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(More customer reviews)Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, elderly spinster from the village of St. Mary Mead, who unmasks even the cleverest killer with her seemingly innocuous "village parallels," and Hercule Poirot, the little Belgian with the many "little grey cells," whom a speck of dust pains more than even a bullet, are among crime fiction's all-time stand-out characters. After multiple other adaptations, some of which, although featuring thespian royalty like Sir Peter Ustinov and Dame Margaret Rutherford, had about as much to do with Christie's originals as Big Ben with the English countryside, they found their perfect personifications in Joan Hickson and David Suchet, the latter moving center-stage from being Inspector Japp to Ustinov's Poirot. And while not entirely faithful to Christie's originals - e.g. Miss Marple's foil Inspector Slack (David Horovitch) and Poirot's associates Captain Hastings (Hugh Fraser), Miss Lemon (Pauline Moran) and Chief Inspector Japp (Philip Jackson) are inserted in some of the storylines not originally featuring them - all these adaptations have exceptional production values, maintaining the atmosphere of Christie's books with loving detail.
The combination of productions featuring Hickson and Suchet in one set isn't illogical; although I wonder whether a straight "Miss Marple Megaset" wouldn't have made more sense, incorporating the features "The Body in the Library" (1942, BBC adaptation 1984, the first one starring Hickson), "A Murder Is Announced" (1950, BBC adaptation 1985) and "A Pocket Full of Rye" (1953, BBC also 1985), now all contained in a separate 3-disc set. That would've left space for any combination of the much ampler Poirot material in a separate package - but I suspect that'll come anyway, when the last of the shorter episode sets (11 and 12) and the four new movies ("Death on the Nile," "Five Little Pigs," "The Hollow" and "Sad Cypress") are released on region 1 DVDs. As it is, this is still an excellent collection.
Miss Marple:
"Murder at the Vicarage" (1930, BBC adaptation 1986; Christie's first Marple story): Disagreeable Colonel Protheroe is murdered, and both his wife and her lover instantly confess - but actually, half the population of St. Mary Mead would've had a motive.
"The Moving Finger" (1942, BBC adaptation 1985): Lymston village is haunted by poison pen letters; and when people begin to die, again there is no shortage of suspects. But Miss Marple, on a visit to a friend, sees through the killer's cruel game.
"They Do It with Mirrors" (1952, BBC adaptation 1991; a/k/a "Murder with Mirrors"): Inspector Slack's secret hobby provides a vital clue to the ungodly doings at the estate of Miss Marple's old friend Carrie-Louise Serrocold, which Carrie-Louise's third husband has transformed into a reformatory for young criminals.
"4:50 From Paddington" (1957, BBC adaptation 1987; a/k/a "What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!"): Miss Marple and professional housekeeper Lucy Eyelesbarrow investigate the murder of a woman, whom Miss Marple's friend Mrs. McGillicuddy has seen being strangled from a passing train, and whose body must have disappeared somewhere on the grounds of the Crackenthorpe family estate Rutherford Hall.
"The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side" (1962, BBC adaptation 1992; title taken from Tennyson's "Lady of Shalott"): Gossington Hall, erstwhile home to Miss Marple's friend Dolly Bantry, has been sold to ageing Hollywood star Marina Gregg. At a benefit, a local woman is murdered - and much points to Miss Gregg as the intended victim.
"At Bertram's Hotel" (1965; BBC adaptation 1987): Miss Marple deconstructs the all-too-respectable facade of a seemingly venerable London hotel, and the less respectable facade of a notorious society lady.
"A Caribbean Mystery" (1965, BBC adaptation 1989): In a for her unusual West Indian setting, Miss Marple solves the murder of a retired police officer, killed to prevent him from foiling his murderer's even more sinister plans.
"Nemesis" (1971, BBC adaptation 1987; sequel to the above): From his grave, rich Mr. Rafiel - who nicknamed Miss Marple "Nemesis" when meeting her in the Caribbean - sends her on a bus tour of historic homes, to either clear his estranged son of a long-ago murder, or prove him guilty.
"Sleeping Murder" (1976, BBC adaptation 1987; Christie's last Miss Marple mystery): With the old lady's help, newly-weds Giles and Gwenda Reed unravel the mystery behind Gwenda's nightmares about their new home, and a murder occurring there over 20 years earlier.
Poirot:
"The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" (1926, TV adaptation 2000): One of Christie's most remarkable mysteries, not least because of its turntable conclusion. Industrialist Roger Ackroyd, squire of King's Abbot, an archetypal English village much like Miss Marple's St. Mary Mead, is found murdered, and Poirot steps out of his retirement to investigate his death - and its connection to that of Ackroyd's widowed friend Mrs. Ferrars.
"Lord Edgware Dies" (1933, TV adaptation 2000, a/k/a "Thirteen at Dinner"): Poirot is asked to help actress Jane Wilkinson, Lady Edgware by marriage, obtain her husband's consent to a divorce; but then Lord Edgware is murdered. Was it the Lady's doing? Poirot is somewhat dazzled, and unfortunately his little gray cells don't work quickly enough to prevent a second murder (of an American actress), and even a third one, of a young playwright ...
"Murder in Mesopotamia" (1936, TV adaptation 2001): One of several stories based on Christie's impressions while accompanying second husband archeologist Sir Max Mallowan to the Middle East; a classic "closed room" riddle: During Poirot's and Hastings's visit to an excavation site near Baghdad, the expedition leader's wife is found murdered - in her room, behind a closed door and closed window, and although nobody has entered the courtyard and staircase leading to her room.
"Evil Under the Sun" (1941, TV adaptation 2001): Likewise features a now classic pattern, in assembling Poirot and all suspects in a hotel on a small island off the English coast with no possibility to leave; thus similar in setup to "And Then There Were None" (1939), where one person after another is killed in the style of the "Ten Little Indians" nursery rhyme, and also to "A Caribbean Mystery."
Also recommended:
The Mysterious Affair at Styles: Hercule Poirot's First Case
Agatha Christie: Five Complete Hercule Poirot Novels - Murder on the Orient Express / Thirteen at Dinner / The ABC Murders / Cards on the Table / Death on the Nile
Murder at the Vicarage: A Miss Marple Mystery (Agatha Christie Collection)
Agatha Christie: Five Complete Miss Marple Novels (Avenel Suspense Classics)
Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Classic Collection
Agatha Christie's Poirot - The Classic Collection, Vol. 2
Miss Marple - 3 Feature Length Mysteries (The Body in the Library / A Murder Is Announced / A Pocketful of Rye)
Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express
Death on the Nile
The Mirror Crack'd
Click Here to see more reviews about: The Agatha Christie Megaset Collection (Miss Marple / Poirot) (2001)
AGATHA CHRISTIE MEGASET COLLECTIO - DVD Movie
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