The Sittaford Mystery

This is a review of the first installment in a two-part version of THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY on TV. Once again, although there is no Miss Marple in the original story, the writers have planted her in the midst of all the characters staying at an old inn. That's not the objection most of the comments here have to make. What IS resented is the fact that story elements have been drastically changed by the writers of the teleplay, even changing the identify of the murderer in the original story.

This is the kind of thing bound to upset purists who want their Agatha Christie stories told without all the unnecessary changes. What upsets me is that, first of all, GERALDINE McEWAN does not make a plausible Miss Marple. She's much too mild-mannered and lacks the intelligent inquisitiveness that Joan Hickson displayed so well in her interpretation of the role on the former British series.

But secondly, not having read the original recently, I was totally unaware of all the changes when viewing the first hour and I found it an engrossing kind of story, if a bit confusing in the way the narrative unfolded, especially with regard to the opening scenes at the Egyptian tomb. But TIMOTHY DALTON gave a compelling performance, using his personality to put some life into the role of Captain Trevelyan (whom I later found out dies in the first chapter of the Christie story). It took a whole hour for his death to take place here.

But that was a minor change, according to all these other comments, and at this point I have no idea what awaits in the second installment.

I can only say that despite all these "flaws" in the presentation, I thoroughly enjoyed the story with its ingredients of a fierce blizzard, an old country inn, a seance where a death is predicted, an assortment of strange guests, and a bevy of competent British players, some of whom (Rita Tushingham in particular) I never would have recognized without reading the cast list. It was nice to recognize JAMES WILBY as Mr. Kirkwood, proprietor of the hotel.

So, while I confess I did enjoy the first segment, I can understand why many were disappointed in the drastic changes to the story. The writers did the same thing with several other Christie "adaptations," including one of my favorites, EASY TO KILL (even the title was changed to "Murder Is Easy" and it ruined a perfectly good Christie story by changing the emphasis to the romantic leads and practically leaving the murderer out of the story).

Personally, I enjoy all of these Christie stories but do not think Miss Marple or Poirot should be injected for the sake of whatever following these kind of things have on TV.

It occurred to me that, when you rank all 23 episodes of "Agatha Christie's Marple" from highest to lowest IMDb-rating, "The Sittaford Mystery" is all the way at the bottom of the list. That being said, 6.8/10 is still a terrific rating many movies and TV-shows would be very happy with, but it's remarkably weaker than the average rating of the series. I can think of a few reasons to explain why the installment is slightly less popular.

First and foremost, the source novel is one of Agatha Christie's most known stories, but it doesn't feature Miss Marple anywhere. It's not the only episode based on a non-Marple novel, but the lead character is usually ingeniously processed into the other stories, whereas she's pretty much the third wheel on the wagon in "The Sittaford Mystery". Moreover, Miss Marple solves the murder without even coming near the scene of the crime. She bases her theories on what others tell her, whilst she's stuck in a mansion during heavy snowfall. I know she's good, but she cannot be that good. Secondly, it takes an awful long time before the murder is committed. The film is over halfway already when the killer strikes, which leaves very little time to guess along for the culprit's identity and motives.

And yet, don't be too alarmed, as "The Sittaford Mystery" is nonetheless a compelling TV-movie with a very intelligent finale. Great performances, as usual, and the most momentous appearance here is definitely Timothy Dalton. His biggest role will always remain that of James Bond, of course, but personally I prefer to see him as a sneaky and callous figure, like he did in "The Doctor and the Devils", "Hot Fuzz" or here in "The Sittaford Mystery".

This is a big budget Miss Marple. Casting went for unusually handsome males like Timothy Dalton, Laurence Fox and James Murray. (Their unusual good looks turn out to be necessary for the plot.) The females are delightfully eccentric, including Rita Tushingham whom baby boomers will remember fondly. There are realistic looking Egyptian treasures, and two delightfully creaky English houses.

