Rating: 
Summary: Missing Scenes.
Review: Although these are excellent, it's too bad that scenes from the orginal BBC versions are missing. Especially disheartening is the absence of the wonderful kitchen scene from The 4:50 from Paddington. I guess PBS and A&E chopped of bits to fit American broadcast times instead of the open-ended British timings.
Rating: 
Summary: Miss Marple rocks
Review: And Joan Hickson rocks as her! While I can see what some people say about the quality of the film, I never noticed it. I just enjoy Miss Marple, the lovely English settings, and the amazing recreation of Agatha Christie's books. You never expect to find a film so faithful to a beloved character, or an actress who fits the part so seamlessly. It's like being there. A great set.
Rating: 
Summary: Falsely advertised, but a good set of flicks
Review: Because I have a hearing deficit, I always look for movies with subtitles/captions. In its technical info here at Amazon, this set is advertised to have English subtitles; it does not. The stories are still interesting to the rest of the family, but they have to stop and explain to me every few minutes if I am to know what is happening.
Rating:
Summary: Great Aunt Jane
Review: Because stars can get packaging and content mixed up, I always use stars for content. The product can be described in the review. In this case many people are disappointed with the quality of the recordings. I am concerned with the availability and for one am glad to get a copy while they are still being published."Sleeping Murder"
"Very dangerous to believe people, I haven't for years" This film is an excellent adaptation of Agatha Christie's book. The actors were well chosen. Géraldine Alexander and John Moulder-Brown is a convincing newly wed couple. The couple gets to solve the lion's share of the mystery with guidance from Miss Marple of who warned them not to pursue the mystery. The location is beautiful and requires a vision of the sea. As with most Marple mysteries everyone and no one did it. In fact we are not sure that there was an "it" to did?
So get out your teacakes and sit back watching that new fangled invention that the Americans like (the TV) and be swept away to the Sleeping Murder. "A Caribbean Mystery"
Introducing Jason Rafiel A relative of Aunt Jane's pays her way for a rest in the West Indies. There she is still sort of out of place with the exception of talkative Major Palgrave who turns up dead. Aunt Jane is teaming up with and usually out guessing another guest (the exocentric millionaire) Mr. Rafael. In the process a few more murders show up and everyone looks suspicious. This story introduces you to Jason Rafiel who will turn up again in "Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, V. 7: Nemesis (1986) ASIN: 6303404855.
I t was an intriguing touch to have the dead person's spirit supposed to come back after nine days to get revenge.
You will want to view this movie several times to see how the plot could have gone. Later this movie will be like a friend and just need watching again. "The Mirror Cracked from Side to Side"
Mirror Cracked from Side to Side Aunt Jane finds herself at a local an annual summer garden party hosted by the new owners of Gossington Hall. The new owner is an aging movie star who is at odds with the studio producing the latest movie. A visitor mysteriously dies. People start dropping like flies and the Movie Star (Marina) knows she is next. The title of the movie is taken from "The Lady of Shallot" Joan Hickson is Miss Marple. Agatha Christie always considered her as the ideal Miss Marple; she shows this through her reserve savvy. Jane takes an interactive interest in the mystery and yet each character as part of the discovery, stands on their own. The ending of the story is as is in life, it is appropriate not black and white judgmental. "4.50 From Paddington"
4.50 From Paddington A woman is being strangled and there is a witness. The police are can not find any evidence. So it is up to Miss Marple with help from Lucy Eyelesbarrow an independent maid. Notice how Aunt Jane is always several steps ahead of the others in planning. Watch the expressions when Aunt Jane grates on David Horovitch as Detective Inspector Slack. "...When one of us is clever enough to find the body." The story does not totally follow the book yet it has the unmistakable Aunt Jane feel. John Hallam has fun playing randy Cedric Crackenthorpe watch him again playing "Lord Rhysart" in "A Morbid Taste for Bones" (1997) 156938195X
Rating:
Summary: Tea, crumpets and murder!
