There’s a murder in a small town, and Miss Marple is on the case in the adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d. New to 4K UHD from Kino Lorber.
The Films
In 1980, Director Guy Hamilton took on his first Agatha Christie adaptation with (his second being Evil Under the Sun), The Mirror Crack’d. Though unlike Hamilton’s other Christie adaptation this one has Miss Marple as its central protagonist.
A Hollywood production has come to town. Two warring actresses (Elizabeth Taylor and Kim Novak) head the troubled production. The director (Rock Hudson) only wants to keep the peace, while the producer (Tony Curtis) wants headlines. They get more than they bargained for when one of the townspeople ends up dead at their parties. Scotland Yard (in the form of Edward Fox), unable to crack the case find themselves turning to Miss Marple (Angela Lansbury) for help.
As charming and quaint as The Mirror Crack’d is on the outside, the Christie story holds much darker, sinister roots in its fateful tale of revenge. Part of the brilliance of the adaptation is how unknowing, even until after Marple has cracked the case, the audience is. Motivations are always the emotional underpinning in the best mysteries, and Christie always found the best ones. Her winning formula is being able to withhold those until the last moment (which makes Ten Little Indians such a great and often imitated but never reproduced).
Angela Lansbury is a brilliant bit of casting as Miss Marple. Though one would think it’s almost an afterthought because she was, after all, Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote. Though its this role that got her Jessica Fletcher, not the other way around. Lansbury is only part of the equation of greatness in this film. The real attraction here is the clash of the titans, that is, Elizabeth Taylor and Kim Novak playing the rival aging superstars. The duo is given the around amount of catty dialogue to elevate this film to the upper tiers of murder mysteries.
One almost wishes the film weren’t about a murder but rather the rivalry between Taylor and Novak’s characters. The Mirror Crack’d manages to give us that saucy wittiness along with the murder mystery. Like having your cake and eating it too… just be careful, as this cake is filled with the slightest amounts of arsenic.
The Transfers
The all-new HDR/Dolby Vision Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative is a beautiful representation of this beautifully shot film by cinematographer Christopher Challis. The 35mm shot film on location around England looks bright, awash in beautiful colors. The work that Challis and Hamilton must have done to bring out the sunshine of the British summer is tantamount to a magic trick. The Dolby Vision encoding helps bring out the subtle contrast between light and shadow. The 4K Transfer is razor sharp with beautifully rendered fine detail, making this a worthy upgrade from Kino’s previous Blu-ray release. Bravo to the boutique label for continuing their truly marvelous upgrades to 4K UHD.
The Extras
They include the following;
DISC 1 (4KUHD):
Audio Commentary by Film Historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson
DISC 2 (BLU-RAY):
Audio Commentary by Film Historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson
TV Spots
Theatrical Trailer
The archival Audio Commentary by Film Historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson begins with introductions before diving into the black-and-white opening film within a film and who cameos in the opening. Some of the other details include Agatha Christie’s feelings on the filmed adaptations of her works; the career and style of director Guy Hamilton, and how he approached this particular film and how it related to his overarching career; the adaptation and the various screenwriters who worked on the film; a discussion of the year in film that this was released in; what Kim Novak thought of the film and the role; the work of Angela Lansbury – playing much older than she was at the time (who was only 55 at the time); a discussion of the work here and the career of Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis; the studio and location work done by the production; the work and career of Angela Lansbury – both her career in film and television; the production history of the EMI / Agatha Christie film production and why this was made when it was; a larger discussion of the various actors that appear in the film; and much more.
TV Spots (1:05) – two thirty-second TV Spots.
Rounding out the special features are trailers for The Mirror Crack’d (2:48); Endless Night (3:15); Murder on the Orient Express (2:38); Death on the Nile (2:51); Ordeal by Innocence (2:06); Ten Little Indians (1:28);
The Final Thought
Kino Lorber has given us another worthy 4K UHD upgrade. Recommended!!
