When a Hollywood film production invades a quaint English village and circumstances quickly lead to murder, it’s up to Agatha Christie’s classic lady detective to save the day. At least that’s the concept, but the actual execution of the story is something else entirely. Less cozy mystery than swan song for a stunning cast of classic-film titans, director Guy Hamilton’s mystery is short on Miss Marple but long on honoring Hollywood’s legacy.
Buy The Mirror Crack’d 4K UHDAngela Lansbury has the presumed lead role as Miss Marple, foreshadowing her full-time segue into TV sleuthdom a few years later in the long-running Murder, She Wrote. Here, she’s a dowdy crank with a preternatural ability to string clues together to solutions. This is most clearly telegraphed in a charming opening sequence staged as a classic black-and-white parlor drama mystery before pulling back to reveal its presentation as a movie screening in a packed theater, with Marple correctly guessing the paused film’s outcome while everyone else remains stumped. From there, she simply disappears for most of the film, primarily popping in moments before the end with her bedtime epiphany of the correct killer.
With Marple sidelined, much of the film is driven by Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor as the married director and star of the Hollywood production. I really expected them to be honorary cameo roles, so was impressed with their thorough integration into the principal narrative. It’s a joy to see them interacting with each other, recalling their classic pairing in Giant. I also appreciated seeing Hudson still in top form, a silver fox just five years removed from his tragic decline and death.
The parade of stars doesn’t stop there though, with a very va-va-voom Kim Novak swanning into town as a competitor and co-star of Taylor’s character, conveniently married to the film’s producer, played by a not-in-top form Tony Curtis. Aside from the five classic movie stars on board, the film also boasts a key contribution from a young Geraldine Chapman, more than holding her own with the legends. The best thing about the film is the amazing talent lineup, but the limp script is woefully short on actual mystery, building zero suspense and ignoring its premise for much of the runtime in favor of just letting the legends play.
The 4K disc features a brand new HDR/Dolby Vision master from a 4K scan of the 35mm original camera negative, while the Blu-ray downgrades the same scan to HD quality. The image quality is stunningly precise, but sadly the original production was lit too brightly, resulting in colors that appear washed out even with the benefit of HDR. Still, the vivid dresses and accessories worn by the leading ladies enhance the color spectrum of the typically drab English village, making for better color presentation than one would expect. Sound is typically bland, but delivered without flaws. Although there are no bonus features about the production, the package does include an audio commentary track by a trio of film historians, as well as the theatrical trailer and TV spots.
