Agatha Christie Collection featuring Helen Hayes as Miss Marple (1983)

Mediocre all around

Writing, directing, acting --- all 3rd rate. Hayes is a particularly irritating Miss Marple. Lots of rattling on and on about nothing, playing coy, smiling sweetly way too much, and not much native intelligence, except when she steps in with completely off-the-wall total explanations of highly complex crimes without the least prelude to her insights. In this set, Helen Hayes comes off as a 3rd rate actress. Some of the interior locations are very beautiful but merely show, in their elegance, how they can never be incorporated with the lack of sophistication of these tele-plays. This set is a mediocre American television mess. Of true fascination is the appearance by Bette Davis in "Murder with Mirrors" filmed in 1985 -- 4 years before her death. She is magical, though emaciated, sometimes appearing hardly conscious of her role, and seeming a kind of charity case in this production (which I'm sure she was). Nevertheless, she is mesmerizing, in appearance and in her dotty recitation of her lines. Her presence is both sad and amazing. Anyway, the great standard of Miss Marple is Joan Hickson; the productions in which she appears are written and directed and acted with consummate skill, full of subtlety and magnificent mood. She was the choice of Agatha Christie, herself. All other interpreters of Miss Marple, and all other productions, pale when held against the Hickson standard. Those with Helen Hayes are at the bottom of the pile.
July 25, 2008

A Caribbean Mystery: Helen Hayes as Miss Marple

"Like to see a picture of a murderer?" There's never a vacation from crime for Miss Marple who is on a doctor-prescribed stay in the West Indies.

I love this version with Helen Hayes. Helen Hayes seems to bring the Miss Marple character to life - You can be old without acting old. I have seen Joan Hickson in this role and she acts as old as the character she is portraying, which is why this version is my favorite. July 10, 2008

Workmanlike mystery fare good for a modest evening's entertainment

Of the three television movies featured in this set, I've only seen "Murder With Mirrors" (via a DVD rental service), and I felt it was pleasantly watchable. Positives are a genuinely clever mystery and lots of notable actors, including Helen Hayes and Bette Davis. Not-so-positive aspects include generally bland photography and direction and a too-cute musical score that regularly seeks to remind us that- fiery deaths and other unpleasant ends notwithstanding- we shouldn't take the murders all that seriously and should just enjoy the puzzle at hand. I'm guessing that the other two movies in this set don't deviate too far from my description of this one.

Of the two acting greats mentioned above, Helen Hayes does most of the heavy lifting and carries "Murder With Mirrors" almost single-handedly (though I also enjoyed the feisty redhead who chased men and drove too fast). Ms. Davis, alas, is trotted out every fifteen minutes or so and capably delivers a few lines, though one gets the feeling that she was there for little else than to up the pedigree of the production. Thankfully, Ms. Davis' later performance in the theatrical film "The Whales of August" demonstrated that she still had the acting chops to handle long sequences and complicated characterization.

"Murder With Mirrors" features a clean, full-screen TV image and there are no extras. I suspect similar is the case regarding the other two movies in this set. January 3, 2008

Helen Hayes, Olivia de Havilland

All of these mysteries are fun. The only negative is that "Murder is Easy" is not a Miss Marple mystery and doesn't really star Helen Hayes--her role is only a cameo. The real stars of that one are Olivia de Havilland and Bill Bixby. The other two are Miss Marple mysteries and do star Helen Hayes as Miss Marple. I just think that this fact should have been noted in the advertising. July 22, 2007

JUST AS I REMEMBER THEM

Helen Hayes was wonderful as Miss Marple, but I was dissappointed in the episode where she only appeared in the beginning! This was the way mystery stories used to be told. No blood, no gore, just "mystery" to try to match wits with the characters in the story. Helen Hayes was perfectly cast! March 11, 2007

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