Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: They Do It with Mirrors (1991)

When Miss Marple is invited to the manor house of an old friend, it is not long before a puzzling murder puts her mind to work.

Director:

Norman Stone

Writer:

T.R. Bowen (screenplay)

Stars:

Joan Hickson, Jean Simmons, Joss Ackland

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joan Hickson	...	Miss Marple
Jean Simmons	...	Carrie-Louise Serrocold
Joss Ackland	...	Lewis Serrocold
Faith Brook	...	Ruth van Rydock
Gillian Barge	...	Mildred Strete
Neal Swettenham	...	Edgar Lawson
David Horovitch	...	Chief Inspector Slack
Ian Brimble	...	Sergeant Lake
Christopher Villiers	...	Alex Restarick
Jay Villiers	...	Stephen Restarick
Holly Aird	...	Gina Hudd
Todd Boyce	...	Walter Hudd
Saul Reichlin	...	Dr. Maseryk
Matthew Cottle	...	Ernie Gregg
John Bott	...	Christian Gulbrandsen

Storyline

Ruth van Rydock is worried about her sister's health and well-being and asks their mutual friend Jane Marple to visit her for a awhile. Her sister, Carrie-Louise Serrocold, is married to Lewis Serrocold and he has turned their estate into an institute of sorts for young offenders. Miss Marple is more than happy to visit and finds an odd assortment of characters on the premises. When Christian Gulbranson is found shot while sitting at the typewriter in his room, Miss Marple has a murder to solve. Gulbranson, a trustee of the institute, had only arrived that day on urgent business and Lewis Serrocold found a partly completed letter in his typewriter saying that someone was poisoning Carrie-Louise. Assisting Inspector Slack, with whom she had previously worked, she soon knows who committed the crime but is not quite sure how they did it.

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Plot Keywords:

miss marple | murder | manor house | estate | five word title | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 December 1991 (UK)

Also Known As:

They Do It with Mirrors

Filming Locations:

Little College Street, Westminster, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), A+E Networks

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Black and White (archive footage) Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

[All trivia items for this title are spoilers.]

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Quotes

Miss Jane Marple: After all, a weed is just a plant in a place you don't want it to be.

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Connections

Follows Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: A Pocket Full of Rye (1985)

User Reviews

Good in terms of acting and quality, but disappointing as an adaptation

Although I really liked this, it is a disappointment after the delightful Murder Is Announced. Then again the book isn't Agatha Christie's best, although it's well written and perplexing, it is for me one of the weaker Marple books. There were several things I liked about the adaptation, one was the acting. Joan Hickson is a sheer delight as Miss Marple, and Faith Brook and Jean Simmons were very effective as Carrie-Louise and Ruth. Their end scene in particular was very poignant. Joss Ackland has a little less to do, but he turned in a solid performance. The adaptation is beautifully photographed, and the music is stunning. However, I had a real problem with the pace, the adaptation does start off very slowly, and never quite recovers. Out of the Joan Hickson adaptations, it is one of the least faithful ones. The elements that made the book perplexing were either left out or a tad underdeveloped. Consequently the plot is hard to follow and I will admit the final solution left me baffled. Overall, disappointing but well acted and beautifully filmed, so worth a look. 7/10 Bethany Cox