A Caribbean Mystery

Back in 1989, "Miss Marple" made a dandy version of "A Caribbean Mystery"...leaving little for me to complain about and I scored it a 9. As for this newer installment on "Marple", I didn't like it nearly as much...and it's mostly because of several unwanted things which were added to the story that were not in the original Agatha Christie story...such as voodoo and the addition of Ian Fleming and James Bond to the story.

The story begins on a Caribbean island where Miss Marple is vacationing. One of the guests of the hotel who has monopolized Marple's time is the Major...a bit of a blowhard who most of the hotel's guests tend to ignore. However, when talking with Marple, he does pique her interest when he talks about some murderer he knew long ago who got away with it. But he is soon distracted...possibly because he sees this murderer at the hotel! But he never has a chance to finish his story, as soon he's found dead in his room. Unfortunately, the local police don't take it seriously despite Miss Marple's and Mr. Rafiel's insistence that the death MIGHT be murder. More murders occur and the police finally take it seriously.

What there is of the original story is quite good...but the voodoo and Ian Fleming/James Bond bit are just distractions and do nothing to help the story. My feeling is that the older 1989 version is significantly better...see it first.

Sent on a recuperative holiday to Barbados, Miss Marple finds the Golden Palm Hotel - a tropical paradise of blue sea, white sand and lush vegetation - a rather dull place where nothing seems to occur. But then murder strikes ... an old Major dies from high blood pressure, so it seems, but the sleuthing spinster thinks otherwise having her interest aroused by an old soldier's yarn about a strange coincidence. Infuriatingly, just as he was about to show her an astonishing photograph, the Major's attention wandered. He never did finish the story...

I liked the Helen Hayes' A Caribbean Mystery, but this 2013 version is more closer to the book - which happens to be one of my favourite Miss Marple novels - yet inventive with some emphasis on voodoo and madness. A solid effort with a good cast of characters, a trail of misdirection and Julie MacKenzie doing really well as Miss Marple.

This is a picturesque adaptation of Miss Marple holidaying in the Caribbean. There is a permanent resident at the hotel where she is staying. He's Major Palgrave who is fond of drink and storytelling and zombies which are a hobby of his. He is about to show Miss Marple an old photo of a murderer when he suddenly stops and eyes the other guests. He's later found dead and Miss Marple is unable to find the photo he was about to show her. She starts out on a murder hunt. Nobody attends the Major's funeral except Miss Marple and the officiating Canon. He is lovesick for the hotel manageress, a nice lady but a bit unstable. While a vengeful spirit of the walking dead had been given a mention in the Joan Hickson version, Voodoo comes more to the forefront in this one. But is it just a Hoodoo decoy to add to the Caribbean flavor of the story?

Most people read a good book when they are on holiday, preferably a tense thriller or a captivating murder whodunit. Not Miss Marple, though. She experiences a live murder whodunit, and solves it while at it! "A Caribbean Mystery" is one of the best Miss Marple stories, and one of the best entries in the ITV-series since actress Julia McKenzie took over the titular lead role. It's somewhat odd to see Miss Marple in an exotic setting, since she's so irreversibly linked to British small-town country life, but it provided Agatha Christie with the opportunity to insert a couple of unusual but fascinating themes, like voodoo. Our brilliant writer was a fervent traveler, and spent quite some time in places like Hawaii and Haiti, where she undoubtedly found lots of inspiration for this story and others.

Apart from the sunny beach setting and the occasional margherita-cocktail, all the traditional ingredients are well-represented. There's a holiday resort full of potential suspects, guests as well as servants, clever murders disguised as natural deaths, incompetent police officers, more murders, and a denouement so ingenious that only Miss Marple can explain it in a logical fashion. Great fun.

The most remarkable moment in the film is actually irrelevant to the plot! During an evening lecture, Miss Marple meets a writer who presents himself as Ian Fleming and he tells her he has trouble finding a suitable name for the protagonist of his book. Then the lecturer comes on stage and opens with: "My name is Bond... James Bond". Well, what do you know! James Bond is an ornithologist!

It wasn't too long ago that I watched the Joan Hickson version of this same tale and, while I enjoyed the color of it, I did feel that that version dawdled a bit too much and lacked forward motion, lingering in the characters and losing momentum the more it went on. So with the new ITV version I was pleased to find that the thing I usually dislike about them actually worked in its favor – the color, the liveliness and the pace. The mystery kicks in very quickly indeed and apart from a few sidesteps it more or less keeps things coming so that I felt engaged with the story. As is normal for me, I wasn't right there with the characters when the resolution was revealed, but I did feel like I was at least going with it.

The one exception is an odd moment where James Bond and Ian Fleming make it into the story; it is amusing perhaps but it served no purpose other than, if you're cynical, getting the writer a trip to the location for the sake of a few minutes of screen time. Higson probably deserved it though as he has done a good job as writer, making the story flow and having the material match the heat and color of the setting. The cast mostly get this too. McKenzie is still not really someone I like as Marple, but she is good here and in particular works very well with Antony Sher. The rest of the cast isn't quite that famous but has good turns from Webb, Brown, Wakefield and others.

Overall an enjoyable and lively piece of Sunday night mystery; it has color and energy and comes together pretty well.