There’s a murder in a small town, and Miss Marple is on the case in the adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d. New to 4K UHD from Kino Lorber.
The Films
In 1980, Director Guy Hamilton took on his first Agatha Christie adaptation with (his second being Evil Under the Sun), The Mirror Crack’d. Though unlike Hamilton’s other Christie adaptation this one has Miss Marple as its central protagonist.
A Hollywood production has come to town. Two warring actresses (Elizabeth Taylor and Kim Novak) head the troubled production. The director (Rock Hudson) only wants to keep the peace, while the producer (Tony Curtis) wants headlines. They get more than they bargained for when one of the townspeople ends up dead at their parties. Scotland Yard (in the form of Edward Fox), unable to crack the case find themselves turning to Miss Marple (Angela Lansbury) for help.
As charming and quaint as The Mirror Crack’d is on the outside, the Christie story holds much darker, sinister roots in its fateful tale of revenge. Part of the brilliance of the adaptation is how unknowing, even until after Marple has cracked the case, the audience is. Motivations are always the emotional underpinning in the best mysteries, and Christie always found the best ones. Her winning formula is being able to withhold those until the last moment (which makes Ten Little Indians such a great and often imitated but never reproduced).
Angela Lansbury is a brilliant bit of casting as Miss Marple. Though one would think it’s almost an afterthought because she was, after all, Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote. Though its this role that got her Jessica Fletcher, not the other way around. Lansbury is only part of the equation of greatness in this film. The real attraction here is the clash of the titans, that is, Elizabeth Taylor and Kim Novak playing the rival aging superstars. The duo is given the around amount of catty dialogue to elevate this film to the upper tiers of murder mysteries.
One almost wishes the film weren’t about a murder but rather the rivalry between Taylor and Novak’s characters. The Mirror Crack’d manages to give us that saucy wittiness along with the murder mystery. Like having your cake and eating it too… just be careful, as this cake is filled with the slightest amounts of arsenic.
The Transfers
The all-new HDR/Dolby Vision Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative is a beautiful representation of this beautifully shot film by cinematographer Christopher Challis. The 35mm shot film on location around England looks bright, awash in beautiful colors. The work that Challis and Hamilton must have done to bring out the sunshine of the British summer is tantamount to a magic trick. The Dolby Vision encoding helps bring out the subtle contrast between light and shadow. The 4K Transfer is razor sharp with beautifully rendered fine detail, making this a worthy upgrade from Kino’s previous Blu-ray release. Bravo to the boutique label for continuing their truly marvelous upgrades to 4K UHD.
The Extras
They include the following;
DISC 1 (4KUHD):
DISC 2 (BLU-RAY):
The archival Audio Commentary by Film Historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson begins with introductions before diving into the black-and-white opening film within a film and who cameos in the opening. Some of the other details include Agatha Christie’s feelings on the filmed adaptations of her works; the career and style of director Guy Hamilton, and how he approached this particular film and how it related to his overarching career; the adaptation and the various screenwriters who worked on the film; a discussion of the year in film that this was released in; what Kim Novak thought of the film and the role; the work of Angela Lansbury – playing much older than she was at the time (who was only 55 at the time); a discussion of the work here and the career of Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis; the studio and location work done by the production; the work and career of Angela Lansbury – both her career in film and television; the production history of the EMI / Agatha Christie film production and why this was made when it was; a larger discussion of the various actors that appear in the film; and much more.
TV Spots (1:05) – two thirty-second TV Spots.
Rounding out the special features are trailers for The Mirror Crack’d (2:48); Endless Night (3:15); Murder on the Orient Express (2:38); Death on the Nile (2:51); Ordeal by Innocence (2:06); Ten Little Indians (1:28);
The Final Thought
Kino Lorber has given us another worthy 4K UHD upgrade. Recommended!!
Kino Lorber’s 4K UHD Edition of The Mirror Crack’d is out January 20th
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