Miss Marple: Volume Three [Blu-ray]

Oh Frabjous Day! The last set of the remastered Miss Marples starring Joan Hickson is available to order. I have all her Marples on the 2000 DVD issues. But I've watched them so many times I decided to buy Volume One of the remastered sets, just to see if it would be worth it. It was! Now I have Volumes One & Two and the colors are bright and beautiful, the viewing sharp, the sound cleaned up, and the mysteries and personalities as wonderful as ever.Volume Three has four episodes and one bonus extra on the last disc. The bonus is Part 3 of Dr. Lucy Worsley's 3-part TV series "A Very British Murder". (Parts 1 and 2 of Worsley's fun look at murder in England appears on the Miss Marple remasterings' Volume One & Two.)Following Volumes One & Two, the Volume 3 episodes are presented in the original 4:3 aspect ratio. Sound is still mono, but it has been cleaned up. English subtitles are available. There's a total 450 minutes of excellent mystery viewing.Episode 1 "A Caribbean Mystery"Miss Marple has had a bout of bronchitis. Her nephew Raymond sends her on a holiday to Barbados for recovery, a restful time at the Golden Palm Hotel. She's brought her knitting, which she finds useful when Major Palgrave begins telling his interminable stories. She doesn't even pay attention when he asks her, "Like to see the picture of a killer, hey?" Unfortunately, somebody else does hear him, and he is murdered that night. Given the cast of characters staying at the hotel, Miss Marple has her work cut out for her fingering the killer.Episode 2 "At Bertram's Hotel" (Parts 1 & 2)People are converging on Bertram's Hotel, tucked away in London. Miss Marple arrives for a visit and is most surprised to see that it hasn't changed at all from how she remembers it decades before. You and I would go with the flow, happy for service no longer offered in your average hotel. Miss Marple, however, is suspicious.As arranged, Jane is joined by her friend, Lady Selena, who points out another guest: "Bess Sedgwick. Of all places!" All places, indeed. What is a vibrant adventurer such as Sedgwick doing in an old-fashioned hotel?More characters show up. Canon Pennygather, a gentle man who's memory seems to leave him stranded as if it were a cat. Ladislaus Malinowski, a race-car driver leaving mysterious messages. Elvira Blake, young, beautiful and impatient. Michael Gorman, the doorman with a history.There are several threads in this great episode, and the murder doesn't happen until well into it. Clues are given and the ending is magnificent, not the least due to Caroline Blakiston's outstanding acting as Bess Sedgwick.Episode 3 "Nemesis" (Parts 1 & 2)Self-made millionaire Jason Rafiel knows he is dying. He sits in his shaded conservatory, in his fine mansion, on his private island. His secretary has completed a last task for him. He tells her, in almost his last breath: "It's up to her now. Thousands of years ago, she had a measuring yard, a sword and a whip, yes, called a scourge. She rode about in a chariot pulled by gryphons. Nemesis! Last time I saw her, she was wearing a pink wooly shawl."From beyond the grave, Rafiel summons Miss Marple as "the inescapable agent of someone's or something's downfall." But he doesn't tell her why or even who. She takes up the challenge. He wouldn't have willed her £20,000 if it wasn't important.Episode 4 "The Sleeping Murder" (Parts 1 & 2)After 3 years in New Zealand, Giles Reed has returned to England with a wife, the 20 year-old Gwenda. They've spent the day apartment hunting in Devon, and are about to call it a day. Driving down a hedge-lined road, Gwenda cries out, asking Giles to stop. Through the overgrown roadside plants, they see Hillside, a large house overlooking the road. That's the house for her. Giles laughs, "Darling, you can't buy a house when you're just married. People retire to Dillmouth." But it's what she unaccountably wants.Raymond West is Gile's cousin, and invites them to visit in London. As Miss Marple is Raymond's aunt, she gets to meet the Reeds, too. They all troop to see the play, "The Duchess of Malfi", and in the middle of the show, Gwenda starts screaming in terror. Fortunately for her, the piercingly perceptive Miss Marple is there, to solve a murder that has been sleeping for 18 years.Hear one of Miss Marple's most famous lines in this episode: "It's very dangerous to believe people. I haven't for years."Bonus Feature"A Very British Murder - Part Three: The Golden Age" (50 minutes) Presented by Lucy Worsley, I've found this 3-part series to be very entertaining. She introduces Part Three with: "Edwardian press barons were demanding a murder a day for the pleasure of their newspaper readers." Readers' mystery appetites were satisfied in two ways. The first was the sensationalized coverage of real life murders. Worsley takes us through two of these, Dr. Crippen (1910) and the mild-mannered Liverpool insurance agent, William Herbert Wallace.The 2nd way readers were appeased was the dawn of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. The first writer covered is Dame Agatha Christie: "As a foreigner, Poirot stood outside the rigid British class structure, which most of the Golden Age detectives belonged to." The next writer is Dorothy L. Sayers. Both Christie and Sayers were founding members of The Detection Club, still going today 85 years later.Simon Brent, current Master of Ceremonies for the club, takes Worsley through the beginning of the induction ceremony for new detective fiction writers. I got a kick out of the playful wording used and questions asked, including, "Will you honor the Queen's English?" Brent also says, of the Golden Age, "I think there was something in the Zeitgeist. I think it's no coincidence that was also the period when the crossword puzzle developed."The last writer covered is Graham Greene, who ushered in a new era. He wrote in the manner of the Americans Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. Darker, grittier, and very much not the country house murders.The only bad thing about Volume Three is my sadness that these are the last of Joan Hickson's Miss Marples.Don't miss the first two volumes:Miss Marple: Volume OneandMiss Marple: Volume Two (Blu-ray)Edited again to Add:A combined set is now available, with all three volumes of Miss Marple remasteredMiss Marple Complete CollectionHappy Reader

