The Mirror Crack'd)

Starring:Peter Ustinov, Jane Birkin, Lois Chiles, Bette Davis, Mia Farrow, Jon Finch, Olivia Hussey, George Kennedy, Angela Lansbury, Simon MacCorkindale, David Niven, Maggie Smith, Jack Warden, Harry Andrews, I.S. Johar, Sam Wanamaker, Celia Imrie, Barbara Hicks, Andrew Manson
Director: John Guillermin, Guy Hamilton
Studio: Anchor Bay
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Death on the Nile
Following Albert Finney's quirky and compelling performance as Agatha Christie's Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, in 1974's Murder on the Orient Express, Peter Ustinov capably took over the role in this 1978 adaptation of Christie's river-bound whodunit. While on a pleasure cruise along the Nile with a taciturn companion (David Niven), Poirot slips into action following the murder of a much-despised heiress (Lois Chiles). There's no shortage of suspects... until, that is, they also start dying off, obfuscating the investigation by suggesting that several killers may be at work. With a disciplined screenplay by Anthony Shaffer, the film is solid enough and is graced immeasurably by a glittery cast including Bette Davis, Maggie Smith, Mia Farrow, Olivia Hussey, Jack Warden, and Angela Lansbury. Directed with customary efficiency by John Guillermin (King Kong, The Towering Inferno). --Tom Keogh

Evil Under the Sun
Mostly for Poirot completists and admirers of then-trendy, all-star ensemble casts from the 1970s and early '80s, Evil Under the Sun finds Peter Ustinov in his second outing as Agatha Christie's famous Belgian detective (three years after 1978's Death on the Nile). As the title promises, the action this time takes place on an Adriatic island (though Christie fans will surely balk at the switch from the novel's setting on the English coast), where a famous stage star (Diana Rigg) is murdered, and the list of likely suspects is unusually high. The parade of legendary performers--Roddy McDowall, James Mason, Sylvia Miles, Maggie Smith, Jane Birkin--plus Ustinov's energetic performance keep things hopping. But Anthony Shaffer's lazy screenplay and director Guy Hamilton's superficial approach nudge everything (action, characters, tone) toward campy, near-parody, with bitchy sniping, tacky costumes, and an obligatory soundtrack of Cole Porter tunes. It's only in the last lap that the film transcends such obviousness and finds its way back to the glories of detective fiction. --Tom Keogh

Amazon.com

In the hands of Agatha Christie, the murder mystery is like a sonata crossed with a magic trick--an intricate formal structure that depends on ingenious misdirection. On top of that, the movies made from her novels are an opportunity for great British character actors to languish in icy disdain, insinuating glances, arch humor, and trembling suggestions of guilt. This set gathers together three fine BBC productions, starting with The Body in the Library (in which a blond stranger's corpse turns up in a British squire's house), A Murder Is Announced) (in which a supposed parlor game has fatal consequences), and A Pocketful of Rye (in which a nursery rhyme becomes a recipe for a series of poisonings). All star Joan Hickson as Christie's much-loved elderly sleuth, Miss Marple. The way Hickson's eyes light up at the mention of mysterious death makes her seem like a delightfully dotty old ghoul; she hovers at the periphery of investigations, noticing the telling details that police inspectors overlook. The productions lay out plot threads and clues with surgical precision, while the actors play stock characters with exquisite relish. --Bret Fetzer

Description

The beloved dowager detective Miss Marple (Joan Hickson) unravels three of Agatha Christie's most popular brainteasers: A Murder Is Announced, A Pocketful of Rye and the series premiere, The Body in the Library.

Customer Reviews:

MARPLE The Classic Mysteries Collection.......2007-06-16

Anyone who is an Agatha Christie fan will love this set.

I have seen just about every actress who has done this part and in my opinion, Joan Hickson is the best. She is the book character come to life.

The set contains nine stories and you will enjoy every one.

CAN'T GET ENOUGH.......2007-05-24

Joan Hickson as Miss Marple is the best. The three stories in this set (A Body in the Library/A Murder is Announced/Pocketful of Rye) are excellent. I've already watched it four times & still find it extremely enjoyable.

Possitively great.......2007-05-12

I just love Joan Hickson as Miss Marple. This is the greatest thing to watch.

