Murder with Mirrors (1985)

the audience applauded

Best movie ever!

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

. . . 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!

I saw this videotape because I am a rabid Bette Davis fan and I am trying to see all her films (I'm actually getting pretty close). However, in hindsight, I really wish I hadn't seen this dreary film. Despite having Miss Davis and Helen Hayes in the lead as Miss Marple, the film had almost no energy and had so many logical flaws it could hardly be considered a mystery at all.Helen Hayes perhaps comes off best in the movie, as she is a competent though less than inspired Miss Marple. Leo McKern as the chief inspector just looks awfully old and immobile (though in one silly scene they make it look like he is running after a suspect). And Bette Davis is pretty depressing to look at, as she was in horrible health at the time the film was made and looked like death warmed over,...but this didn't impair her since her character was supposed to be old and frail. It's too bad, though, that this part was so small and insignificant. John Mills is just okay as Davis' husband--he was a terrific actor and it's a shame his role was so dumb. As for the rest of the cast, they were complete unknowns and deserve to remain that way! Their acting was very amateurish and shrill for the most part.Now despite my complaints about some of the acting, my real problem with the movie was the script. I am not an Agatha Christie reader, though I doubt if the blame for this bilge could be dumped on her but instead on some screen writer. Many of the characters were completely one-dimensional caricatures and seemed so unbelievable (such as the hot-headed American, his histrionic and confusing wife, etc.). Also, again and again, logic seemed to go out the window and characters did the most impossible and stupid things--particularly when two of them died in the most ridiculous ways. First, the doctor (whose role was completely ill-defined and vague) tried to escape by driving through the gate surrounding the mansion. The car SHOULD have been able to plow through it, but instead explodes! Second, the young man who tries to escape by paddling across a small pond. The boat begins to sink (who would keep a leaky boat at the lake--especially one that leaky?) and he drowns even though he appears to be only about 50 feet from shore! And, when this hapless fool is drowning, the young cop tries to save him but first starts to undo his coat and his tie and puts up the most pathetic attempt at rescue I have seen since the Three Stooges films! As for the mystery itself, I really lost interest in who did what or why. By the time the movie was over, I was begging for it to stop. Rotten acting and a terrible script made this an endurance contest!Considering just how BAD this film was, I can imagine that poor Dame Agatha is spinning in her grave like a rotisserie! She deserved better.

This is a made-for-TV movie starring Helen Hayes as Miss Marple and features several prominent stars - Bette Davis, John Mills, Dorothy Tutin and Leo McKern.Miss Marple is asked to visit an old friend, Carrie-Louise Serrocold (Davis) by her stepson who is concerned that his stepmother is being slowly poisoned. Once Miss Marple arrives at the English country estate, she soon discovers that all is not as it seems.The location scenery is lovely, however the story is set in the 1980's, losing the authentic period atmosphere so closely associated with Agatha Christie.Helen Hayes gives a decent performance, although Bette Davis is under-used and looks visibly frail. John Mills is good, as always, and Dorothy Tutin gives a sympathetic turn as Davis's down-trodden daughter. Leo McKern portrays the police inspector with relish, including several entertaining exchanges with Miss Marple.The plot keeps you guessing, complemented by the usual red herrings supplied by Agatha Christie. Overall, an enjoyable film.

Compare this to _They Do It with Mirrors (1991) (TV)_ and you see why even Agatha Christie thought 'Joan Hickson' (qv) the perfect Miss Marple. Not even Sir 'John Mills' (qv), 'Bette Davis' (qv) and 'Helen Hayes' (qv) can make this film truly enjoyable. The producers must have been unable to afford to set the film in its time, and just dropped it 40 or 50 years out-of-time: doomed from the start.