The Secret of Chimneys

"The Secret Chimneys" is an Agatha Christie story but it never starred Miss Marple...until this 2010 installment of "Marple". Originally, its amateur investigator was Anthony Cade. Here, he's in the story...but not an investigator...just a character in the story. Now, as far as the story goes, it's also NOT at all the original story...not even very close. But it IS enjoyable and worth seeing.

The story is set at a huge manor home that is falling into disrepair, as the family fortunes have diminished. An Austrian Count comes to visit...and soon he's found dying in the tunnels under the home...and Anthony Cade is with the dying man. He's assumed to have shot the Count...who soon dies. What follows are more murders, lies and deceit and it's up to Miss Marple to figure out what's going on...as usual.

The story is enjoyable and kept my interest. Is it Agatha Christie? Not exactly...but it is enjoyable and worked fine with Marple in charge instead of Cade.

Miss Marple visits Chimneys, the estate of Lord Caterham. While there, the Lomaxes are visited by Count Ludwig Von Stainach. That evening the Count is found dying in the estate's secret passage, with Cade, one of the young guests, standing over him. Suspicion falls on Cade but it doesn't seem so cut and dried. Inspector Finch of Scotland Yard is soon on the case, assisted by Miss Marple. An event at the estate 23 years earlier may have a very large bearing on the case.

Quite intriguing, with a rather unpredictable culprit. Some interesting sub-plots, especially the romantic angle involving Virginia.

Stephen Dillane is great as Inspector Finch, as is Charlotte Salt as Virginia. Edward Fox is a bit stuffy as Lord Caterham.

They chose the wrong novel to adapt. The book was a really light, silly story, but because of the adapting for Television, they had to serious-ise it. And it didn't work very well.

If you look at it unbiased, without any prior knowledge of the book, it's quite decent, if a bit clichéd. Because it was a book with such a strong plot before, everybody is shocked that they dared to change it so much. The costumes etc. are lovely as usual and the acting isn't half bad. Suspense as to who the murderer is is kept right up 'til the end of the solution scene. If you haven't read the book before, watch and you will probably enjoy it, but if you have read the book, don't touch it with a barge pole.

This is so good on so many levels, the location, the wonderful all start cast of so many brilliant artists the filming and direction, costumes the score, attention to detail and then the whole thing is wrecked by post editing... Not a single scene or shot isn't edited to be on screen for more than 1-3 seconds creating a strobing effect that complete ruins the whole production. Take it back and reedit it properly we do not all have the attention span of a cocker spaniel. Could have really enjoyed this, pity ..... to pad this out to the minimum ten lines ill add that this trend of late to edit TV to shots that last no longer than one to four seconds is becoming all to common. I hope this advertising like attention trend will be arrested by the ratings Really ten lines minimum for a review ?

As somebody who loves Agatha Christie's novels, and loves adaptations of her books, I am an avid defender of the ITV adaptation of Miss Marple. Both Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie are superb in their own interpretations of the character, meaning that every episode is a pure delight to watch. The Secret of Chimneys is definitely among the best of the episodes! Having watched this the very afternoon of finishing the book, it is worth mentioning - as all other reviews do so temperately - that they have strayed from the book. Very far. To the point of being completely unrecognisable. Fair enough - this particular book is a bit of a nightmare to adapt - but one does wonder why they didn't just...adapt a different story? Although this TV series is famous for changing plots rather radically, this was the first time I saw a book completely rewritten almost without a trace.

HOWEVER, I don't care about novelistic accuracy. In fact, I admire the way that the 'Agatha Christie's Marple' series changes the plots. If the film is good in its own right, that is all that matters! A film is an entirely different thing, and the film is not the book. For example, several reviewers slate the Marple adaptation of "The Sittaford Mystery" for too many deviations. Whilst I myself do not like that film, my dislike has nothing to do with the inaccuracies: my dislike stems from it just not being a particularly well-directed film. The Secret of Chimneys though, as a film in its own right, is fantastic! Beautiful production values, well-shot, classic Christie (everyone up at a country house...) and, as always, an absolute standout performance from Julia McKenzie as Miss Marple. She has earned my full respect with her work on the role; she is flawless.

Bravo!