I like to watch these with close captioing because they talk so low and their slang is tough to follow sometimes. So if I can't hear them at least I can read what they so to follow along. But the subtitling doesn't work on the DVD player. The close captioing worked from the TV though. SO all was GOOD!!!

Top Notch British done Joan Hickson as Miss Marple.......2007-02-28

Joan Hickson was considered the best Miss Marple by Agatha Christie, and the creator should know. The Joan Hickson as Miss Marple movies can't get any better. She's the epitome of the Jane Marple character. The locations are superb.

I love this collection.......2007-01-25

I love all the Jane Marple series by Joan Hickson. The quintessential Miss Marple to be sure.

Agatha Christie's Miss Marple - The Classic Mysteries Collection

Average customer rating:

Bad Batch?
The only dramatization that faithfully presents AGATHA CHRISTIE'S Miss Marple
Love em all.
Little Elderly Lady
Classic!

Agatha Christie's Miss Marple - The Classic Mysteries Collection
Starring: Joan Hickson , Juliette Mole , David Beames , Mona Bruce , and Nicholas Blane
Director: Martyn Friend , John Davies , and Christopher Petit
Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

Agatha Christie's Miss Marple Gift Set
Agatha Christie's Poirot - Classic Crimes Collection
Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Movie Collection
Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Movie Collection, Set 2
Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Classic Collection

ASIN: B000CRR36K
Release Date: 2006-02-28

Product Description

Return to post-war England for mystery and a cup of tea with Agatha Christie s most popular creation. The consummate prim and proper crime-fighting spinster, Miss Jane Marple sets down her knitting needles to unwind the most ingenious crimes. As she travels from city to countryside and even the Bahamas, murders, missing bodies and haunted dreams have a habit of falling across Miss Marple s path--which is precisely when, "tail up and head down," the beloved aunt and godmother goes into action. Digitally re-mastered and faithfully adapted from Agatha Christie s best-selling novels, THE CLASSIC MYSTERIES COLLECTION features Joan Hickson (Christie s personal choice to play the spinster sleuth) in over fifteen hours of suspense, misdirection, rich period detail, and the cleverest solutions imaginable. DVD Features: Complete Index of all Miss Marple Stories; Agatha Christie Bio; Joan Hickson Biography/Filmography; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection

System Requirements:

Running Time 936 Mins.

Format: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com

Joan Hickson is the epitome of Agatha Christie's spinster sleuth in this DVD boxed set of nine Miss Marple movies from British television. "Little grey-haired cobra," mutters Detective Inspector Slack (David Horovitch), the hard-slogging policeman who finds himself humbled, again and again, by the frail woman's shrewd insight and dogged determination. Whether on a tropical island, in a grand hotel, or on a bus tour of historic sites, Miss Marple never fails to uncover the buried secrets, illicit affairs, tangled finances, and boorish Americans that abound in Agatha Christie's mysteries. Hickson is said to be Christie's own choice for the role (though when Christie told her this, Hickson was taken aback, as she was still fairly young at the time), and it's easy to see why: Hickson is physically unassuming, a perfect village busybody, yet her eyes contain a constant flicker of curiosity and keen intelligence.

This set includes all but three of Hickson's outings as Miss Marple: A Caribbean Mystery, in which an old bore's death on an island resort sets the plot in motion; The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side, which features an aging movie star and sumptuous marble bathrooms; in 4:50 from Paddington, the launch of Sputnik is accompanied by a strangling on a train; The Moving Finger begins with poison pen letters, but poison and bludgeonings soon follow; At Bertram's Hotel is one of the most unusual stories, as murder doesn't happen until more than 3/4 of the movie has unfolded, and the ending features a dynamic rooftop chase; Murder at the Vicarage, a definitive village mystery which finds Miss Marple solving a killing on her home turf; Nemesis, in which a wealthy old friend of Miss Marple's orchestrates, after his own death, the investigation of a murder long gone cold; Sleeping Murder, one of the best, starts out as more of a ghost story than a mystery and culminates in genuine suspense; and They Do It With Mirrors, in which misdirection--the cunning art upon which any murder mystery depends--is part of the plot itself.

