The Mirror Crack’d (1980) - film review

The peace of the quaint English village of St Mary’s Mead is disturbed by the arrival of a Hollywood film crew who are about to start work on a production of Mary Queen of Scots.  The star of the film is Marina Rudd, a faded movie star who hopes, with the help of her director husband Jason, to make a big comeback after the nervous breakdown she suffered several years ago.  During a reception at the Rudds’ manor house, Marina greets a swarm of well-wishers, one of whom, Heather Badcock, professes to being a lifelong fan of hers.  Shortly after meeting her idol, Heather dies suddenly, apparently killed by a poisoned cocktail given to her by Jason Rudd.   As he begins his investigation, Inspector Craddock from Scotland Yard enlists the help of his aunt, Miss Maple, who has a reputation as an amateur sleuth.  It soon looks as though Heather’s death may have been an unfortunate accident.  The intended victim appears to have been Marina Rudd...

Having scored notable successes with their first two big budget Agatha Christie adaptations - Murder on the Orient Express (1974)  and Death on the Nile (1978) - producers John Brabourne and Richard B. Goodwin embarked on a third, this time dispensing with the services of Hercule Poirot and instead allowing Miss Marple to apply her inimitable crime-solving abilities.   In the 1960s, Margaret Rutherford had played the aged amateur sleuth, to the great dissatisfaction of Christie.  This time, Angela Lansbury takes on the role and gives a fair imitation of the Miss Marple we known and love from Christie’s novels, although she is clearly too young and too starry for the part and looks pretty sinister with all that make-up.

In contrast to the preceding Poirot films, The Mirror Crack’d is a formulaic and self-indulgent affair that might have worked better as a TV movie.  Director Guy Hamilton shows little of the inventiveness and style of his previous films, such as the superlative Goldfinger (1964), and appears merely to be going through the motions.  The script is generally awful (albeit with the occasional brilliant riposte) but the star-studded ensemble somehow manages to pep it up and gives great value.  Elizabeth Taylor and Kim Novak’s cat fights provide most of the entertainment value, even if these are pretty tangential to the plot.  Taylor sparks off well with her equally ageless co-star Rock Hudson, and even rekindles some of the magic of their previous on-screen pairing, in George Stevens’  Giant (1956).

Edward Fox makes a far more sympathetic and convincing sleuth than Lansbury and you can’t help wishing that Miss Marple had been gently airbrushed out of this film to allow him to take centre stage.  If the film had been made today, Fox would doubtless have been invited to make a long-running television series featuring his character: Inspector Craddock Investigates, or some such.  Whilst not a patch on the unsurpassed BBC Miss Marple adaptations, The Mirror Crack’d is an enjoyable Christie romp, good enough for a dull Sunday afternoon but clearly not in the same league as the far superior Poirot films.

© Alex Sullivan 2010

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