The Mirror Crack'd

This is the film that launched Angela Lansbury's career as a television sleuth. The character she began playing four years later was much the same as the one she plays here - and it's not Miss Marple. Not that purists have any right to complain. Agatha Christie's Miss Marple isn't really Miss Marple, either. Miss Marple first appeared in "Murder at the Vicarage" (published 1930), and I can't help thinking of the character in that book as the REAL Miss Marple: a transparent, almost pathologically nosy woman who thoroughly enjoyed prying for its own sake, who as capable of solving mysteries because she was unable to rest so long as there was potential gossip she didn't know about. She wasn't a saint, she wasn't an inspired guesser, and she wasn't wise.

Almost immediately, though (in "The Tuesday Club Mysteries", published 1932), Miss Marple transformed into someone who WAS saintly, inspired and, worst of all, wise, and it's this latter, less agreeable Miss Marple that dominates the subsequent novels. What obligation does anyone else have to be authentic, if Agatha Christie herself wasn't? So far as I'm concerned the character is now fair game for any revisionist interpretation whatever; and if so, give me Angela Lansbury's energy over Joan Hickson's "authenticity" any day. ...Strange, then, that the film doesn't really work. The puzzle itself is a real humdinger - one of Christie's very best, in my opinion - and the denouement is handled very well. But there's something bookish and stifled about everything leading up to it. Most Christie adaptations have a similar plodding quality (notable exceptions: Billy Wilder's "Witness for the Prosecution", Sidney Gilliat's "Endless Night", and people who have seen René Clair's "And Then There Were None" think highly of that, too) - there's an AIR of excessive fidelity to the book, even when quite a few details have been changed.

One problem unique to this one is the set of laboured jokes at the expense of 1950s Hollywood - at least, the jokes WANT to be at the expense of 1950s Hollywood, but I think they come from "My Big Book of 1000 One-Liners", or some such.

I liked this version of The Mirror Crack'd, and I am fond of the Joan Hickson version too. The Hickson version, it is true, is more faithful to the book, despite its liberties, but on its own merits this film is pretty good. The main merit is the performance of underrated character actress Angela Lansbury; she is terrific as Miss Marple, and Edward Fox does a great job as Inspector Craddock. The supporting cast are fine in their roles, Elizabeth Taylor overdoes Marina Gregg slightly but she plays with gusto, Rock Hudson is suitably subdued as Jason Rudd, and Kim Novak is delightful as Lola. The dialogues between Taylor and Novak are wonderfully witty, and often verging on hysterically funny. The film is beautifully shot, and the locations and costumes are lovely. The music is stunning too. However, the character of Heather Badcock is changed quite considerably here, and why she was changed to a naive village girl I still find perplexing. The film is overlong and has pacing problems, and the final solution was weak compared to how it could have been. On the whole, it is a movie worth seeing, and as I've said, see it for Angela. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Highly underrated, this low-key little whodunit manages to bring together two unlikely genres, the English village murder mystery and the catty Hollywood self-satire. While who did do it is not that surprising, the reason why is clever and touching. (Interestingly, the central plot is loosely based on the real-life tragedy that befell Gene Tierney, star of the legendary film noir "Laura.")

The cast of 50's Hollywood icons give very good performances, though, sadly, for most it represents the last really good parts they have had. Hudson is especially good in a bittersweet role. Lansbury is crisp and efficient as Miss Marple and could have made a series of these films had she not found meatier material as another mistress of murder on "Murder, She Wrote."

Indeed, though I adore Margaret Rutherford, I think Lansbury does better by the role of Miss Marple. This is not a great mystery movie, but works very well as light entertainment and as a last hurrah for several fine actors.

Lord Brabourne who produced The Mirror Crack'd as he did a few other films adapted from Agatha Christie's work was lucky to have produced this at all. He was the son-in-law of Lord Louis Mountbatten and when the IRA blew up the yacht they were on, Brabourne's mother and son were killed on the vessel as well as Mountbatten. Brabourne, his wife and a younger son survived. This all happened a year before The Mirror Crack'd filmed and was released.

This film is right in keeping with the high standard of pictures Brabourne made of Christie stories like Murder On The Orient Express and Evil Under The Sun. As the story involves an American film crew over in Great Britain in 1953 Brabourne was able to get a quartet of top Hollywood names in support of Angela Lansbury as Jane Marple.

Producer Tony Curtis and Director Rock Hudson are collaborating on a film about Mary Queen of Scots that will star Hudson's wife Elizabeth Taylor in the title role. Curtis's wife Kim Novak plays what would be billed as a cameo in the film as Queen Elizabeth. Taylor and Novak are rivals in the tradition of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford and get off some truly bitchy lines at each other.

Maureen Bennett who is one of the villagers and who met Taylor years ago in passing when she was a WREN and Taylor was entertaining troops is poisoned at a gathering of the villagers and the film crew. Someone spiked Bennett's daiquiri and who could possibly want to murder this ingenuous fan. Later on Hudson's secretary and girl Friday and trenchant observer of the whole Hollywood scene Geraldine Chaplin is also poisoned when her inhaler is similarly spiked.

When Lansbury figures out the who in the film it all becomes deceptively simple. The motive however is an incredibly complex and obscure one involving a trivial passing incident that brought to life a great tragedy suffered by one of the visiting Americans.

The film is a reunion of sorts with Hudson and Taylor as co-stars of the classic Giant from the Fifties, a personal favorite of mine for both its stars. Also back in those days Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis were both the leading contract stars at Universal studios, but they never starred together in anything. They did appear in Winchester 73 as featured players but had no scenes together. I really liked Curtis the best in this film with him doing a wonderful satire of Darryl F. Zanuck in the producer part. I'm sure Agatha Christie must have met Zanuck sometime because she had him down great and of course Curtis knew him as well.

Definitely The Mirror Crack'd is a must for Agatha Christie fans and for fans of the stars. And considering what its producer went through we are lucky to have it at all.

Surprisingly faithful adaption of the excellent Christie book adds some campy insults to the story by having Taylor and Novak square off as jealous rivals, but the outcome still carries a mild punch. Lansbury is excellent as Jane and it's nice to see Liz reunited with Hudson after their stint in the 50's on Giant. One of the better all star casts for an Agatha picture, with a nice recreation of St Mary Mead. Makes you feel like you're really in a small English village.