There are a few famous names sprinkled among the casts (among them Donald Pleasance, Halloween, Jean Simmons, Spartacus, and Joan Greenwood, The Importance of Being Earnest, who has one of the most wonderful voices in the history of British cinema), but these BBC dramas depend mostly on solid, enjoyable character actors--actors much like Hickson herself, who labored for decades in bit parts before finding her plum role. The compression necessary to turn a book into a movie sometimes makes sussing out the murderer simpler, but fans of the genre will still be delighted by Miss Marple's perceptive investigations. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

Bad Batch?.......2007-06-27

I ordered this DVD set and we were looking forward to many hours of enjoyable viewing. Some of the DVD's in the set, however, had digital scrambling problems, so we did the Amazon return thing, requesting that a replacement set be sent. When we received that replacement set, we were very disappointed to see that the digital scrambling was exactly the same as in the first set. I don't know if we got two from the same bad batch, or what, but now we don't have the set we were looking forward to placing in our video library.

The only dramatization that faithfully presents AGATHA CHRISTIE'S Miss Marple.......2007-06-01

In "An Autobiography," Agatha Christie wrote, "Miss Marple insinuated herself so quickly into my life that I hardly noticed her arrival. I wrote a series of six short stories for a magazine, and chose six people whom I thought might meet once a week in a small village and describe some unsolved crime. I started with Miss Jane Marple, the sort of old lady who would have been rather like some of my grandmother's Ealing cronies--old ladies whom I met in so many villages where I had gone to stay as a girl. Miss Marple was not in any way a picture of my grandmother; she was far more fussy and spinsterish than my grandmother ever was. But one thing she did have in common with her--though a cheerful person, she always expected the worst of everyone and everything, and was, with almost frightening accuracy, usually proved right...."

Later, Christie added, "Miss Marple was born a the age of sixty-five to seventy--which, as with Poirot, proved most unfortunate, because she was gong to have to last a long time in my life. If I had had any second sight, I would have provided myself with a precocious schoolboy as my first detective; then he would have grown old with me."

There you have the most authoritative pronouncement on the nature and character of Miss Jane Marple--and here, in this series, we have that fussy and spinsterish old lady's most authoritative portrayal.

Major actresses have offered famous performances of a mystery-solving elderly lady named Marple--Margaret Rutherford, Helen Hayes, Angela Lansbury and, as I write this, Geraldine McEwan. Some have been quite good in their versions of Miss Marple. Margaret Rutherford, in fact, was simply wonderful.

However, not one portrayed Agatha Christie's Miss Marple. None of these fine actresses was able to resist the urge to twinkle--to give just a hint of knowing glee, to be lovable. Agatha Christie's Miss Marple does not, and never did, twinkle. Though a cheerful person, you see, she always expected the worst of everyone and everything, and was, with almost frightening accuracy, usually proved right; there wasn't a twinkle in her.

Joan Hickson never twinkles, not once. She is Christie's fussy, spinsterish old lady down to her bones. She is sometimes Nemesis and someetimes, as Detective Inspector, later Superintendent Slack so acutely points out, a grey-haired cobra. Joan Hickson inhabits the character of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple so completely that I find it shocking when I see her in another role, for she usually portrayed brassy, hard-edged women who couldn't possibly have been more unlike the old maid of St. Mary Mead.

Joan Hickson is the pearl in this oyster, but these BBC productions from the 1980s have other merits. Wholly unlike the current series that is so carelessly stomping on memories of Christie and Marple, alike, the writers in the 1980s actually seem to held Dame Aggie in respect. Practical considerations did not allow them to transfer Christie's every word and situation to the screen, but they did manage to transfer her spirit and tone with remarkable fidelity. These dramatizations of Christie's novels almost always feel right, even when they depart from the originals.

Just as there is a tone in the writing, there is a tone in the acting. At some time in pre-production, it must have been decided that all parts would be played straight. No character was to be a "type" or caricature--not the half-ga-ga clergyman at Bertram's Hotel nor the superannuated Bright Young Thing also in residence there, not the huntin' and shootin' local squire who awakes to be informed that there is a dead body in his library, not even the kindly village rector with the corpse littering his vicarage. The decision made, it was obviously rigidly enforced, for none of the fine British actors, some of them notorious hams, ever steps out of character. The gap between this approach and that taken by the current, McEwan series could not be wider.

