Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Cunninghamolga This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

praed_street Very faithful to the book and a joy to watch. Aspects of the plot of "At Bertram's Hotel" admittedly are far-fetched, but the theme and setting are among Christie's best. We also see a highly active and reflective Miss Marple, functioning as a superb amateur detective and not just dithering. Hickson is great as always, and the supporting cast is uniformly good, including a sadly aged but still delicious Joan Greenwood in one of her last performances, Carolina Blakiston as the madcap aristocrat Lady Selina Blakiston, Helena Mitchell as her daughter Elvira and George Baker as a marvelous Chief Inspector Fred Davy (one of Christie's best policemen). A wonderful show, one deserving of a far better transfer than the one avaailable in America currently.

bob the moo Miss Marple accepts a stay at an expensive and classy hotel courtesy of her nephew Raymond and arrives to find that Bertram's is as beautiful and preserved as people say. As she settles in she meets the various other guests and finds them to be quite interesting characters; a forgetful Colonel, an international traveller, a Lady and a doorman who seems to have a connection to one of the guests in the past. All the talk is of a series of robberies happening around the area but the strange disappearance of the Colonel distracts from this. Concerned by the circumstances of his vanishing, Mrs Marple places a call to Chief Inspector Davy to take a look into it.Having recently watched a lot of Columbo, Perry Mason and "mystery" series like that, the return to watching the BBC version of Miss Marple has left me a little culture shocked but still enjoying it. Here we have almost an hour going by before the first bit of the mystery happens but this isn't a real problem because we have the background of robberies and the development of the various characters in the hotel. For some this will seem quite dull but in this film I actually quite enjoyed it. The mystery element is quite well done despite the limitations of the material because, it must be said, that if you boil the story down to the core it really isn't that good and the conclusion didn't really inspire me when it finally came down to it. I've struggled with some miss Marple films to get past the slow pace but here the detail (the sets, the people and the story) helped fill the silent, slow patience with something to engage me. It could have been better of course, with a bit more complexity and an ending that works rather than just happens but I still enjoyed it.The performances help to do this as much as Hyem's writing. Hickson is very much Miss Marple; perhaps not as flamboyant as some would like but to me she fits the humourless, proper, English spinster really well. She is matched here by George Baker, who gives a great performance as the relaxed and slightly unprofessional CI. The support cast are not quite as memorable but generally are pretty good with the likes of Blakiston, Michell, Cossins and McGrath. The film looks good, with plenty of nice period detail, while McMurray directs with a patience and steady camera that suits the material and the performances.Overall a gradual film whose strength is strangely not the murder mystery. A bit slow for some viewers but had sufficient layers to it to be interesting and enjoyable.

Glyn Treharne One of the later Marple mysteries, it was first published in the swinging sixties, but has wisely been reset in the far gentler 1950s. It is one of Christie's lesser works and unfortunately this television production does not improve on it. Caroline Blakiston's central performance as the irrepressible Bess Sedgewick, is a master class in scenery chewing, and the plot borders on the ridiculous - a criminal mastermind uses an exclusive London hotel as a front for an assortment of nefarious activities. The supporting cast includes Joan Greenwood, in a nothing role, but still mesmerising us with her honeyed voice, radio stalwart Preston Lockwood, charmingly dippy as the absent minded Canon, and Irene Sutcliffe, suitably prim and proper as the hotel receptionist. George Baker is also around with his uninteresting interpretation of a dull policeman. This, alas, is one for die-hard Christie fans only.

catman47 The direction, acting and total production is wonderfully done in this adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel. The leading actress is superb...from the first scene which juxtaposes the arrival of Miss Marple and Lady Bess Sedgewick arrive at Bertram's Hotel is a joy of contrasts and adept editing. Throughout the film this actress (playing Lady Bess} is mesmerizing! The whole production does a fine job of recapturing the late 1950's England. A fine addition to the Joan Hickson/Miss Marple series! What a gift to have the Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot series on DVD.