Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: At Bertram's Hotel (1987) (TV)

Director:

Mary McMurray

Writers:

Agatha Christie (novel)
Jill Hyem (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 January 1987 (UK)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

During a stay at one of London's most elegant and venerable hotels Miss Marple uncovers a sinister undercurrent of corruption and murder beneath Bertram's stuffy veneer.

Plot Keywords:

Hotel | Miss Marple | Murder | Doorman | Robbery

Cast

Joan Hickson	...	Miss Marple
Caroline Blakiston	...	Bess Sedgwick
Helena Michell	...	Elvira Blake
James Cossins	...	Colonel Luscombe
Joan Greenwood	...	Selina Hazy
George Baker	...	Chief Inspector Fred Davy
Preston Lockwood	...	Cannon Pennyfather
Irene Sutcliffe	...	Miss Gorringe
Brian McGrath	...	Michael Gorman
Neville Phillips	...	Henry
Robert Reynolds	...	Ladislaus Malinowski
Peter Baldwin	...	Mr. Humfries
Douglas Milvain	...	Sir Ronald Graves
Philip Bretherton	...	Det. Inspector Campbell
Edward Burnham	...	Dr. Whittaker
Rashid Karapiet	...	Indian Waiter
Amanda Royle	...	B.E.A. Stewardess
Randal Herley	...	Richard Egerton
Henrietta Voigts	...	Alice
Charlotte Barker	...	Bridget Sotheby
Kate Duchêne	...	Rose
Helen Horton	...	Mrs. Cabot
Daphne Neville	...	Woman at Airport
Donald Burton	...	TV Commentator (voice)

Directed by
Mary McMurray

Writing credits
Agatha Christie		(novel)
Jill Hyem		(screenplay)

Produced by
George Gallaccio	....	producer
Guy Slater	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Ken Howard		(uncredited)

Film Editing by
Paul Garrick
Jerry Leon

Production Design by
Paul Munting		(designer)

Costume Design by
Judy Pepperdine

Makeup Department
Sheelagh Wells	....	makeup designer

Production Management
Tony Redston	....	production manager

Art Department
Paul Birkbeck	....	title illustrations
Helen MacKenzie	....	properties buyer (as Helen McKenzie)
Laurie Miller	....	property master
Linda Sherwood-Page	....	graphic designer

Sound Department
Justin Amsden	....	dubbing editor
Colin Goudie	....	dubbing editor
John Hale	....	dubbing mixer
Chris King	....	film recordist (as Christopher King)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Nicky Albrechtsen	....	assistant costume designer (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Bernard Ashby	....	chief film editor

Music Department
John Altman	....	musical director
Alan Blaikley	....	composer: title music
Ken Howard	....	composer: incidental music
Ken Howard	....	composer: title music

Other crew
Patricia Greenland	....	production assistant
George Griffiths	....	location manager
Graeme Hattrick	....	assistant floor manager
Maggie Lewty	....	production assistant (as Margaret Lewty)
Thea Murray	....	production associate
Jo O'Leary	....	location manager
Christopher Sandeman	....	assistant floor manager

Production Companies

• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (as A BBC-tv production)
• A&E Television Networks (in assocation with) (as The Arts and Entertainment Network, USA)
• 7 Network (in assocation with) (as The Seven Network, Australia)

Distributors

• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (1987) (UK) (TV) (original airing)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1987) (USA) (TV)
• Mystery! (1987) (USA) (TV)
• A&E Home Video (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• A&E Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Elephant Films (2006) (France) (DVD)
• Just Entertainment (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

UK | USA | Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | UK:PG (video rating) (1997)

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

Last TV role of Joan Greenwood.

Quotes:

Miss Jane Marple:Ah, Bertram's! It's always sad when a work of art has to be destroyed.

Slow of course and with a ultimately weak mystery but enjoyably layered and engaging

Miss Marple accepts a stay at an expensive and classy hotel courtesy of her nephew Raymond and arrives to find that Bertram's is as beautiful and preserved as people say. As she settles in she meets the various other guests and finds them to be quite interesting characters; a forgetful Colonel, an international traveller, a Lady and a doorman who seems to have a connection to one of the guests in the past. All the talk is of a series of robberies happening around the area but the strange disappearance of the Colonel distracts from this. Concerned by the circumstances of his vanishing, Mrs Marple places a call to Chief Inspector Davy to take a look into it.

Having recently watched a lot of Columbo, Perry Mason and "mystery" series like that, the return to watching the BBC version of Miss Marple has left me a little culture shocked but still enjoying it. Here we have almost an hour going by before the first bit of the mystery happens but this isn't a real problem because we have the background of robberies and the development of the various characters in the hotel. For some this will seem quite dull but in this film I actually quite enjoyed it. The mystery element is quite well done despite the limitations of the material because, it must be said, that if you boil the story down to the core it really isn't that good and the conclusion didn't really inspire me when it finally came down to it. I've struggled with some miss Marple films to get past the slow pace but here the detail (the sets, the people and the story) helped fill the silent, slow patience with something to engage me. It could have been better of course, with a bit more complexity and an ending that works rather than just happens but I still enjoyed it.

The performances help to do this as much as Hyem's writing. Hickson is very much Miss Marple; perhaps not as flamboyant as some would like but to me she fits the humourless, proper, English spinster really well. She is matched here by George Baker, who gives a great performance as the relaxed and slightly unprofessional CI. The support cast are not quite as memorable but generally are pretty good with the likes of Blakiston, Michell, Cossins and McGrath. The film looks good, with plenty of nice period detail, while McMurray directs with a patience and steady camera that suits the material and the performances.

Overall a gradual film whose strength is strangely not the murder mystery. A bit slow for some viewers but had sufficient layers to it to be interesting and enjoyable.