Finally, there is the matter of the setting. Both the Hickson series and the McEwan series are notionally set within a year or two of 1955. The current series forcefully thrusts the era into the laps of its viewers. In the recent version of "4:50 from Paddington," for example, there is a wholly gratuitous scene in which Noel Coward (no less) is performing at the piano for a small party in his digs at which Lord Mountbatton ("Dickie") is present. The Hickson series is infinitely more subtle; there is an underlying and pervasive air of the era's austere scrimping and saving as part of the daily routine. It is hardly noticeable--and all the more effective for that reason.

Other reviewers have brought up matters of interest with regard to edits and formats, so there should be a buyer beware warniong, at least for some purchasers. My own reaction to this version of the Hickson series is that it perfectly acceptable to my personal requirements. Others might feel differently.

My rating relates to the writing, production and acting found in this series: five stars without doubt or hesitation.

Love em all........2007-05-11

I enjoyed all and have watched them all twice now.
The only thing I do not like is that there is no close captioning. The actors all talk in a accent and mumble. I had to had the tv turned up to hear them. Plus trying to figure out their slangs. I would've really have enjoy it even SO much more with close captioning.

Little Elderly Lady.......2007-03-28

Miss Marple is a joy. Her ability to solve intriguing murders using her maturity will keep you guessing.

Classic!.......2007-03-08

These classic Miss Marple movies are excellent. A real window into the past and a more genteel society (except for the murders!)

Joan Hickson is priceless. Interesting to compare her Miss Marple to the new interpretation of Geraldine McEwan. Both are wonderful but very different. I have tried but I cannot define a clear preference. Each is enjoyable in its own right.

Agatha Christie's Poirot - The New Mysteries Collection

Average customer rating:

Death on the Nile, Five Little Pigs, Sad Cypress, and etc.
Great New Movies If You Love Poirot on Biography
David Suchet returns in four dramatized Christie Novels
classic Poirot
Not Up to Suff

Agatha Christie's Poirot - The New Mysteries Collection
Starring: David Suchet , James Fox , Emma Griffiths Malin , JJ Feild , and Emily Blunt
Director: Andy Wilson (IV) , Dave Moore , and Simon Langton
Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

Agatha Christie's Poirot - Classic Crimes Collection
Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Movie Collection, Set 2
Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Movie Collection
Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Classic Collection
Poirot - The Complete Collection

ASIN: B0006212JK
Release Date: 2005-02-22

Amazon.com

Portly, mincing, gracious, and unrelenting, Hercule Poirot rivals Sherlock Holmes as the greatest sleuth of the English murder mystery genre--a form as strict as a sonnet that's part logic puzzle, part magician's misdirection, of which Agatha Christie remains the undisputed queen. The New Mysteries Collection pulls together TV-movie adaptations of four Poirot novels, each a compendium of eccentric characters, intricate plotting, sleek storytelling, and sprinklings of wit (such as a dotty matriarch's declaration, "Murder is a very awkward thing--it upsets the servants so").

Death on the Nile sets an entire boatful of suspicious character afloat in Egypt, where Poirot's vacation is disrupted by a splash in the night, falling rock, missing pearls, three murders, and a boozing gargoyle named Salome Otterbourne. The plot is one of Christie's more preposterous, yet also one of her most popular. Sad Cypress opens with a murderess on trial, then flashes back to young lovers, a wealthy but stricken dowager, a spiteful anonymous letter, and a pretty young blonde. A wonderfully creepy dream haunts Poirot as he struggles to redeem the wrongly convicted killer. In The Hollow, Poirot's vacation in the English countryside gets disrupted by a philandering doctor apparently shot by his adoring wife, his blood trickling into a swimming pool clotted with leaves. But the best of the lot is Five Little Pigs, a story told almost entirely in flashback, as a young woman hires Poirot to clear her mother, who was convicted of murdering her father. Not only are the clues deftly planted and the solution cunningly worked out, it's one of the rare mysteries that inspires a genuine sorrow for its characters.

