GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Console best movie i've ever seen.

Rexanne It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Lechuguilla The ending was a total surprise. My guess as to the killer's identity was flat wrong. But, of course, once the explanation is given, the events make perfect sense. There are clues all over the place, but they're very subtle. Some are in the dialogue. If spoken words were taken at face value, we would know instantly who the villain is. Instead, we take these words only in the context of the discussion. Thus, we overlook their significance. This film is probably one of the better TV murder mysteries derived from an Agatha Christie novel.Casting and acting are fine. As Miss Marple, Joan Hickson plays it low-key and deferential. Other actors are also a delight. Andrew Cruickshank as Conway Jefferson, Raymond Francis as Sir Henry Clithering, and Frederick Jaeger as Chief Constable Melchett enhance the overall quality of acting.The plot does seem a tad strung out. The story doesn't really justify a two and a half-hour plot. Several sequences, especially in the first half, could have been shortened or deleted. I'm assuming the story takes place in the early 1950s, but the script doesn't really specify.I like the spine-tingling suspense near the end. All we see of the killer is a shadowy figure and a pair of black-gloved hands. Marvelous! And Miss Marple sums up the entire story: "It's a mystery. But then we all are, aren't we? Even to ourselves, especially to ourselves".

Iain-215 This was the first of the BBC Miss Marples to feature Joan Hickson. I thoroughly enjoyed it when it was first shown and still do BUT it does seem a little slow now. It was originally shown over three nights and is very steadily paced. Hickson of course is marvellous as Marple and will not offend in any way (unlike the cheekier McEwen) and she has some terrific support. I am particularly fond of Gwen Watford as Dolly Bantry even if she tires of the investigation more quickly than she does in the book. I have to confess to liking the newer ITV cast more in most of the other roles but I do think that Jess Conrad was born to play Raymond Starr! David Horovitch has his first outing as Slack and is still quite fresh here - I did come to wish that the BBC didn't use him quite so much by the end of the series. On the whole, its good stuff and highly recommended.

lucy-19 I haven't seen the McEwan version but can't believe it comes anywhere near this one. This cast definitely do not ham up the story, which is a good one. Christie was parodying the kind of cliché'd tale that starts off with a body in the library of the manor house - she takes us right out of that static, country-house setting (which ignorant critics often accuse her of being stuck in) to the rather louche setting of an expensive seaside hotel. The hotel is full of people who aren't quite ladies or gentlemen (which makes them all the more amusing). And film man Basil Blake is actually living in St. Mary Mead with a blonde, without benefit of clergy (or so he'd have everybody think). This adaptation sticks pretty faithfully to the book and the cast are good, especially Styler, Horovich, Watford and of course Joan Hickson. I only have a few minor nitpicks. I miss the exit line of the tennis-playing gigolo, his upper class background exposed as a sham and his rich widow an item with an old admirer: "Dance, dance, little gentleman!" He was quoting a popular tune "Dance, Dance, Little Lady" but audiences couldn't be expected to know that. The dignity of the missing Girl Guide's parents is not as vivid as in the book. And Ruby's hair and makeup are all wrong: she wouldn't have had long fluffy hair in the 30s, and her rouge makes her look feverish. In the book, Basil turns out to have a heroic civilian WW I record, too. Christie reflected her times, and had a great sense of humour she's not always given credit for. The Body in the Library is the title of a book by her fictional avatar, Ariadne Oliver. Perhaps she thought she might as well write it herself. Someone should give us The Clue of the Crimson Goldfish...

bob the moo The Bantry's wake up in their home one morning to find the body of a young woman they have never seen before, lying in their library. They duly call the police and the girl is identified as a dancer from the Majestic hotel (several towns away) and the time of death is established. However, with more of a link to the girl than he realised and no alibi for the time of the murder, Colonel Bantry finds himself a suspect at worst and a point of gossip at best. Mrs Bantry decides to get away for a bit and, hoping to clear her husband's name, asks her friend Miss Marple to accompany her to the seaside and the Majestic Hotel, to carry out their own investigation.Structuring the delivery of the story a bit differently from some of the other BBC Marple films I had seen, this film jumps right into the mystery and only really gives background in flashback scenes during interviews and the investigation generally. This approach works well early on because it sets out a solid pace and urgency early on. The BBC Marple films generally have a slow pace so, even though it did gradually settle down to what I expected, it gave it a nice boost early on. The story is the usual complex mix of mystery and characters delivered with a good sense of period; it won't win over those used to 45 minute chunks of CSI etc but it does have a certain style and charm of its own. I'm not being snobby when I say that about CSI because I must confess that at times I found it frustratingly slow and occasionally a bit too subtle for my tastes but generally the quality of the material works.The material is also structured well to, as normal, use the police almost as much as it uses Miss Marple. Looking back it seems risky (can you imagine a Columbo where he is sidelined for big sections?) but it works well and compliments the feel of the film. Hickson is, as many have said, the definitive Marple and only looks better and better the more ITV insist on wheeling out McEwan in their versions. She is classy and thoughtful and she very much fills the idea of the elderly spinster that I have in my head (and it seems Christie had in hers). She benefits from having Watford as a companion for much of the film and she is quite fun as a contrast. Horovitch gives his usual good turn; he is not as good as Marple of course but unlike some other "bumbling cop" performances he is given a good cop and he always plays it as such. Support from the rest of the cast is roundly good without anyone dominating the rest of them.Overall then this has the usual "faults" of the BBC Marple series in that it is quite complex (and doesn't really help you out along the way) and it can be frustratingly slow at times. However for fans of the series these may not be faults; either way the film is an engaging mystery that is well written and well delivered by the cast. I could have happily had it 30 minutes shorter and tighter/slicker as a result but as it was it still worked well enough and certainly fans will enjoy it.