Description: There may be no such thing as the perfect crime. But perfect crime entertainments are as easy as 1...2...3... in this star-packed set. First, sunshine and murder are just what the doctor orders when a physician-prescribed vacation plunges Miss Marple into A CARIBBEAN MYSTERY. MURDER IS EASY asks: Can a computer catch a killer? And MURDER WITH MIRRORS teams Leo (Rumpole) McKern with Hayes' Marple in a case of manor-house intrigue. Happy sleuthing!
Amazon.com: In a career that started in silent film in 1917 and ended in the mid-1980s with her splendid take on Miss Marple in this collection, Helen Hayes was inspirational to the end. Her performances in these made-for-television mysteries are absolutely spot-on as Agatha Christie's fearless genteel lady sleuth. This collection features three rollicking tales, Murder Is Easy costarring Bill Bixby, a still-radiant Olivia de Havilland, and a young Jonathan Pryce; A Caribbean Mystery, with Barnard Hughes and Swoosie Kurtz; and the grande-dame-duet Murder With Mirrors, with Hayes playing opposite her onetime real-life nemesis, Bette Davis. Mirrors alone is worth the price of the set, as Hayes is in fine form, completely un-vain and sweetly droll. As she heads toward a country manor to visit her "dear friend" Carrie Louise (Davis), she's informed of the vast changes that have undergone the estate; Carrie Louise's husband, a philanthropist, has decided to open the grounds to rehabilitate juvenile delinquents. As Miss Marple is being told some of the youthful offenders' stories, she's utterly unflappable. Told that one particular young man was caught flashing parishioners at St. Paul's, Hayes' Marple mutters, "We all must worship in our own way, I suppose." Davis, in one of her last film performances, plays a woman who may--or may not--be being slowly poisoned to death, but regardless is frail and slightly incoherent. Davis herself looks quite frail herself, and her line delivery seems a bit uncertain--perhaps extremely effective Method acting, or perhaps she was indeed as frail as she looks; either way, film fans won't want to miss this. It's chilling--and unforgettable. --A.T. Hurley
Good but not the best miss Marple This was a good attempt at an American Miss Marple but there are so many British examples that are far better. Not bad but in all things Marple I would leave it to the Brits.
Mediocre all around Writing, directing, acting --- all 3rd rate. Hayes is a particularly irritating Miss Marple. Lots of rattling on and on about nothing, playing coy, smiling sweetly way too much, and not much native intelligence, except when she steps in with completely off-the-wall total explanations of highly complex crimes without the least prelude to her insights. In this set, Helen Hayes comes off as a 3rd rate actress. Some of the interior locations are very beautiful but merely show, in their elegance, how they can never be incorporated with the lack of sophistication of these tele-plays. This set is a mediocre American television mess. Of true fascination is the appearance by Bette Davis in "Murder with Mirrors" filmed in 1985 -- 4 years before her death. She is magical, though emaciated, sometimes appearing hardly conscious of her role, and seeming a kind of charity case in this production (which I'm sure she was). Nevertheless, she is mesmerizing, in appearance and in her dotty recitation of her lines. Her presence is both sad and amazing. Anyway, the great standard of Miss Marple is Joan Hickson; the productions in which she appears are written and directed and acted with consummate skill, full of subtlety and magnificent mood. She was the choice of Agatha Christie, herself. All other interpreters of Miss Marple, and all other productions, pale when held against the Hickson standard. Those with Helen Hayes are at the bottom of the pile.
A Caribbean Mystery: Helen Hayes as Miss Marple "Like to see a picture of a murderer?" There's never a vacation from crime for Miss Marple who is on a doctor-prescribed stay in the West Indies.
I love this version with Helen Hayes. Helen Hayes seems to bring the Miss Marple character to life - You can be old without acting old. I have seen Joan Hickson in this role and she acts as old as the character she is portraying, which is why this version is my favorite.
Workmanlike mystery fare good for a modest evening's entertainment Of the three television movies featured in this set, I've only seen "Murder With Mirrors" (via a DVD rental service), and I felt it was pleasantly watchable. Positives are a genuinely clever mystery and lots of notable actors, including Helen Hayes and Bette Davis. Not-so-positive aspects include generally bland photography and direction and a too-cute musical score that regularly seeks to remind us that- fiery deaths and other unpleasant ends notwithstanding- we shouldn't take the murders all that seriously and should just enjoy the puzzle at hand. I'm guessing that the other two movies in this set don't deviate too far from my description of this one.
Of the two acting greats mentioned above, Helen Hayes does most of the heavy lifting and carries "Murder With Mirrors" almost single-handedly (though I also enjoyed the feisty redhead who chased men and drove too fast). Ms. Davis, alas, is trotted out every fifteen minutes or so and capably delivers a few lines, though one gets the feeling that she was there for little else than to up the pedigree of the production. Thankfully, Ms. Davis' later performance in the theatrical film "The Whales of August" demonstrated that she still had the acting chops to handle long sequences and complicated characterization.
"Murder With Mirrors" features a clean, full-screen TV image and there are no extras. I suspect similar is the case regarding the other two movies in this set.
Helen Hayes, Olivia de Havilland All of these mysteries are fun. The only negative is that "Murder is Easy" is not a Miss Marple mystery and doesn't really star Helen Hayes--her role is only a cameo. The real stars of that one are Olivia de Havilland and Bill Bixby. The other two are Miss Marple mysteries and do star Helen Hayes as Miss Marple. I just think that this fact should have been noted in the advertising.
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