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Monday, July 06, 2009

Miss Marple

We caught the first Miss Marple last night-- "A Pocketful of Rye" guest-starring EBC hero du jour Mr. Darcy Arthur Clenham Matthew MacFayden in a silly mustache as a decently-intelligent inspector (though no match for Marple, of course).
"Pocketful"also featured Elinor Dashwood Hattie Morahan in a minor role, as well as Freddy Honeychurch Rupert Graves as the prodigal son of the deceased patriarch, home from Africa just in time to see the inspectors swarm in to solve his father's murder.

As in many Christie novels, the murder(s) echo a nursery rhyme, but as to be expected in the hands of Dame Agatha there are a number of twists along the way that belie the rhyme's seeming simplicity and reveal the depths of human psychological murkiness, or something like that. You know why AC rocks.... I'm tired! It's been a long 4th of July weekend!

Summing it all up, it was an atmospherically-accurate adaptation of a good book that I'm pretty sure I read :)... Anyway anyone else watching "Six by Agatha?" And did you like this ep or were you too distracted by Arthur Clenham's facial hair?

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:32 PM

    Your forgot to mention the horrid yellow shoes... far more distracting than the moustache!

    This was my 3rd viewing of this episode, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. In addition to the actors you mentioned, it was wonderful to see Helen Baxendale and Liz White in roles that couldn't have been more different from their characters in "An Unsuitable Job for a Woman" and "Life on Mars", respectively.

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  2. I really liked Julia McKenzie's performance as Miss Marple in this episode. I was going to call it an improvement over the episode I already saw her in, but when I checked IMDB, learned that the episode in which I was less impressed with her performance (Murder Is Easy) comes after this episode! So now I don't know what to think of her. I'll definitely need to see all four episodes.

    I love MacFadyen's ability to express so much with very little alteration in his face and body - he's at his best when he's playing subtle, and mystery plotlines (like here, or in Spooks) suit his acting strengths so well. So, no, I wasn't paying attention to his moustache at all. :)

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  3. I, too, was distracted by the yellow shoes on dear-Arthur--Doice-and-Clennam-from-the-dear-departed-days-gone-by... but was so charmed by his character in this episode that I was able to forgive both shoes and moustache. Especially when Marple told him he looked like a young Errol Flynn. Adorable!

    But seriously, I was pleased that he didn't have to play too much of a dunce-comic-foil to Marple.

    Beyond all that, I was really happy with this episode, even though I was very attached to the previous Miss Marple. I loved her frail Victorian-ness, barely veiling wits (and will) of steel. But McKenzie brought a different sensibility to it (as she should) and I liked it just fine.

    Only complaint: this one could have been two episodes, I think. I thought the action was all a little too lickety-split.

    And yes, not enough Matthew.

    DON'T YOU JUDGE ME

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  4. Caught this later thanks to Comcast On Demand. I can't believe I missed it live. However I was not really impressed with the new Miss Marple. Not enough personality as Dame McEwan for me. I will be watching this for the actors in the supporting cast. There are always major actors such as Matthew Macfadyen, Hattie Moran, and Anna Madeley. Real up and comers there. The writing was quite good though and I did get that nice comfort feeling from it.

    That mustache on Arthur Clennam did look silly though.

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