As I have confessed in other reviews, I have never read Agatha Christie's works. But based upon this film adaptation, one would have to say this is one of her better stories. Although, I didn't much care for the nursery rhyme gimmick (and that's what it IS, a gimmick). In this story Christie's trying to appear more intellectual than she really was.
NOW HERE'S THE IMPORTANT PART: Within these Marple commentaries are discussions as to whether Joan Hickson was the best version of Miss Marple. Well, I think, this story reveals who would have made the very best Miss Marple. And that's no other than FABIA DRAKE !!!
In this story, Fabia Drake presented a calm exterior wedded to an incisive, biting assessment of reality that Joan Hickson could only DREAM of displaying.
To quote another reviewer: "Fabia Drake . . . Has some of the best lines: 'I have ALWAYS been very peculiar' and 'The journey between Vice and Evil is but a step'." THIS is the woman I had imagined Joan Hickson was going to be when I first read all of the rave reviews of her characterization. After all, Miss Marple is a detective PRETENDING to be an old lady. Whereas, the Joan Hickson version is an old lady pretending to be a detective. The Hickson character gets it right in the end. But not without adding a lot of unnecessary tottering ambivalence. It's irritating.
Fabia Drake embodied an old woman who was extremely clear-headed. Whereas, the Joan Hickson version of Miss Marple eventually figures things out but she is definitely NOT clear-headed during the process. Often she twists simple conclusions into Gordian knots. I didn't like that.
One thing I'll say in Agatha Christie's favor: In this story the male villain receives his punishment in a plainly karmic fashion. The utterly efficient manner in which he winds up killing himself paired with the foreshadow about lack of "luck" was so spot on, the event was humorous to behold and I found myself laughing out loud. Then to top it all off, during the wrap up, Christie has Miss Marple say, "Yes. Men like Lance, you know, always prove their own hangman." That was truly the cherry on top. A moment of pure genius in the story.
Unlike The Moving Finger, this story is well-paced and steeped in irony. For example, the maid who is portrayed as a klutzy hapless victim turns out to be a relatively evil liar. And therefore It's entirely appropriate that once dead, the maid's body is posed as an evil pig literally hung out to dry.
My favorite line in the story occurs during the wrap up when Miss Marple turns to the Inspector and says . . . "All businessmen are the victims of greed some way or another, I fear." Truer words have never been spoken.
NOW HERE'S THE IMPORTANT PART: Within these Marple commentaries are discussions as to whether Joan Hickson was the best version of Miss Marple. Well, I think, this story reveals who would have made the very best Miss Marple. And that's no other than FABIA DRAKE !!!
In this story, Fabia Drake presented a calm exterior wedded to an incisive, biting assessment of reality that Joan Hickson could only DREAM of displaying.
To quote another reviewer: "Fabia Drake . . . Has some of the best lines: 'I have ALWAYS been very peculiar' and 'The journey between Vice and Evil is but a step'." THIS is the woman I had imagined Joan Hickson was going to be when I first read all of the rave reviews of her characterization. After all, Miss Marple is a detective PRETENDING to be an old lady. Whereas, the Joan Hickson version is an old lady pretending to be a detective. The Hickson character gets it right in the end. But not without adding a lot of unnecessary tottering ambivalence. It's irritating.
Fabia Drake embodied an old woman who was extremely clear-headed. Whereas, the Joan Hickson version of Miss Marple eventually figures things out but she is definitely NOT clear-headed during the process. Often she twists simple conclusions into Gordian knots. I didn't like that.
One thing I'll say in Agatha Christie's favor: In this story the male villain receives his punishment in a plainly karmic fashion. The utterly efficient manner in which he winds up killing himself paired with the foreshadow about lack of "luck" was so spot on, the event was humorous to behold and I found myself laughing out loud. Then to top it all off, during the wrap up, Christie has Miss Marple say, "Yes. Men like Lance, you know, always prove their own hangman." That was truly the cherry on top. A moment of pure genius in the story.
Unlike The Moving Finger, this story is well-paced and steeped in irony. For example, the maid who is portrayed as a klutzy hapless victim turns out to be a relatively evil liar. And therefore It's entirely appropriate that once dead, the maid's body is posed as an evil pig literally hung out to dry.
My favorite line in the story occurs during the wrap up when Miss Marple turns to the Inspector and says . . . "All businessmen are the victims of greed some way or another, I fear." Truer words have never been spoken.