Murder with Mirrors (1985)
When Miss Jane Marple arrives at palatial Stonygates, one thing is certain. Before there's time to lather a warm scone with marmalade and place a tea cozy, murder most foul is bound to occur.
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Just so...so bad
It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.
There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.
In Agatha Christie's "Murder With Mirrors", the First Lady of the American Screen (Bette Davis) goes head-to-head with the First Lady of the American Stage (Helen Hayes). Unfortunately, 77- year-old Davis had clearly not aged as well as 85-year-old Hayes. Davis suffered a stroke a couple of years earlier and it shows. For those interested in seeing Bette Davis at her best, this is definitely not the movie to see. Nevertheless, this still rates a "7" out of "10" for the opportunity to see the spry Helen Hayes as Agatha Christie's redoubtable Miss Marple. In addition, Miss Hayes is assisted by a great cast of veteran British actors, including John Mills, Leo McKern, Dorothy Tutin, John Woodvine and Anton Rogers. In addition, look for a young Tim Roth, doing his best to steal a few scenes from his elders.
The only reason I saw this was for Bette Davis. She was frail as a bird, yet beautiful in her old age. Love that she's wearing big false eyelashes!!! Otherwise this Agatha Christie movie was so DULL! With so many missed opportunities for some entertaining mystery! It was badly filmed and cheap-looking and virtually suspense-free! The murder scene when the people are in the drawing room was botched by the director. No atmosphere at all!!!! Almost no fun dialog that said much about the characters. The only good actors were the woman playing Mildred and John Mills. Helen Hayes was really shaky as ms. Marple. Her American accent came through much too much -and she was supposed to be a great stage actress!!!! Leo McKern was the only one adding some personality to his character. The young actors were terrible but the American guy was at least not wearing underwear under his jeans...!!!! This is certainly NOT one of the classic Agathas and does not deserve to be mentioned!
It's interesting to set this film beside the Joan Hickson version, which was, like her whole Marple series, excellent. This version is not so, so terrible, though. It benefits from a sumptuous location and excellent actors like McKern, Woodvine and Tutin. I don't feeling the actors are having a laugh at the author's expense - unlike everyone involved in the latest run with Geraldine McEwen as Marple, which I find totally unwatchable.Christie's stories don't suffer from being updated to the 80s. The issues she raises here were just as live in the 80s as the 50s, and now. She gets in some sharp observation of the type of person who pretends to everyone (and themselves) they are only interested in helping young criminals, while using them to boost their ego, confirm their theories, and what have you. These leeches are still around.
Compare this to _They Do It with Mirrors (1991) (TV)_ and you see why even Agatha Christie thought 'Joan Hickson' (qv) the perfect Miss Marple. Not even Sir 'John Mills' (qv), 'Bette Davis' (qv) and 'Helen Hayes' (qv) can make this film truly enjoyable. The producers must have been unable to afford to set the film in its time, and just dropped it 40 or 50 years out-of-time: doomed from the start.