was, yes, full of rye. When Gladys (Annette Badland), a maid in the Fortescue household who had previously worked for Miss Marple, ends up a victim as well, the spinster sleuth gets involved, unfortunately too late to prevent yet another murder.

This is a typically labyrinthine Christie mystery, one that involves some long ago duplicity which has spilled out into a current generation. As tends to be the case in Christie formulations, there are some secret identities as well as at least a couple of rather potent red herrings. The nursery rhyme angle is admittedly far fetched, but at least has a tangential bearing on the history surrounding the case. Once again Christie’s basic story is a model of exploring longstanding family dysfunctions which ultimately spill into murder. (Note: Christie's original novel utilized "Pocket Full" instead of "Pocketful." This episode uses that second spelling, though for whatever reason, both the cover of this Blu-ray and the IMDb list it as "Pocket Full.")

4:50 From Paddington. If one were asked to name just one Marple mystery to sum up Christie’s achievement, many fans might well point to this iconic tale, one which provided the basis for the well remembered Murder She Said..., the first of the Margaret Rutherford Miss Marple films, one which interestingly also featured a then young actress named Joan Hickson as a supporting character. It was evidently on the set of this film that Christie reportedly approached Hickson to state that she thought Hickson would be a perfect choice to essay the role of Marple once a few more years had passed. The Rutherford version actually changed several salient points of Christie’s original, no doubt in order to keep the Marple character front and center in the proceedings. This Hickson version hews much more closely to the Christie original, and offers one of the more chilling mysteries in the Christie Marple canon.

In the Rutherford version of this now legendary tale, it’s Miss Marple herself who thinks she’s witnessed a murder from the vantage point of her train window, when another train passes by, a shade flips up, and she sees a hapless woman being strangled. In this version, as well as in Christie’s original novel, it’s actually a friend of Miss Marple who is the witness, something that does in fact present a certain degree of separation from the crime, especially when (again, unlike the Rutherford version) it’s a “plant” arranged by Miss Marple, rather than Miss Marple herself, who goes on the hunt at the vast estate (is there any other kind in a Christie mystery) of the Crackenthorpe family. While the involvement of Marple is therefore perhaps a bit more tangential in this episode than in many others, the actual mystery is intriguing, involving yet again a large brood of relatives involved in various roiling dynamics, as well as (in some cases) a bit of subterfuge.

The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side. This, along with 4:50 From Paddington, may be one of the better remembered Marple mysteries, at least for some who know the real life history upon which the story is based. (I've posted a spoilerish clue in the note paragraph below.) This particular tale has been adapted several times, including a feature film which offered Angela Lansbury as Miss Marple. Despite this being offered in the second of a planned three volume set of Hickson episodes, The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side was actually the last produced episode and similarly the last one broadcast in the United Kingdom in 1992.

In a perhaps unlikely happenstance, a famous film star named Marina Gregg (the great Claire Bloom) has taken up residence at one of the (you knew this was coming) vast estates in St. Mary Mead. At a glittering fete, an annoying local named Heather Badcock (Judy Cornwell) drops dead after having had a sip of a cocktail—a cocktail, it turns out, which had been meant for Marina. (Christie wasn’t above cribbing from herself. This gambit of a mixed up cocktail delivery ending in a death by poison is also a central part of “Three Act Tragedy,” featuring Christie's other iconic sleuth, which can be found on Blu-ray as part of both Poirot: Movie Collection Set 6 and Poirot: Series 12.)

Luckily Miss Marple is on hand to once again snake her way through an assortment of eccentric characters, both Hollywood types and the putatively more "mundane" folks of Marple's own village. The mystery takes a number of rather unexpected turns along the way, leading to what (for first time viewers, anyway) is one of Christie's more devastating and melancholic denouements, a situation which is only enlarged upon by some sad subsequent events.

(Note: With a warning again that this may be a semi-spoiler, at least for those not completely conversant with the ins and outs of various traumas that have visited major film stars, for those who don’t know this tale's historical antecedent, do yourself a favor and watch the episode first. Then, and only then, do a bit of online investigating about Golden Age actress Gene Tierney. The events depicted in this mystery closely mimic a certain tragedy in Tierney’s life, one which probably contributed to the actress’ well publicized bouts with mental illness.)

Miss Marple: Volume 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Miss Marple: Volume Two is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of BBC with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. While this is still an extremely commendable upgrade along the same lines as I discussed in our Miss Marple: Volume One Blu-ray review, there are a few niggling problems with this second volume that have caused me to slightly downgrade the score (and, frankly, half a point may be too drastic, given what's involved). Once again, the color space is incredibly improved on this release from previous home video version. Gone is that sickly saffron color that suffused the DVD releases, and an accurate and quite vivid palette is presented. Fine detail is often quite excellent as well, showing up things like those natty tweeds that Miss Marple tends to favor. The issues with this release are occasional softness (see screenshot 5) and recurrent problems with regard to both noticeable crush in dark scenes and some problems with grain resolution, leading to an at times mottled appearance, including some splotchy yellow artifacts (see screenshot 14). Neither of these is a deal killer in my estimation, especially considering the general uptick in clarity and levels of detail.

Miss Marple: Volume 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Miss Marple: Volume Two presents two sets of episodes from different production eras, with 4:50 From Paddington and A Pocketful of Rye from early in the run and They Do It With Mirrors and The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side (mentioned above as the last episode to be produced in 1992) coming from late in the run. That may be why the IMDb lists the first two as having been broadcast originally in mono, with the second two having had stereo broadcasts. That in turn at least explains why the two mono episodes sport DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mixes, but it fails to explain why only They Do It With Mirrors is granted a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track (The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side, like its earlier siblings, is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio Mono). All of this said, there is really only a negligible difference between the stereo and mono tracks, with a slight if noticeably wider soundstage being offered in They Do It With Mirrors. All four episodes feature excellent fidelity which capably supports dialogue and score. There are no issues with dropouts, pops or other damage to report.

Miss Marple: Volume 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• A Very British Murder - Part Two: A Detection Most Ingenious (1080i; 50:43) is another great installment in this documentary series, this time focusing on things like forensics and private detectives.

Miss Marple: Volume 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Another great gaggle of suspects and red herrings are assembled in this second volume of Miss Marple episodes. Two of the most iconic Marple mysteries are included here, but all four offer distinct pleasures for armchair sleuths of all ages. While the video is perhaps not quite at the level of the first volume, generally speaking technical merits are still very strong, and the second part of the documentary included as a supplement on this release is also quite engaging. Highly recommended.