Miss Marple: Sleeping Murder

I love the film adaptations of Agatha Christie's books starring Joan Hickson. You can't help but love them for their purely English decorum and a certain primness, for their slowness and attention to detail. "Sleeping murder" is somewhat different from such classic films as" The Moving Finger" or "The Murder on Vicarage" because it is one of lady Agatha's most terrifying stories. But at the same time, the film retains its slowness and true English atmosphere. I must admit that I was somewhat lacking in the disclosure of the characters of Gwenda and especially Giles, who turned out to be a rather gray character. Kennedy, of course, is excellent, played just brilliantly. The film itself is very atmospheric and brilliantly staged. The finale is just great, congratulations to the creators! In General, it is one of the best film adaptations with Joan Hickson in the title role. 10/10

Currently we are enjoying a spate of Joan Hickson's Miss Marple series on our free to air channel. I have watched the other adaptations of Agatha Christie's novel with Geraldine McEwan and while they were fine performances (story lines got a bit muddled) the JH ones are bringing back the original plots and stories. Only one thing is grating me is that the character of Gwenda supposedly from New Zealand is speaking with the most dreadful "Stryne" (Australian) accent. Good grief, the producers only had to go down to Earls Court and pick out a few Kiwis to hear the difference. Also, I get the picture that Gwenda was from a more refined family ( upper middle class) in which her accent would have been more cultured with a hint of "fush & chips" in it. Other than that I'm very much enjoying JH version.

Geraldine Alexander makes this version of "Sleeping Murder," a creepy story about a young woman in a new house who has an eerie sense of deja vu.

Though one of my favorite authors Christie was never at her best, IMHO, with psychological examinations.

She wrote SLEEPING MURDER, like CURTAIN, long before her death for posthumous publication, so the book avoids some of the worst problems of her later books. The problem with "Sleeping Murder" is that the victim never shows up.

The only improvement the newer "Marple" version has is a very brief appearance by Harriet Walter. Otherwise, this is the better version.

A young couple are looking for a home. The wife is from New Zealand and reared by relatives after her parents die. They locate a home and begin to remodel. As they do, the woman begins to feel like she's been there before identifying features of the house that were long ago removed. Most significantly, she suddenly recalls seeing a woman being strangled in the house. A woman named Helen...

This was the last of the Marple mysteries published and (to my mind) thankfully, Christie didn't kill off her detective (as she eventually does with Poirot). But the mystery is nothing special to be honest but the couple is attractive, and as they revisit the past, they stir up a murderer who strikes again and then comes after the young wife (nicely played by Geraldine Alexander) in a fairly suspenseful climax (for a Christie-based film).

P. S. One odd thing about this episode. We briefly meet Miss Marple's nephew Raymond and his wife, Joan (played by Amanda Boxer). For some reason, the writers create unspoken hostility between Joan and Miss Marple. It's never explained and once the mystery gets going it's never referred to again. Puzzling.

Sleeping Murder is one of my favourite Agatha Christie books, I will warn you though I find it very creepy. As an adaptation, this version is surprisingly faithful, much more faithful than the Geraldine McEwan adaptation; that started off well but was ruined by some unnecessary plot changes. This 1987 adaptation looks wonderful, with some beautiful photography and lovely scenery and costumes without being too fancy. A number of scenes gave me nightmares when I first saw it, especially the ending. The book had real nervous edge and left some really haunting imagery inside your head, and the adaptation did very well in that aspect. The script is good, the pace isn't that slow, the music was haunting and beautiful and the acting was solid. Joan Hickson as usual is terrific in the title role, and Geraldine Alexander, like Sophia Myles in the recent version, was entirely captivating as Gwenda. Frederick Treves despite the shaky Scottish accent is quite effective as Kennedy, but John Moulder-Brown is rather wooden as Giles. All in all, a very effective adaptation of an excellent book. 9/10 Bethany Cox