Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Say It Isn't So!

I love Miss Marple, she was my role model of what an LOL (Little Old Lady) should be and what I wanted to be when I was old.   I've  read all of Agatha Christie's books and stories about her.  Saw Margaret Rutherford play her in Murder at the Gallop and Murder, She Said and enjoyed them thoroughly though they were not very faithful to the books, Margaret made a wonderful Miss Marple.  I've read that though Agatha Christie enjoyed Margaret as an actress she didn't like how her stories were treated when turned into films,  too much comedy and not enough sticking to the stories.
Jane Hickson, in my opinion, was the best Miss Marple and I saw many of her movies and loved how she brought the lovely, old lady with a wicked view of the world to life.  She is just what I pictured when I read the books.
I never saw Angela Lansbury's  Miss Marple, but I like her other work and would probably have enjoyed her as Miss Marple.
All 3 of these ladies were British and of an age to play the mystery solving old lady, but now Disney has decided that Miss Marple must be revamped for a younger generation.  No longer will we have the sweet, old lady knitting away while solving crime, but instead Jennifer Garner as a 30-40 year old Miss Marple.  I'm horrified, they might just as well have Miss Piggy play her.  And even stranger they've hired Mark Frost who wrote for the strange tv series Twin Peaks to write the script.  How bizarre.



Yes I know they're doing this because of the success of the new Sherlock Holmes movies with Robert Downey Jr., but it's not the same.  Yes there is humor in these new movies instead of the seriousness that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote, but somehow it works.    It had a great cast, incredible sets and a very Holmes like story.   I cannot picture Jennifer Garner as my beloved Miss Marple it's just too sad.  I hope the movie tanks!

1 comment:

  1. I hadn't heard that Disney were doing this to Miss Marple - like you I'm horrified. The whole point about Miss Marple is that she IS an elderly lady with a lifetime of experience behind her. I agree that Joan Hickson was the perfect Miss Marple. I liked Margaret Rutherford in the part but the films were certainly not very true to the books.It always amazes me that people seriously believe that they can improve on Agatha Christie's original work. Have they ever wondered why she sold and still sells millions of copies of her books?

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