Miss Marple: At Bertram's Hotel (1987)

Wonderful Movie

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Blistering performances.

It's such a faithful and warm production. When winter breaks and the nights draw in, I can think of nothing nicer then putting the fire on, pouring a brandy and curling up to watch Bertram's.I will say that some elements of the story are a little far fetched, and require a stretch in the imagination, some of the robberies etc, but the production is so velvety I didn't even give them a second thought.Caroline Blakiston needs a huge level of applause for bringing the character of Bess Sedgwick to life. When you read the book she is the standout character, the interest and focus, Caroline makes her seem wealthy, edgy and wild. To see what I mean please check Polly Walker's performance in the poor remake, a great actress but doesn't bring her to life. 'Bigamy, trigamy what's the difference, scotch?'Bertam's itself looks so believable, when I read the book this is exactly how I picture it, sleepy, subtly lavish and full of rich and retired gentle folk, eccentric in their ways and staid in their appearance, it's the reason Bess works so well, she is meant to stand out. The music as always is spot on, melodic and non obtrusive. The costumes too look gorgeous, especially the one Bess wears at the end. I've mentioned before my opinions on Joan's interpretation of Miss Marple (so I won't bore again,) but once again she's just magical, scenes with Blakiston and femme fatale Joan Greenwood are just too good.The ending is wonderfully done, so exciting, dare I sat it manages to out do the book.It was never going to get anything other then a 10 was it. 10/10

Miss Marple, the Terrible, is going to London, to Bertram's Hotel actually and you can be sure there is a lot of eavesdropping, watching, listening, observing and whatever helps find some truth out of an evanescent surface of things. But no surprise, once again it is a daughter-mother story, an abandoned daughter who comes across at the same time her mother and her long discarded father, though not forgotten. Miss Marple also has something against the aristocracy, at least aristocratic women who have nothing to do and feel more and more useless and bored in our modern world with brand new television (the old type I hardly remember). So from boredom to lovers and from lovers to killers and from killers to train-robbers, in any order possible, that's the way to add some piquant sauce to the drab life of an aristocratic lady. The second obsession of Miss Marple is canons, parsons, priests or whatever again, provided they can quote the Bible if possible without mixing the Song of Song and the Apocalypse. That's because young ladies need a watchful eye, I guess. And there the sky falls on the heads and shoulders of a few culprits with just a couple of sentences. Of course in a way we know what is going to happen and who is the criminal. The game of the director is to systematically mislead us with the music or an ellipse of some sort to make us expects what does not come, and frustrate our suspense with a little bit more suspense. Deliciously quaint.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Paris 8 Saint Denis, University Paris 12 Créteil, CEGID

I'm a Christie's fan and I love Joan Hickson,the best Miss Marple who ever was.But this story fails to excite me!I like the atmosphere of the luxury hotel,these posh ladies savoring their muffins ,their scones,their pastries ,the film will make you salivate!The depiction of the Bertram's hotel is perfect but it's not enough.But the story moves too slow,the crime only comes at the end,and the "solution" is downright disappointing.Lady Segdwick's character is over the top ,and her relationship with Elvira is not detailed enough. The story is muddled,involving subplots , even a small train robbery and lacks focus ,Christie's trademark.

This is definatly the weakest of the Joan Hickson Marples. It has nothing to do with the acting (which, as always is great), the book was, in my opinion, one of Christie's worst. Worth watching only for the performances and the setting.