Christian Gilbranson (John Woodvine), Miss Marple's (Helen Hayes) lawyer, persuades her to go visit his stepmother and her childhood friend, Carrie Louise Serrocold (Bette Davis), at her country estate. Carrie Louise's husband, Lewis Serrocold (John Mills), is convinced that someone is slowly poisoning his beloved wife with arsenic. But who would want to kill such a kind woman? Is it one of the family, a trusted employee or one of the dozens of juvenile delinquents living on the estate as a kind of halfway house and social experiment? When someone murders Christian, the case becomes even more complicated and Miss Marple will have her hands full trying to keep Carrie Louise alive while solving the murder.
Review:
I thoroughly enjoy Helen Hayes's portrayal of Miss Marple. She looks and acts like Agatha Christie's iconic character, but adds a real sense of humor to her that I never noticed before. There is a twinkle in Helen Hayes's eyes and a kind of wry self awareness that enables her to see the humor in many situations. She has several witty one-liners that Helen Hayes and Bette Davisbrought a smile to my face, but you have to listen carefully or you will miss most of them! My favorite part of the movie was that Miss Marple is not able to slide under the radar as a dithering, elderly spinster. Inspector Curry (Leo McKern) is on hand to investigate the murder of Christian Gilbranson (John Woodvine) and he has heard all about Miss Marple from a friend and fellow inspector who works in the St. Mary Mead area (Miss Marple's home village). His description of Miss Marple as "deceptively cooperative" is just perfect! John Woodvine is a wonderful counterpart to Helen Hayes and the scenes that they have together, though few, are really the highlights of the film for me.
I usually get a kick out of Miss Marple's little tales that she shares with people to weasel information out of them and this movie was no exception, particularly since everyone in the house is used to Miss Marple's tricks. Gina Markham (Liane Langland) in particular gives as The First Murder Victimgood as she gets when Miss Marple tries to encourage her to drive slower, be faithful to her husband, etc. Gina has Miss Marple believing that one of the juvenile delinquents was imprisoned for mugging little old ladies and has Miss Marple looking over her shoulder the entire time she is on the estate! The other character to look out for is a young Tim Roth playing Edgar Lawson, a young man who was imprisoned for claiming to be the son of famous men to get what he wanted. Tim Roth is super over-the-top in his role and unintentionally brought a great deal of humor to the movie. Bette Davis seems to have received a great deal of criticism in her role as Carrie Louise Serrocold, but I did not have any complaints with her or her abilities. Bette Davis appears to be at death's door as she is super thin, very frail and speaks with a bit of a slur, but she is supposed to be an elderly woman who is slowly dying so it looked fine to me!
Murder with Mirrors is supposed to be a serious movie adaptation of Agatha Christie's book, but it has not aged gracefully. It was released in 1985 and the hair, makeup and clothing reflect the popular trends of the time period. I have to admit that I did get a bit of a giggle out of the styling and costumes in the movie, but this added to my enjoyment rather than detracted from it. A lot of the acting is cheesy and overdone, but, again, I found this more entertaining than anything else. There is a great deal to enjoy in this movie and the mystery is solid and interesting. With a houseful of suspects (all of whom act extremely suspiciously and have very good motives), several murders and a hint of romance, Murder with Mirrors will be sure to appeal to older Agatha Christie fans.
Content:
This movie contains multiple murders. Victims die from gunshot wounds, car accidents and drowning. Bodies are shown briefly, if at all, and show very little blood. There are hints of an affair and flirtations between married women and unmarried men. There are several juvenile delinquents in the film so many different crimes are mentioned (public nudity, mugging, false representation, theft, etc.). There is some mild language and scenes of drinking. Recommended for ages 10 and up.
