List Price: $59.95You Pay Only: $33.99 You Save: $25.96 (43%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: A&E
EAN: 0733961747096
Format: Box set, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Label: A&E Home Video
Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
Number Of Items: 5
Publisher: A&E Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: February 28, 2006
Running Time: 936 minutes
Sales Rank: 3596
Studio: A&E Home Video
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Editorial Review:
Description:
Return to post-war England for mystery and a cup of tea with Agatha Christie’s most popular creation. The consummate prim and proper crime-fighting spinster, Miss Jane Marple sets down her knitting needles to unwind the most ingenious crimes. As she travels from city to countryside and even the Bahamas, murders, missing bodies and haunted dreams have a habit of falling across Miss Marple’s path--which is precisely when, 'tail up and head down,' the beloved aunt and godmother goes into action. Digitally re-mastered and faithfully adapted from Agatha Christie’s best-selling novels, THE CLASSIC MYSTERIES COLLECTION features Joan Hickson (Christie’s personal choice to play the spinster sleuth) in over fifteen hours of suspense, misdirection, rich period detail, and the cleverest solutions imaginable. DVD Features: Complete Index of all Miss Marple Stories; Agatha Christie Bio; Joan Hickson Biography/Filmography; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection
Amazon.com:
Joan Hickson is the epitome of Agatha Christie's spinster sleuth in this DVD boxed set of nine Miss Marple movies from British television. 'Little grey-haired cobra,' mutters Detective Inspector Slack (David Horovitch), the hard-slogging policeman who finds himself humbled, again and again, by the frail woman's shrewd insight and dogged determination. Whether on a tropical island, in a grand hotel, or on a bus tour of historic sites, Miss Marple never fails to uncover the buried secrets, illicit affairs, tangled finances, and boorish Americans that abound in Agatha Christie's mysteries. Hickson is said to be Christie's own choice for the role (though when Christie told her this, Hickson was taken aback, as she was still fairly young at the time), and it's easy to see why: Hickson is physically unassuming, a perfect village busybody, yet her eyes contain a constant flicker of curiosity and keen intelligence.
This set includes all but three of Hickson's outings as Miss Marple: A Caribbean Mystery, in which an old bore's death on an island resort sets the plot in motion; The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side, which features an aging movie star and sumptuous marble bathrooms; in 4:50 from Paddington, the launch of Sputnik is accompanied by a strangling on a train; The Moving Finger begins with poison pen letters, but poison and bludgeonings soon follow; At Bertram's Hotel is one of the most unusual stories, as murder doesn't happen until more than 3/4 of the movie has unfolded, and the ending features a dynamic rooftop chase; Murder at the Vicarage, a definitive village mystery which finds Miss Marple solving a killing on her home turf; Nemesis, in which a wealthy old friend of Miss Marple's orchestrates, after his own death, the investigation of a murder long gone cold; Sleeping Murder, one of the best, starts out as more of a ghost story than a mystery and culminates in genuine suspense; and They Do It With Mirrors, in which misdirection--the cunning art upon which any murder mystery depends--is part of the plot itself.
There are a few famous names sprinkled among the casts (among them Donald Pleasance, Halloween, Jean Simmons, Spartacus, and Joan Greenwood, The Importance of Being Earnest, who has one of the most wonderful voices in the history of British cinema), but these BBC dramas depend mostly on solid, enjoyable character actors--actors much like Hickson herself, who labored for decades in bit parts before finding her plum role. The compression necessary to turn a book into a movie sometimes makes sussing out the murderer simpler, but fans of the genre will still be delighted by Miss Marple's perceptive investigations. --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - MULTIPLE MARPLE MYSTERY MIXES
I was familiar with all of these stories except Mirror
Crack'd From Side to Side. This is the only story I did not like.
The photography was awful and the script is unsettling. The director
is probably to blame for this . I liked all the rest very much.
My favorites were At Bertram's Hotel. Nice to see Marple's sleuthing
away from her little village and an array of interesting characters
keeps her busy. Also, The Moving Finger. This story involves a brother
and sister who are newcomers to the village. They are drawn into the story
without a clue. A nasty problem called poison pen letters are buzzing
like a mysterious bee hive that is stinging everyone. I won't give away
the rest. Buy it! Very entertaining.
Rating:  - THEY NEED TO ADD CAPTIONS
I THOUGHT THE SERIES WAS AWESOME...EXCEPT...IT WOULD HAVE BEEN PERFECT WITH CAPTIONS....IT IS SOMETIMES HARD TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY ARE SAYING...AND YOU CAN SOMETIMES MISS SOME CLUES....I THINK I WOULD RE PURCHASE THIS DVD IF THEY ADDED THEM.
Rating: - Marvellous Miss Marple.
There have been many Miss Marples, throughout the time since Agatha Christie first fictionalised the character. Stage, films and television have all been vehicles for the portrayal of the elderly sleuth. Each of the actresses, portraying the venerable character, will have their champions of course. In my time, there have been three main portrayals of Christie's competent and cognitive character. Margaret Rutherford played a slightly 'dotty' version excellently. Lately, we have had Geraldine McEwan playing the part superbly well. However, my favourite has always been Joan Hickson's portrayal. Hickson manages, excellently, to maintain the elderly and slightly uncertain character that I feel Christie intended. However, her occasional dithering doesn't deter her from displaying her devilishly sharp wits, when it comes to the 'crunch'! A true delight to view. The Series is excellent value.
Rating: - Not only for mystery buffs
This collection is not only for mystery buffs (although that is an added bonus), but for all who love to watch first-rate acting (solo and ensemble), perfect period touches, and experience a top drawer "British Invasion". A welcome addition to any DVD collection. My personal caveat: Stick to the Hickson portrayal of Marple. It is not only my opinion that she perfectly embodied the character,but Agatha Christie's as well.
And who am I to argue with the creator--particularly when I agree.
Rating: - As compared with newer series...
These are longer than the series with Geraldine McEwan, with more detail. They are closer in accuracy to the books but they still changed some things, for example, adding the character of Superintendent Slack. The lower voices, particularly Joan Hickson's, make these movies somewhat harder to understand.
The newer Miss Marple series is not as close to the books as far as accuracy, but is very entertaining, with snappy music, and dialogue that is easier to understand without straining or turning the volume up too loudly.
These are considerably longer, well over two hours each in length, than the newer versions. Therefore, they are harder to fit into a busy evening. My husband and I like both series, but we end up having to watch the Joan Hickson Marple movies in two parts due to the lenght. This is supposed to be relaxing for us, but sometimes we end up stressed with trying to concentrate well enough to catch all of the clues and the explanations at the end which sometimes happen so fast we miss it. We had to watch several of them twice --- due to so many details, we missed tiny ones that ended up being important to the plot or answered a question as to motive.
In summary, my husband and I like both series, but we agree we like the newer series better for entertainment and relaxation (because they are shorter and less complex) and the older series better for being true to Agatha Christie and more classic. These just seem to move more slowly than the Hercule ... Read More
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