Marple: The Moving Finger (2006) (TV)

Director:

Tom Shankland

Writers:

Agatha Christie (novel)
Kevin Elyot (screenplay)

Release Date:

12 February 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Plot:

Troubled war veteran Jerry Burton and his sister Emily rent a cottage in a seemingly tranquil English village which is plagued by a spate of poison pen letters... and murder.

Plot Keywords:

Poison Pen Letter | Vicar | War Veteran | Miss Marple | English Village

Cast

Geraldine McEwan	...	Miss Marple
James D'Arcy	...	Jerry Burton
Ken Russell	...	Reverend Caleb Dane Calthrop
Frances de la Tour	...	Mrs. Maud Dane Calthrop
Thelma Barlow	...	Emily Barton
Jessica Hynes	...	Aimee Griffith (as Jessica Stevenson)
Sean Pertwee	...	Dr. Owen Griffith
Imogen Stubbs	...	Mona Symmington
Harry Enfield	...	Richard Symmington
Kelly Brook	...	Elsie Holland
John Sessions	...	Cardew Pye
Rosalind Knight	...	Partridge
Emilia Fox	...	Joanna Burton
Ellen Capron	...	Agnes
Talulah Riley	...	Megan Hunter

Also Known As:

Agatha Christie - Marple: The Moving Finger (Australia) (DVD title)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Chilham Castle, Chilham, Kent, England, UK

Company:

Agatha Christie

Goofs:

Continuity: Mrs. Symmington can be seen quite clearly standing next to her husband attending the funeral for the murdered maid Agnes Brown. Mrs. Symmington was murdered and buried before Agnes Brown. In fact, Agnes attended Mrs. Symmington's funeral.

Quotes:

Inspector Graves: I can't help feeling , sir, that in this case, our man is a woman, if you get my drift.

Movie Connections:

Remake of The Moving Finger (1985) (TV)

A mixed bag

This was a bit better than most of the ITV Marples so far. The story was coherent and the village setting at Chilham in Kent was charming. James D'Arcy and Emilia Fox were good. They seemed to take their parts seriously - a thing sadly not to be taken for granted in this series.

As usual, however, the producers had to try to muck all it up with weird features and freakish performances.

The 'aren't we clever by being retro' back projection does not come off - it is just naff.

Harry Enfield's performance is a bit like his old stiff-upper-lip-in-old-British-films caricatures - unfortunately. Keith Allen's character is a feeble joke, and Ken Russell is off the scale of pointless nuttiness - and dressed in an outfit left over from some old Victorian melodrama.

Yet again, in another misguided feature of this series, the Mr Pye character isn't allowed just to seem precious and affected, but has to make an explicit speech on gay rights. Yes, really, in an Agatha Christie story set in the early 1950s -- hard as it may be to believe for those who haven't seen it.

On a general note: I've noticed in these films that there tends to be a mix of actors who are taking the proceedings seriously (usually lesser names) and others (well-known names) who just seem to be having a cheap laugh or slumming to make a quick few quid.

The biggest flaw of the series is its lack of respect for Agatha Christie. The makers appear to look down on her stories as low-grade pap that can be used or abused at their whim. Christie and Marple come in handy as famous names to market the films, and the books are a quarry for bits of material that can be bent to fit their own agenda.

Sad, really.