Miss Marple: Nemesis

This brilliantly done Agatha Christie is by far the best Miss Marple movie. I enjoyed it better than the Book, at least the movie was easier to understand than the book. Joan Hickson is excellent, the only Miss Marple. Very strong performances by Peter Tilbury, Margaret Tyzack, Helen Cherry, and John Horsley. This is an excellent video, no Agatha Christie fan should miss this.

An excellent adaptation of the best of Agatha Christie's late novels, shown on BBC TV in two parts and available on DVD in that form. The two-part format works better than the TV movie made out of the two of them, which appears slow to develop over 100 minutes.

Excellent acting and the usual supreme effort in this series to be faithful to the 1950s timeframe (the book was written and set in the early 1970s), in terms of costume and setting, acting and language, and social attitudes.

As usual, Joan Hickson's pitch-perfect performance dominates - she is wonderful. But in this serial she has some competition. Liz Frazer, as Nora's mother, in a single scene, largely in close-up, conjuring tears to order, describes her ordeal and bereavement, telling what might seem a cheap and tawdry narrative with dignity and pathos. An acting lesson in tragedy from someone better known as a brilliant comedienne.

While not quite as good as A Murder is Announced, which was not only delightful but almost surpassed the book, this is an excellent adaptation. And you know what, it is a huge improvement on the Geraldine McEwan version. Now I don't take pride in bad mouthing the Geraldine McEwan adaptations, two or three of them were surprisingly good, but others started off well but ruined by either a poor script, a confusing final solution or both. The Geraldine McEwan version suffered from a plodding pace, and both of the above problems, and I would consider second worst of the ITV adaptations, worst being Sittaford Mystery, which even on its own merits turned out dull and confusing. This adaptation of the book Nemesis is a huge improvement, it not only respects the book, despite a few liberties, but it pretty much rectifies the problems the ITV version had. Despite the added character of Lionel coming across as rather irritating, more to do with how he was written than how he was acted, and one or two moments of sluggish pacing, this is solid as an adaptation of a decent book. It is beautifully filmed, with nice photography and period detail, and the music as always is excellent. The performances are wonderful this time around, and make the most of an in general well-done script, with Joan Hickson brilliant as always as Miss Marple, and solid turns from Liz Fraser, Helen Cherry, Joanna Hole and Anna Cropper. Margaret Tyzack is outstanding though in a chilling and moving performance as Clothilde. Overall, well worth watching, better than the recent version in pretty much all departments. 9/10 Bethany Cox

I was driven to write this by Charlie Peterson's baffling review, claiming that it is nothing like the book. I had watched and enjoyed the film, but then saw that review and so went back and read the book again.

It's a book with an awful lot of people talking and saying what they're thinking, which you simply can't drop straight into a film adaptation. However, the fundamental story line is maintained, along with almost all the characters. (A couple of very minor ones have been dropped, and one other minor one is introduced.)

You can't turn a book like this verbatim into a film, but this is a really good effort and very well done indeed. It captures the atmosphere and the story telling of the book excellently. To fuss that you can spot tiny differences is simply splitting hairs.

There are really bad adaptations out there - The Secret of Chimneys with Julia McKenzie for instance is quite dreadful - but where that film scores less than 1% for faithfulness to the book, Nemesis scores well over 90%.

Worth seeing - whether or not you have read the book.

Joan Hickson is at her peak in her portrayal of Agatha Christie's amateur detective character Miss Jane Marple. The title "Nemesis" is the key to the way in which the character is presented: Miss Marple, despite her appearance as a rather confused spinster, is in fact, a relentless avenger of a long-forgotten murder. She seeks justice, despite where the results may lead, on behalf of an old friendship. Hickson depicts Miss Marple as an unyielding force; far from the doddering old lady she might seem on the surface. The best version of Miss Marple, bar none.