ITV have started adapting the actual books by Agatha Christie and taking them seriously, no longer just having a laugh with the titles as they did in the Geraldine McEwan travesties. Julia McKenzie is good.
This one is entertaining, though with some quirks. The scene in which the ageing of Miss Marple and Joan Collins' characters are compared is a hoot. They're supposed to be contemporaries. Miss Marple says that she really looks her age, whereas Collins, of course, doesn't. The joke is that McKenzie is eight years younger than Collins.
Also, who would have called the reform school a 'facility' in 1950s' England? The whodunit aspect is not very well done. The mystery is not built up properly and there are no proper red herrings. As a result we do not really care who did or didn't do it. The biggest mystery is why one character tries to escape on a bicycle.
I can't help comparing this film to the Joan Hickson version. I'm not one of the legion of reviewers who automatically revere her films and hate these new ones. I admit that the former films can seem slow. However, Joss Ackland's Serrocold was much better played and developed than Brian Cox's portrayal here. Neal Swettenham, as Edgar, was ten times better than the overacting Tom Payne. Also the old version had Holly Aird, who really shone as Gina (although this one is not at all bad).
It's worth watching.
This one is entertaining, though with some quirks. The scene in which the ageing of Miss Marple and Joan Collins' characters are compared is a hoot. They're supposed to be contemporaries. Miss Marple says that she really looks her age, whereas Collins, of course, doesn't. The joke is that McKenzie is eight years younger than Collins.
Also, who would have called the reform school a 'facility' in 1950s' England? The whodunit aspect is not very well done. The mystery is not built up properly and there are no proper red herrings. As a result we do not really care who did or didn't do it. The biggest mystery is why one character tries to escape on a bicycle.
I can't help comparing this film to the Joan Hickson version. I'm not one of the legion of reviewers who automatically revere her films and hate these new ones. I admit that the former films can seem slow. However, Joss Ackland's Serrocold was much better played and developed than Brian Cox's portrayal here. Neal Swettenham, as Edgar, was ten times better than the overacting Tom Payne. Also the old version had Holly Aird, who really shone as Gina (although this one is not at all bad).
It's worth watching.