SoftInloveRox Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . who murdered lots of pinned-down insects with sunlight and a magnifying glass, so I streamed this flick in order to discover how you could assassinate someone with mirrors. It turns out that this title constitutes False Advertising. THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI features far more mirror mayhem than this Made-for-TV offering. So why was Warner Bros. seeking a Mass Boob Tube audience for such seemingly quaint (if not stale) Agatha Christie parlor games? Exactly of what did Warner Bros. wish to warn America about when they produced MURDER WITH MIRRORS? The answer should be crystal clear to 2017 viewers. Which historical figure is most associated with mirrors? Narcissus, of course. Narcissism, or Mirror Obsession, gets its name from Narcissus. His obsession with himself and his reflection led to widespread Doom. Who just rigged Our Sacred National Election by selling out to the Red Commie KGB as he ran on a Platform of the Big Me? Our widely-diagnosed Pathological Narcissist-in-Chief Don Juan Rump, of course. KGB Fresh Recruit Rump was just beginning his Presidential Campaign in the 1980s--as documented then by Doonesbury cartoonist Gary Trudeau--when Warner Bros. tried to provide us with this more serious warning against the Coming Putin\Rump Crowd with this movie, but Red State Confederate America proved too dense to avoid being MURDERED BY MIRRORS now focusing the harsh Red Commie KGB Sun-like glare on ALL of their frail and elderly loved ones to burn them away, providing tax cuts to the Fat Cat Billionaire Oligarchs, eight of whom live in Russia!

Neil Doyle Apparently Bette Davis fans will watch her in anything, which explains why even though she was deathly ill she agreed to travel to England to do this made-for-TV mess. She looks far more ill than the role suggests, supposedly in her current condition because of a bout with the flu. Indeed, she looks ghastly in over-emphasized make-up and is unable to give anything but poor line readings to her role as the woman who is rumored to be the victim of a poison plot.Even older than Bette is Helen Hayes as Miss Marple, but she at least is spry enough to convince us that she could be the meddlesome type her character is supposed to be. Her scenes with Leo McKern, as a befuddled police inspector, are a joy to watch.The less said about the rest of the cast, the better. Even pros like John Mills fails to make his character believable as the head of the household. The usual red herrings don't work here, as the murderer is revealed far too soon for anyone paying attention to details.Chalk this one up as another misfire in an attempt to do justice to Agatha Christie's work.

essexlynford This film is interesting for a number of reasons - not so much as a sharp pot-boiler that will keep you guessing to an enthralling climax while being stylishly stuffed full of Joan Hickson-esque quintessential old world charm - but more so because of when and how it was made, and who appears in it.The 1980's embraced the TV Movie, and the major studio players from the 30's, 40's and 50's, were still to be found appearing on screen in them, some times looking ridiculously out of place and, quite frankly, far too old and somehow exercising a diminished talent. But often still giving assured and classy performances, showing that to 'The End' (quite literally) they maintained their professional ability and standing. One can only look at Helen Hayes - The First Lady of the American Stage as she was referred to (I suppose this is why she begins quoting Shakespeare when she is seen on stage in this film) - and revel in her warm and intelligent final film appearance, and then recall poor Joan Crawford, an Oscar winning actress who thrilled and chilled in many movies, iconic in fashion and style for most of her adult life, whose final film appearance was the appalling 'Trog', where she looks old, embarrassed, and barely able to act at all. (Mind you, in fairness, she is romping about for most of it with a man in a dodgy gorilla suit grunting and moaning - the gorilla, not her.) The TV Movie could be regarded as a safe house cum retirement home for the once famous. (Channel Five daytime scheduling entertains quite a few, and you will often find an ex-Charlie's Angel or Dynasty cast member crying a lot, usually over the abduction of a child or diagnosis of an incurable disease). The plot lines and characters within a lot of these types of 'based on actual events' or biographical stories are almost echoes of some of the dramas being made on film by the big studios (particularly Warner Brothers and Universal) in the 40's and 50's. If they were shot in black and white, the short and sharp narratives, and economic style of shooting and limited camera work, could almost put them in to the B-movie Film Noir category. They are modern day (or 80's into 90's into today) versions of the pulp fiction and magazine serial type stories of times gone by.As a film fanatic, with a great love of actresses of the 30's and 40's, I cherish a movie like Murder With Mirrors. It seems crazy to have Margo Channing from All About Eve, the nurse from Farewell to Arms (the character name escapes me - I could have said one of the nannies from One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing, but great as that movie is, it is not Miss Hayes's finest celluloid moment),Miss Jones from Rising Damp along side Rumpole of the Baily, the husband from Fresh Fields and a 'teenage' Tim Roth. There's a kind of Sunday night 'bath and hair-wash and finishing off your homework' type of cosiness about this movie as well. It does lack humour, especially compared to Ustinov's Poirot, and it is not at all charming in the lavender water scented fashion that seems to go hand in hand with Hickson or even Margaret Rutherford's Marple (the contemporary setting has a lot to do with that - no one even speaks in a faux country bumpkin accent until the police constable opens his mouth!), but it zips along in a pacey soap opera kind of way, and Leo McKern is laid back and commanding while Dorothy Tutin is extreme and commanding.Bette Davis was in pain for much of the shoot (according to her book 'This 'n That') and she doesn't seem to be enjoying herself much. But the short scenes she shares with Mills and Hayes are so solid and well acted (she is so frail and laden down with make-up, it is a wonder she doesn't actually topple over forwards!) that it is a blessing to see her still working.This film is not so much about the story or the style, it is about cherishing the starry cast who all contribute as best they can and somehow, make you feel engrossed by and sympathetic to their altogether quite flimsy characters.

Iain-215 Having really rather enjoyed Helen Hayes' first outing as Miss Marple in 'A Caribbean Mystery' I was looking forward to this, her second and last. Unfortunately it doesn't work so well. Again, the adaptation follows the original novel quite closely (apart from the silly business with the Anton Rogers character and the cutting of a couple of characters) but the script is rather mediocre and plods along slowly. Updating the action to the eighties doesn't actually hurt the story very much - once we are at Stonygates we could be in any decade from the forties onwards.Despite a wandering accent, I like Hayes' Marple and she's probably the strongest thing in this. Unlike 'Caribbean Mystery' however she has rather a weak supporting cast this time. It's a pity to see such strong actors as John Mills, Dorothy Tutin and Frances de la Tour given so little to do and such 'cardboard cut-out' characters to play. Bette Davis is surely there for her name alone - it's sad to see this performance only ten years or so after her cracking Miss Van Schuyler in 'Death On The Nile'. I quite liked John Laughlin and Liane Langland as the young marrieds but that was about it.This film is not terrible and is worth a look; it's done with affection and is really quite faithful. To be fair the book is not one of Christie's strongest and even the Joan Hickson version is not all that great. After her adventure in the West Indies though, this Helen Hayes Marple remains disappointing.