I think that Joan Hickson as Marple, and the general worthiness of this masterpiece of a series have been described often enough for it to not need repeating here. Instead, I'll review the main feature of this product - The remastering.This was everything it was advertised to be - Marple in full visual glory, more beautiful, crisper, and clearer than the first time I watched it, way back in the 80's. Heck, some scenes are so vivid, so clear and beautiful, that they could only have been made more real by being in 3D.This volume, the third and final one, was of particular interest to me because Nemesis is my favorite story of the entire series, and this was... well, it was like watching it again for the very first time. It was an incredible experience.Suddenly, Marple is living in a thatched cottage (I never noticed the roof! Hardly surprising in the murk of the original.), and there's a straw-colored ribbon on the edge of her hat (It was invisible before), and her eyes are so piercingly blue (who could tell before, when the whole show looked like "50,000 shades of beige"?). Even what was obvious before, like the garish colours on the killer's sweater, is made doubly so by the remastering.This is the sort of product that just makes you happy to be living in what is essentially "The Future", when marvels like this are possible.It was a pricier purchase than I usually allow myself, but it was entirely worth it.

I've just finished watching this Volume 3 now and I must say that it is just as powerful and entertaining as the first two Volumes. I'm glad I bought the 3 Volumes at the same time as I was sure it would be exceptionally good, which I'm not so sure about the remakes with the other two actresses playing Miss Marple as I've seen a few parts of episodes on TV and found them to be very badly cut and filmed. Anyway, the cinematography is gorgeous with splendid images of british countrysides and push mansions not to mention the scripts and powerful actors which keep you glued to the screen for two hours, which is the most important thing to do with movies hey! I recommend strongly these 3 Volumes and the 3-part movie with the splendidly gorgeous british female presenter is also highly interesting as well !...

Hickson is super as Marple; all other later Marples fail to make an impression due to the ridiculous adaptations. One issue: were there edits made to At Bertram’s Hotel? I could have sworn there were scenes in a jeweler where Elvira swipes a brooch while her chum causes a car accident. Thanks.

The original film presentations have been wonderfully restored. Joan Hickson is the quintessential Miss Marple. I enjoy seeing the romantisied English villages and manor houses. And the vintage English automobiles (MGs and Rolls Royces) are a delight. Quite well done and a good diversion during a time when we are to remain in-doors while the Angel of Death hovers about. The only distraction is the trailers for other BBC videos at the beginning. There is a wonderful documentary in season one on how the English developed a taste for murder stories. When I can afford it, the Poirot collection is next.

As always, I enjoyed the fun of watching Agatha Christie's characters come to life, telling a story that though you already knew the ending, it was a delight to watch. Sort of like visiting with an old friend. The actors made their characters believable, and helped move the story line along, instead of hindering it. I even developed a strong dislike for Inspector (it isn't Lestrade...that's from the Sherlock stories) , well whatever his name is he remained a pain throughout. He kept his character en pointe. I thought the addition of his avocation with Magic a perfect complement to his sometime incomprehensible character. But the star of the show is Joan Hickson. She is Jane Marples. I wonder if she drinks that much tea at home???