I thought I had seen every Agatha Christie movie ever made. So imagine my surprise when Britbox advertised a rendition of the The Mirror Crack’d featuring Angela Lansbury as Miss Jane Marple. Whenever I get to see an Agatha Christie movie that I haven’t seen before, it definitely catches my attention. Recently, I had the pleasure of watching two accomplished actresses play the role of Miss Marple and thought this deserved an in-depth analysis.
First, let me say that I went into the viewing of these movies with a bias. Joan Hickson not only portrayed the character of Miss Marple, but she IS Miss Marple. She fits not only the description in the books, but her portrayal of the spinster sleuth seems bang on, IMHO. However, I was prepared to enjoy a different rendition and sat down to enjoy the performances.
The first one was Angela Lansbury. I am a big Angela Lansbury fan, especially in her role as Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote. I also enjoyed her portrayal of Mrs. Pollifax in the Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman (if you haven’t read this series, I highly recommend it). Despite my appreciation of Angela Lansbury’s acting ability, I must admit that she wasn’t exactly the first actress I thought of for the role as Miss Marple. However, the cast for the movie was amazing. Not only did this 1980’s production feature Angela Lansbury, but Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, Kim Novak and Pierce Brosnan. The cast list was amazing and…well, it was Agatha Christie, so of course, I watched.
This was a Hollywood, glamorized version and they, of course, took a number of liberties which deviated from the book. The first being the opening scene where the residents of the village are engaged in watching a film. Just at the critical point where the murderer is about to be revealed, the film breaks leaving the villagers wondering, whodunit. Miss Marple is called upon to name the murderer, which she does, demonstrating her amazing gift for uncovering murderers through her ability to associate personality types with those in her village. It was a Hollywood trick providing the audience with a glimpse of Miss Marple’s ability in a visual manner rather than having an actor tell us about her gift. All in all, not bad. However, the scene in the movie which left me completely confounded was watching Miss Marple sit at her dinner table, smoking a cigarette. Miss Marple smoking? Impossible.
The second movie I watched was a 1961 movie entitled, Murder She Said. Can’t remember an Agatha Christie novel entitled, Murder She Said? You’re not alone. It’s a remake of the book, What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw, also released as, 4:50 from Paddington. This move featured famed British actress, Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple. Again, Margaret Rutherford wasn’t an actress who looked like the Jane Marple, Agatha Christie described in the books. However, one interesting fact about this movie is that it features a young Joan Hickson in a smaller role. So, it was wonderful to see the woman who I now associate as Miss Marple, in her younger days in a different role.
Both movies take liberties which is normal for the medium. It’s common for movies to reduce the number of actors/actresses and redo scenes to show rather than tell. In Murder She Said, they eliminate a couple of key characters completely. In the book, Miss Marple’s friend, Mrs. McGillicuddy, reported having witnessed a murder on a passing train. When the police are unable to find a body, Miss Marple enlists the help of Lucy Eyelesbarrow, an extremely capable domestic goddess, to help find the body. In the movie, Murder She Said, Miss Marple is not only the person who witnessed the murder, she also takes on the domestic role and offers her services to the Crackenthorpe family who live in a mansion she believes is the likely resting place for the dead body. I’ll admit, this change gives Miss Marple a larger role than that in the book, but I struggled to imagine the elderly spinster in the role of a cook and maid.
Both Angela Lansbury and Margaret Rutherford are great actresses. However, neither of them pop into my head when I visualize Miss Marple. Also, an actress is only as good as the material (scripts) she has to work with, so if there are limitations in the movie plots, those faults belong to others. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the movies because when all is said and done, it’s still an Agatha Christie and there’s always something to be gained by watching the queen of the cozy mystery craft a whodunit.