Scattered throughout are a wealth of recognizable faces, though not many recognizable names--among the better known are James Fox (The Remains of the Day), Edward Fox (The Day of the Jackal), Paul McGann (Withnail and I), Sarah Miles (White Mischief), Lysette Anthony (Husbands and Wives), and David Soul (Starsky & Hutch!). But it's David Suchet as Poirot who keeps everything in motion, his beady eyes glittering under heavy lids, constantly tending to one of the most ridiculous mustaches in literature. Poirot has been played by such stars as Peter Ustinov and Albert Finney, but Suchet has made the fastidious Belgian detective his own. He's simply magnifique. --Bret Fetzer

Description

This set will contain the following four Poirot movies (A&E September 2004 premieres): Death on the Nile, Sad Cypress, The Hollow, Five Little Pigs

Customer Reviews:

Death on the Nile, Five Little Pigs, Sad Cypress, and etc. .......2007-06-28

I enjoyed Poirot and the mysteries were certainly well done, however, I want the other characters brought back. Japp, Miss Lemon, Hastings, all contributed to fleshing out the story in one way or another. Please bring them back, I miss them. David Suchet has broad shoulders but he needs a supporting cast. Ed Evans

Great New Movies If You Love Poirot on Biography.......2007-05-12

I watch the Poirot movies all the time on Biography, and just wanted some new ones to watch that I haven't seen before. I love the older ones with Hastings and Japp, and when I found out these newer movies didn't have the older characters, I thought I would be dissapointed, but I wasn't. So far, I have loved them all, David Suchet does an excellent job as Christie's Poirot and he holds his own. If you love mysteries, these movies are definitely a must see!

David Suchet returns in four dramatized Christie Novels.......2007-03-08

This set, "Agatha Christie's Poirot - The New Mysteries Collection," consists of four of Dame Agatha's Poirot novels dramatized at TV feature length. The four novels are "Death on the Nile" (1937), "Sad Cypress" (1940), "Five Little Pigs" (1942) and "The Hollow" (1946). Four other novels are dramatized in the companion set, "Agatha Christie's Poirot - Classic Crimes Collection." The two sets contain the output of the new A&E production team.

The new series diverge from the old in a number of ways. They concentrate on Christie's novel-length works rather than her short stories. Far more important to Amazon reviewers, though, seems to be the change in casting. The dim but endearing Captain Hastings, the hyper-efficient Miss Lemon and that stolid plod, Chief Inspector Japp are all gone. We find Poirot alone in his new, smaller, gloomier, distinctly less impressive flat--although he's apparently still in the same building. Some note that the new scripts make references to modern sexual sensibilities that certainly, unquestionably, indubitably did not appear in Dame Aggie's writings. Typical reactions among those who mention this change involve one or all of dismay, disgust and disdain. Others have drawn attention to production values for the new series. One reviewer put it this way: "[T]he production value of the films has gone through the roof. Simply put, these are the best looking Poirot films made so far, particularly with regards to `film moment' shots and the use of color in regards to theme." Finally, there has been the obvious effect of all-devouring time; the now portly Suchet is sixty-ish and he looks it.

Let's consider that point, the older Poirot. In 1920, Hercule Poirot appeared in Agatha Christie's first book, "The Mysterious Affair at Styles," a novel set in the middle of the First World War. Captain Hastings, wounded on the Western Front, is back in England to recover. He happens to meet an odd little man named Hercule Poirot (a name plainly impossible for any self-respecting Englishman to pronounce correctly.) Poirot is described as an elderly Belgian refugee who is a retired policeman. Considering the events that took place in Belgium in the late summer of 1914, it must be assumed that he retired no later than the first half that year. If Poirot retired at sixty--Christie writing at age 30 would probably have considered that to be elderly--he was born no later than 1854. If at sixty-five, then 1851. The earlier his retirement, the earlier his birth date.

Poirot's career in England stretched from the horrors of the Western Front to what he and his creator clearly regarded as the only slightly less baleful era of rock 'n roll. For production convenience, the original series was set in 1935. 1937 seems to be the date for this series, considering that the name of a certain Mrs Simpson appears in the newspapers. In 1937, Hercule Poirot must have been at least 83 years old. All things considered, David Suchet was and still remains entirely too young for the part.

In 1916, Agatha Miller Christie was thinking about writing a book for pin money. (Monetary cpnsiderations aside, her older sister had bet her she couldn't do it!) She and her dashing husband Archie Christie were bright young things, but on their beam ends financially. She wrote letter to a friend in which she whined that they could afford only two servants. She decided to write a mystery. At the time, there was only one true pattern for a detective and its name was S. Holmes, still very much a living literary figure. Twelve stories of his Canon were yet to be written and they wouldn't be published between hard covers until 1927 with "The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes." After collecting a set of galling rejections, Agatha's first book, "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" and Hercule Poirot saw print in 1920.

