Miss Marple - The Body In The Library (DVD)

...books; Margaret Rutherford's portrayal of Miss Marple and Peter Ustinov's portrayal of Poirot to name but two. Fortunately, there have also been some superb ones. I was particularly fond of Joan Hickson as Miss Marple, so when I heard that there was going to be a new Miss Marple, I was dubious. So how is Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple? Read on…

The story
Colonel and Mrs Bantry are rudely awoken one morning by the screams of ...
...Bantry also contacts her friend Miss Jane Marple, who is well known in St Mary Mead for her ability to solve puzzles.

It soon becomes clear who the dead girl was - a dancer is reporting missing from a nearby hotel. What is not so clear is why she was murdered and what happened to her in between leaving the hotel and arriving at the Bantrys' home. Colonel Melchett and Miss Marple work together to solve the mystery, finding out that ... more

Agatha Christie. Just about my favourite author of all time. The danger with such a well known author is that when her books are translated onto the television, there is bound to be one very critical audience looking out for any flaws in the characters or the story. And I'm probably one of the most critical. There have been some truly awful adaptations of Agatha Christie's books; Margaret Rutherford's portrayal of Miss Marple and Peter Ustinov's portrayal of Poirot to name but two. Fortunately, there have also been some superb ones. I was particularly fond of Joan Hickson as Miss Marple, so when I heard that there was going to be a new Miss Marple, I was dubious. So how is Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple? Read on…

The story
Colonel and Mrs Bantry are rudely awoken one morning by the screams of their maid who has found the body of a strange young woman on the hearthrug in their library. As members of the local elite, the Bantrys call in their friend and senior policeman Colonel Melchett. Dolly Bantry also contacts her friend Miss Jane Marple, who is well known in St Mary Mead for her ability to solve puzzles.

It soon becomes clear who the dead girl was - a dancer is reporting missing from a nearby hotel. What is not so clear is why she was murdered and what happened to her in between leaving the hotel and arriving at the Bantrys' home. Colonel Melchett and Miss Marple work together to solve the mystery, finding out that all is not what it seems. And does a missing schoolgirl have anything to do with the case?

The actors/characters
Everyone's eyes were on Geraldine McEwan when she took over the role of Miss Marple. I tried to watch her with an open mind, but deep down, I knew that I would find it hard to compare her favourably to Joan Hickson. Surprisingly, I actually quite liked her. She is not particularly my idea of Miss Marple; she is a little younger and less old-fashioned than I would have liked, but she definitely held her own in the role and was an awful lot better than I expected her to be. It was initially hard to get over the comparison with Joan Hickson, but once I had settled into the film, I did begin to enjoy her performance.

I wasn't quite so impressed with the other actors. As so often happens in this type of adaptation, the director has thrown handfuls of well-known actors and actresses into the mix, which should have had a positive result, but somehow didn't. Joanna Lumley plays Mrs Bantry. Mrs Bantry is a character who appears more than one in the Miss Marple series and I suppose I have a pre-conceived idea of the sort of character that she was - an old lady, slightly glamorous, but very much a country lady. Somehow, Joanna Lumley just didn't fit in with this. She is too flamboyant and also injects a little too much comedy into the role. I suspect this is the fault of the director rather than Joanna Lumley herself, but it did grate with me.

I love Simon Callow as an actor and he plays upper class twits to perfection. However, again, as Colonel Melchett, he takes this silliness a little too far. I do not think that Agatha Christie ever intended her work to be taken completely seriously. Without a doubt, there is a lot of comedy - how else could she explain away an old lady who beats the police to solving crime? But I still think that Lumley and Callow over-act, which doesn't add much to the quality of the episode.

Tara Fitzgerald plays Adeline Jefferson. The last thing I saw her in was Brassed Off and compared to that, I think it is clear that she has really grown as an actress. I enjoyed her performance very much and couldn't get over how much like Susan Sarandon she looks. Her brother-in-law, Mark Gaskell, is played by Jamie Theakston, who unfortunately sucks big time. I've never thought of him as a particularly good actor, but he is usually better than he is in this role.

There are still more famous names. James Fox plays Colonel Bantry and does an adequate. I was quite surprised to see David Walliams, who playsthe last person to have seen the murdered girl. He gave a reasonable performance as yet another upper class twit - unfortunately, he will always be associated with Little Britain for me.

In all, despite the big names, I was disappointed by the quality of the acting. It should have been much better and the fact that only Geraldine McEwan and Tara Fitzgerald stood out for me is not very satisfactory.

Technical bits

Running time: 94 minutes

Classification: PG

Extras: As so often happens with these one episode DVDs, there is not a single extra in sight.

Conclusion
I have very mixed opinions about this adaptation. Despite my criticisms about the acting, I did really enjoy watching and it is something that I will watch again in the future. However, I am quite dubious about the direction. It does annoy me that the comedy side of the book has been far more drawn out than I would like and I suspect that the director encouraged the actors to over-perform.

In this story, the director remained fairly close to the original story. There were a few changes, but as far as I can remember from the book, there is nowhere near as great a difference as there are in future episodes. My main gripe is that there is a hint that Miss Marple has had a love affair in the past; something that is never mentioned in the books. I can understand the temptation to make her seem more human, but when a character has been so popular for so long without a love interest, is there really any need for it?

All in all, I do recommend this. It is a good start to a series that goes downhill as far as I am concerned. Geraldine McEwan's performance is strong, much stronger than I expected, if not entirely accurate, and after all, the original story by Agatha Christie is so good that it would be next to impossible for the director to completely mess it up. Recommended, but be aware that other episodes in the series deviate substantially from the original stories.

I was given a free copy of the DVD, but it is available on play.com for £5.99.
 

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