Miss Marple starts out a bit nuts. Then she disappears while others do the sleuthing. Then she comes in at the end to sort out who murdered who. That is not the usual formula. Everyone has motive to commit murder, or at least some crime. It all sorts out in the most implausibly complicated way. I think you would have to watch perhaps five times before you were sure you had all the motives and murders sorted out, including the raptor's. Can you spell coincidence?

The cinematography is done with just candles and firelight. It gives a very snowed in cosiness. The music is wonderfully spooky, not just the standard theme repeated.

This is probably my favourite Miss Marple episode.

Having read the book several times, I know the story well, but knowing ITV, this is going to be a complete reworking, so my review is based purely on the drama.

Captain Clive Trevelyan war hero, top Sportsman and touted to be the successor to Winston Churchill as PM is murdered, all possible suspects and Jane Marple are trapped in a hotel, she has to work out whodunnit.

It's a very tongue in cheek production, it could almost have been written for Margaret Rutherford and filmed in black and white. It's one not to be taken too seriously. It looks really good, and I think the snow helps build up a degree of claustrophobia, the escaped prisoner also adds to the story.

Good turns from Patricia Hodge and Rita Tushingham, both are fun. The best performances come from Zoe Telford and Paul Kaye I thought. Laurence Fox looks like he had fun. I can't help feeling Geraldine looks like Andy Capp at times, all she needs is a leather jacket.

I don't think the part Timothy Dalton was given was big enough for him to get his teeth into, he felt a little clunky at times.

Hugely over the top in all ways, but if you take it for what it is it's an enjoyable if flawed 90 minutes. 7/10 (I'm a little biased I associate this story with an amazing day.)

Heavy snow is falling in the Dartmoor area of England and the guests of a small hotel find themselves being snowed in. News of an escaped prisoner loose on the moors dampens their spirits but to fill the time they decide to have a séance – even though one of their number, Clive Trevelyan, already has a connection with the other side. Meanwhile, at Sittaford House, Miss Marple discovers a death threat against Trevelyan and his loyal friend Enderby sets out to warn him despite the weather. When the séance predicts his death, things look bleak for Tevelyan, who finds himself surrounded by shadowy guests on all sides.

Several reviewers have already commented on the lack of respect shown to the source material but I would just say that those who have seen even one of ITV's "Marple" (not Miss Marple) series have no right to be surprised by this because it is a common factor across the whole lot of them. Accepting this, I wasn't looking for respect, just an entertaining mystery film – albeit the desecration of Christie's grave is rather a high price to pay for a Sunday night in. An hour goes by before we get a murder, which wouldn't be a problem if it used this time to do anything useful but instead it fails to build up back-story or characters. The slightly comic tone is forced and false while the actual mystery aspect is surprising dull – isn't the point of ITV revisionist approach to make it more energetic and accessible than the stiffer BBC version? As ever McEwan is all at sea with her character and does nothing interesting with Miss Marple. She is a dithery old thing but isn't able to bring out the sharp mind behind the physical appearance. The support cast ahs the usual famous names but, as usual, they aren't given much of value to do. Dalton is a strange find but he, Kaye and Smith are better than this. The performances are mostly a bit clunky even if everyone seems to be trying hard. The direction is colourful but the total delivery is badly inconsistent; comic music is played during unfunny moments and the visual trickery undermines the development of the story. To be honest I was bored and didn't ever really get into the story; I was hoping that the total rewrite of the original story would somehow produce something good but by the end of it I was left wondering what Churchett was thinking when he scrapped most of Christie's original novel.

Overall a bright and pointless mystery film that never decides what it wants to do and fails to do anything as a result. The presentation is bright but the mystery failed to engage me and I had lost interest long before it got anywhere near the solution. The cast can do nothing with the material and generally it just flops its way to the end without any great class or distinction. Others will say it is poor because of how it compares to the original material, personally I think it is poor even if you meet it on its own terms.