Towards Zero

I guess I should consider myself singularly fortunate to be right at the Canadian border because we get a lot of Canadian and British shows that would not normally be seen in the USA. I did not even know that the BBC was running a whole new series of mysteries based on Agatha Christie's beloved Ms. Jane Marple, spinster sleuth extraordinary.

Geraldine McEwan as the latest and very good incarnation of Jane Marple gets invited for a weekend to the home of Eileen Atkins an old school chum. They've got quite a gathering of people at the Atkins homestead that weekend, including her ward Greg Wise and both his current wife and ex-wife. Now you know that's got to be a recipe for trouble.

But later on retired solicitor Tom Baker dies of a heart attack and shortly afterwards Atkins herself is bludgeoned to death. That does bring the police in. But of course the redoubtable Jane is way ahead of them.

McEwan's Marple is more Angela Lansbury and Helen Hayes matronly than Margaret Rutherford's old blunderbuss was. I remember recently seeing one of the Rutberford films and good old Margaret withheld clues deliberately from Scotland Yard. She wanted the fun of solving the case. But in this one, McEwan just shrewdly deduces from the behavior all around her and comes up with the answers.

It was nice to see Tom Baker whom I so well remember as the Doctor number four of the Doctors Who. I see this has also been the his last appearance to date in front of the camera.

Christie purists say that the plot was altered. Whether it was or not I can't speak to that, but Towards Zero is an intelligent drama and those who don't like pure Agatha can take to this one.

Definitely worth a glance. I saw this on our local NPR station last night (July 15) and in this summer of Desperate Housewives reruns, thought "Mystery" is usually a viable alternative. And it was. A shock to see "old" Tom Baker. Has it really been three decades since he rode through time in his telephone booth? I liked the new Miss Marple ... at least she was new to me. Perhaps not as lovable as the cinematic Marple of 4 decades ago (was that Margaret Rutherford?), but okay. I'd gladly catch another episode of the series with her. It was also a treat to see the drop-dead handsome Greg Wise and present-day Julian Sands. The clues to solve the mystery are presented fairly and it is a good mystery, worthy of Christie. Check it out if you like brain teasers.

Being a massive reader and huge fan of murder mysteries, I have always thought: " Agatha Christie is the best crime writer." Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple have always been my favorite sleuths to be honest (never really cared for Tommy and Tupence)."Towards Zero", which actually does not have Marple as the detective and is a stand-alone mystery book, was a pretty enjoyale read for me ( don't think it's one of the better Agatha Christie books though) and the adaptation of the novel is about on the same level as the book- it's fine.

Let's go through the good aspects first.

. The production values of "Towards Zero" are great as usual. Everything looks good and the music, which creates an unsettling mood, is very haunting.

. The script and the direction have their moments. Sometimes the mystery is very compelling with some clever red herrings and okay character-work.

. The acting is mostly good too with Greg Wise giving the most intriguing performance. Geraldine McEwan, who I do not consider as the best Miss Marple (Julia Mckenzie being the best of the series by a mile), is also enjoyable in her role.

That being said...

. The pacing of "Towards Zero" is quite pedestrian indeed. In the beginning the story did not get as properly going as it should have and in the middle it dragged quite a bit.

.The dialogue was not very witty at times and the direction did not flow as fluently. That being the case with a couple of not very good- shot compositions and quite rough editing.

. Also, am I the only one, who thought: Miss Marple did not have a proper place in the story?

Overall, a decent adaptation.

6/10 HK

Miss Marple is visiting an old school friend, Lady Camilla Tressilian, at her estate in Devon. Also at the estate is tennis star Neville Strange, his current wife Kay, his ex-wife Audrey and an assortment of their friends and hangers-on. Shortly after her arrival one of the older guests dies of a heart attack after having to take the stairs instead of the life. Shortly after that Lady Tressilian is murdered, bludgeoned to death in her bed. The police are soon on the case and reluctantly accept Miss Marple's assistance.

Reasonably good mystery. Some nice red herrings and twists. Does seem like twists for twists sake, to some extent, at the end though.

Not overly engaging though. Miss Marple herself is never interesting, something the writers and directors of the series know. To get around this they make the central focus, or the first person perspective, someone other than Miss Marple. In this case it is Superintendent Mallard is probably the closest to a lead character in the episode, but, well, he's just a cop so there are no interesting sub-plots involving him.

Cast includes Julian Sands and Saffron Burrows.

"Towards Zero" is another entry into the controversial Geraldine McEwan Miss Marple series, known for its great production values and rewriting of Agatha Christie. This Christie story is intact except for the addition of Miss Marple. It's quite a good plot, too, with top actors.

Miss Marple visits a friend from school, Camilla Tressilian (Eileen Atkins), while staying at a nearby hotel, and Lady Camilla has a few people who are also visiting, and it's a bit uncomfortable. There's her nephew, Neville Strange (Greg Wise), a tennis star, with his new wife Kay (Zoe Tapper) and his former wife, Audrey. Normally they don't visit at the same time, but Neville ran into Audrey (Saffron Burrows) and she seemed fine about it, so he and Kay are going to visit his aunt now and taking another trip at a time when they would normally visit her. However, Kay is very bothered by Audrey's presence and Neville's attention to her. Also on hand is Freddie Treves (Tom Baker), a retired attorney, a male friend of Kay's, and a childhood friend of Audrey's; she was engaged to his brother, who was killed in an auto accident.

One night as the group is sitting around drinking, Freddie tells the story of a child who accidentally killed another child with a bow and arrow -- except that it wasn't an accident, but murder. He said he would always recognize this child, even as an adult, because of a physical abnormality. When he gets back to his hotel, there's a sign on the elevator stating it is out of order, meaning he must take the stairs. The next day, he's found dead of an apparent heart attack.

A while later, the hostess herself is found dead.

It's apparent to Miss Marple that Freddie's announcement set the wheels in motion for his own murder, but who killed Lady Tressilian, and are the murders connected? The police have their murderer, they think, but Marple has doubts.

This is a very good movie, with Marple replacing another recurring character in some Christie books, Superintendent Battle. The story is all the more interesting because several people in the group have minor physical deformities.

My only complaint is that Greg Wise, who plays the tennis star who just lost at Wimbledon, was 41 at the time of the filming -- a little old to still be playing championship tennis, if one remembers the fuss made over Jimmy Connors playing the U.S. Open at 39.