Holmes had a biographer named Watson, plodding colleagues at Scotland Yard, beginning with Inspector Lestrade, and a landlady-housekeeper, Mrs Hudson. Following the set pattern, Christie gave Poirot his biographer in Captain Hastings--the complete boob that Watson NEVER was--and he introduced Inspector Japp. Later, Poirot would find his London flat and enjoy the ministrations of Miss Lemon. In all but a single short story, she is a background figure.

In the older TV series, Hastings got into everything. Miss Lemon's role expanded beyond anything in Christie's writings. All police detectives combined into Chief Inspector Japp. All this, first to humanize the little Belgian detective, then to ease the endless task of explaining plot points.

In 1926, Christie hit the big time with "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd." She was universally acknowledged as the great successor to Conan Doyle. But Hastings wasn't even in "Ackroyd." She realized that she had no need to follow Holmes anymore, so she sent the tedious Hastings off to molt in some remote South American exile, bringing him back only on a rare, sentimental occasion.

In this Hastings-, Lemon- and Japp-free series, the new producers have done no more than follow Christie's lead. Nevertheless, I miss them, just as I sometimes miss them in the written versions. The producers really ought to bring them back for at least one show in each season.

Regarding post-Christie sensibilities on sexual matters, heaven knows it's mild enough stuff in these productions, but why do they bother? The stories are set in 1937, not 2007 or even 1977. Whatever people were doing then, they certainly were not talking about it freely, as here. (Yes, I am perfectly aware of such people as Sackville-West and Trefusis, but that was a juicy scandal, not a casual aside as in "The Hollow.")

Finally, there are the production values. Some reviewers are impressed. I am not. Whatever the current producers are paying, they are not getting their money's worth. The old series was a gem. Remember those opening graphics? And that annoying but unforgettable theme music? The old series showcased Art Deco artifacts and architecture. The Deco movement peaked, then fell away in hardly more than a decade--two at most. I am convinced the old series showcased every good example of Art Deco architecture to be found in all of Britain. By contrast, the new series is flat and uninteresting. Instead of bright, clean-lined Art Deco, we are shown nothing but the same-old-same-old Masterpiece Theater/A&E Presents visual blahs that turn up a dozen times a week on PBS. Even worse is the rhythm of the new series. Several times in each episode, with the regularity--not to mention the soul--of a stopwatch, everything comes lurching to a halt. (Why they do not display a card saying "Insert Commercial Here" I cannot imagine.) And the music! That old tune is still there, but almost inaudible in the background. What a waste! Let's not even talk about the opening credits.

In summary, these are acceptable, if sometimes VERY loose adaptations of Christie's mid-career novels. They're OK, but they are not the visual treats they used to be. On the other hand, even mediocre Poirot is better than no Poirot at all.

Four stars wit' ze little grey cells.

classic Poirot.......2007-02-11

These films are classic Poirot. Very well photographed, very well casted. David Suchet is awesome. I think he is the best Poirot yet.

Not Up to Suff.......2006-12-10

Did not like this series at all! There seems to be a move away from the original stories and an adding of questional material that would not have been in an Agatha Christie novel--shady at best--pitiful at worst! In some cases I felt they tried to change the story altogether. Will not keep this series, plan to sell or give away.

Agatha Christie Mysteries (Death on the Nile / Evil Under the Sun / The Mirror Crack'd)

Average customer rating:

Timeless classics
Agatha Christie
Great movies
As good as excellent and better than brilliant.
Nice set, worth the price

Agatha Christie Mysteries (Death on the Nile / Evil Under the Sun / The Mirror Crack'd)
Starring: Peter Ustinov , Jane Birkin , Lois Chiles , Bette Davis , and Mia Farrow
Director: John Guillermin , and Guy Hamilton
Manufacturer: Starz / Anchor Bay
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express
Agatha Christie Collection Featuring Peter Ustinov (Dead Man's Folly / Murder in Three Acts / Thirteen at Dinner)
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And Then There Were None