Review: Excellent value for money are these faithful adaptations of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple novels. Faithful at least to the spirit and atmosphere of the books. 4.50 from Paddington was also published as What Mrs McGillicuddy Saw, and that was my favorite adaptation, although The Mirror Crack'd was very well done, too. Joan Hickson is very much Miss Marple, all faded and sloping bosomed,and wrinkly pink and white, not bustling and robust like the old Hollywood version which made me cringe.Very enjoyable civilised viewing for all anglophiles. One issue, A Caribbean Mystery is set in Barbados, where I live, and yes it still does look exactly as it does in the film, although set 4 decades ago.All the black actors except one are British(the priest at a funeral is Wendell Smith, a local actor with a terribly fake accent!)I've never heard or seen the ritual performed at the gravesite in Barbados, and Christie certainly never mentions it in her book. Otherwise these movies are very beautifully done, and very authentic in their portaryal of life (and death) in small enclosed societies, both British and Barbadian.Add these as companions to your Christie library.
Rating:
Summary: Reassurance for those in doubt
Review: For any potential buyers who have been put off by references to picture quaility, I would like to say that I found the DVD picture quality much better than the video versions and vastly superior to that seen when the series is shown on North American television (I can't answer for present British television but I remember the normal picture quality there as being clearer than any I have come across here). This was viewing using a brand X DVD player, s-video connection and a Triton screen so the absolute quality may vary from that seen by other reveiwers but the comparison is still valid.
As for any cuts remaining, it may have been nice to have the one mentioned in a previous review reinstated, but one of the good things about A&E videos and DVDs is that you get a much more complete version than you would in subsequent reshowings on television when the number of cuts tends to increase to fit in more advertising (so much so that in one British programme- not a Miss Marple one- of which I saw the first episode in England and then watched the complete 2-episode programme in North America, the name of one actress appeared in the opening credits but her performance had been completely cut from the programme.)
It would be sad if anyone was put off seeing the excellent content of this set because of reservations of DVD production and more sad still if A&E were put off bringing out the second series because of it.
Rating:
Summary: Agatha Christie's Miss Marple - Collection 1
Review: Great 4-part mystery series - well-done casting - and technically, our DVD's were splendid and faithful reproductions of a beloved series.
Rating:
Summary: Very entertaining collection deserves better transfer
Review: I am a big Miss Marple fan, and it's nice to have these movies on DVD, but the picture quality is horrible. I can't believe A&E would put out such an inferior product, but then the episodes that are broadcast on their network are pretty lousy to begin with. Although some of the episodes look better than others, they ALL look like they are several generations removed from the original negative--which should NEVER happen with DVD. The resulting transfers look washed out, damaged and dirty, very dark and dingy (almost no contrast), and extremely grainy. The grain and contrast are so bad in one scene from "At Bertram's Hotel" that the characters' facial features just disappear into the grain--you can't make out eyes or noses! The fact that some reviewers on this site think this DVD looks all right helps explain how companies get by with such stunts. One would think that anyone with a DVD player would've played other movies before this one and could see the enormous quality difference between the Miss Marple set and practially anything else out there. This has by far the worst picture quality of any DVD I have ever seen. Not surprisingly, the Miss Marple set #2 has the same horrendous quality: dark, dirty, and enough grain to play connect the dots! A&E should be thoroughly ashamed! Please contact them at their website and let them know that you resent paying for this kind of crap. They apparently think nobody gives a flip--they obviously don't.
Rating:
Summary: Glad I took a chance....
Review: I am entering a review solely to reassure potential buyers that the DVD quality of this set is not "unviewable", and the sound quality is not "inaudible" as one or two other reviewers seemed to think. Could they have cleaned it up a little better? Sure. The picture is not crystal sharp, like the new DVDs that are issued today. However, there was not one single moment when I was distracted by either the picture or the sound. I am so glad that I purchased this, because my local PBS no longer broadcasts this series, and I have missed it. Now I can watch it whenever the desire for a taut, well acted mystery hits me.
Rating:
Summary: Agatha Christie stories come to life !
Review: I am entering a review solely to reassure potential buyers that the DVD quality of this set is not "unviewable", and the sound quality is not "inaudible" as one or two other reviewers seemed to think. Could they have cleaned it up a little better? Sure. The picture is not crystal sharp, like the new DVDs that are issued today. However, there was not one single moment when I was distracted by either the picture or the sound. I am so glad that I purchased this, because my local PBS no longer broadcasts this series, and I have missed it. Now I can watch it whenever the desire for a taut, well acted mystery hits me.
| 