ASIN: B00008DDWU
Release Date: 2003-04-29

Amazon.com

Death on the Nile
Following Albert Finney's quirky and compelling performance as Agatha Christie's Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, in 1974's Murder on the Orient Express, Peter Ustinov capably took over the role in this 1978 adaptation of Christie's river-bound whodunit. While on a pleasure cruise along the Nile with a taciturn companion (David Niven), Poirot slips into action following the murder of a much-despised heiress (Lois Chiles). There's no shortage of suspects... until, that is, they also start dying off, obfuscating the investigation by suggesting that several killers may be at work. With a disciplined screenplay by Anthony Shaffer, the film is solid enough and is graced immeasurably by a glittery cast including Bette Davis, Maggie Smith, Mia Farrow, Olivia Hussey, Jack Warden, and Angela Lansbury. Directed with customary efficiency by John Guillermin (King Kong, The Towering Inferno). --Tom Keogh

Evil Under the Sun
Mostly for Poirot completists and admirers of then-trendy, all-star ensemble casts from the 1970s and early '80s, Evil Under the Sun finds Peter Ustinov in his second outing as Agatha Christie's famous Belgian detective (three years after 1978's Death on the Nile). As the title promises, the action this time takes place on an Adriatic island (though Christie fans will surely balk at the switch from the novel's setting on the English coast), where a famous stage star (Diana Rigg) is murdered, and the list of likely suspects is unusually high. The parade of legendary performers--Roddy McDowall, James Mason, Sylvia Miles, Maggie Smith, Jane Birkin--plus Ustinov's energetic performance keep things hopping. But Anthony Shaffer's lazy screenplay and director Guy Hamilton's superficial approach nudge everything (action, characters, tone) toward campy, near-parody, with bitchy sniping, tacky costumes, and an obligatory soundtrack of Cole Porter tunes. It's only in the last lap that the film transcends such obviousness and finds its way back to the glories of detective fiction. --Tom Keogh

The Mirror Crack'd
Angela Lansbury does the honors as Agatha Christie's determined sleuth, Miss Marple, in this adaptation of Christie's novel. A washed-up movie star (Elizabeth Taylor) is attempting to make a comeback but is driven to distraction by a mysterious event from her past. Also problematic for Taylor's struggling actress is a series of murders occurring with clockwork regularity in the quiet, 1950s English village where a film is being produced--killings that are all somehow connected to her. Despite the British backdrop, most of the suspects, including Rock Hudson, Kim Novak, and Tony Curtis, are American in this 1980 feature directed by Guy Hamilton (Evil Under the Sun). (At least Miss Marple's nephew, the redoubtable Inspector Craddock, is played by Edward Fox.) The bad news: this is a curiously flat, monotonous film, with a mystery hook that, sad to say, is among Christie's more familiar and predictable. Hamilton doesn't demand much of his largely ornamental cast, and they don't volunteer much to fill the void. Still, fans of Miss Marple and Christie, especially those with a burning hunger to see every film or television program based on the books, will want to check it out. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Timeless classics.......2007-05-13

I was so delighted to find these wonderful Agatha Christie mysteries out on DVD finally I've seen them all a few times but the stories are still intriguing. It's also a delight to see many of the old stars in their glory days and some of today's stars in their beginning roles. I love a movie that can be watched over and over again and not lose its freshness. These movies definitely fit that category.

Agatha Christie.......2007-05-07

Being a big fan of Agatha Christie and Peter Ustinov, i was not disappointed in the movie versions. Well worth the price to see them.

Great movies.......2007-05-07

I have looked at every place that rents movies for these titles. I love Death on teh Nile and Evil Under the Sun. But, I could never find them. Now I can watch them as much as I want. I have to laugh at the how Death on the Nile, changes the geography of Egypt. To think that you could be in Luxor in the morning and Abu Simbel before sunset can only be movie magic. But, I loved it anyway.

As good as excellent and better than brilliant........2006-05-05

This only concerns "Death on the Nile".
This blockbusting film adapted from Agatha Christie's novel is the very archetype and acme of her detective stories, at least those using the services of the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot from Brussels. She builds up a closed set of people who are all concerned by the murder that is committed in a closed environment. They all have some personal interest to commit this crime, hence a motive, and none of them have an alibi, at least a real alibi. They can all have done it and Poirot is going to use his Belgian brain to sort out the facts and bring out the truth, as a reconstruction that is intended to trap or trick the culprit. And it works. That's how the mystery is resolved. One shady corner can be found though: the cobra in Poirot's bathroom will remain unexplained. It must have been overlooked at some moment in the making of the film because Agatha Christie would never do such a mistake.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Paris Dauphine & University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne

Nice set, worth the price.......2004-04-24

I really loved all the Agatha Christie movies from the late 70's and early 80's. Death on the Nile and Evil Under the Sun are top notch. Both DVDs are worth the price alone for this set. Each DVD comes with extras, which is sort of amazing considering the age of these movies. In Death and Evil, they have brief interviews with most cast members about how they view their character, the hallmarks of each character, and whether they actually like the character. These are on-set interviews. There is a mini documentary about how the steamer from Death was found, and how it was recreated in the studio and how they dealt with moonlight scenes and the river look. It was great. There was a whole discussion about how the island was selected for Evil. There are a few interviews with Peter Ustinov as well. No deleted scenes or alternative endings, but great extras otherwise. Each comes with a theatrical trailer as well.

Death on the Nile is one I can watch over and over. It boast a great cast, a great script, and good action. It is very funny also. Evil Under the Sun is almost as good, it is funnier but there's not as much action, only one corpse. Both have lovely scenery and are truly good mysteries. I love Ustinov as the Belgian sleuth.

The Mirror Crack'd is the relative dud in this series. It was made around the same time as the others by the same people, so I see why it's included here, and it was also an all-star cast, but the story is rather dull and plodding. Little action, some decent humor, but it's not something you'd care to watch more than once or twice. It is more interesting to watch just to see a middle aged Elizabeth Taylor act with a slightly pre-AIDS Rock Hudson with a still young-looking Kim Novak. Neither Taylor nor Hudson gives a particularly memorable performance in this one, it does seem that at times Taylor and Hudson appear to be reading lines and showing no emotion or interest in their performances. They are that dull in this. A nice turn for Novak however, she plays the brazen hussie to the hilt and has some really funny lines, particularly with Taylor. But the story itself holds little interest and becomes tedious many times during the movie. Many have criticized Landsbury as Miss Marple. I thought she was fine, but doesn't have the zing of Ustinov.

Product Description

Genres: Comedy, Crime, Mystery Plot Synopsis: The old and wealthy Mr. Enderby dies of a heart attack but the ever suspicious Miss Marple has her doubts. Who or what gave him a heart attack? Enderby's poor relatives gather at the The Gallop, a combined boarding-house and riding school. Miss Marple also gets there to find out if any of them had any particular reasons to see him dead.

Customer Reviews:

The Original Miss Marple.......2007-04-22

Oscar winner Dame Margaret Rutherford was the first to play the famous Agatha Christie amateur sleuth. This time around, Miss Marple is doing her usual charity drive and runs across a dead wealthy recluse. The death is cited as a heart attack due to his fear of cats, but Marple has a piece of hardened mud of a riding boot marking. She deliberately listens through the window of the reading of the will and none of the family seem to upset over the death but are keenly interested in what they might gain. The estranged sister declares he was murdered and Miss Marple finds her later stabbed through the back of a chair with a long hat pin. The nephew owns "The Gallop" a pseudo hotel riding stable and Ms. Marple declares to the always exasberated Inspector Craddock, she is going on holiday--much to his relief (or so he falsely assumes). It it at the Gallop the movie unfolds and clues mount complete with false leads until the killer is revealed. But only after Marple fakes a heart attack in order to corner the murderer of the brother and sister.

The Miss Marple MGM series made in the UK only totalled 4 films although a fifth installment was announced at the end of the 4th movie--it never materialized (possibly due to Ms. Rutherford's failing health).

There have been many Miss Marple incarnations, but Rutherford was the first and the best. She plays the role as Christie created her with great panache and wit. The spinster sleuth is as clever a detective as any of Mrs. Christie's inventions and other writers of the genre.

Rutherford is a delight, as usual and real-life husband Stringer Davis plays her friend and sidekick. Charles Tingwell is also great as the sometimes harassed Inspector Craddock who has to take the snooping Miss Marple with more than a just grain of salt.

The complete Miss Marple series has been compiled into a DVD set and is worth the investment because once you watch just one, you will want to see the other movies in this worthwhile but short-lived series.

Extremely well done.

DVD:

DVD

Murder at Glen Athol (REGION 1) (NTSC)

DVD: The Eye of the Serpent

Crown Of The Year