Review: 'The Mirror Crack'd' a Slight and Tedious Affair

Hot on the heels of the great success of Agatha Christie's "Murder on the Orient Express" and moderate, but decent, box office take of "Death on the Nile," producers John Brabourne and Richard Goodwin set about bringing the mystery writer's 1962 novel "The Mirror Crack'd" (book title "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side") to the screen with "Nile" thesp Angela Lansbury taking on the iconic role of Miss Marple (Margaret Rutherford had played the sleuth in a series of films in the 1960s). The idea was to make a trio of Marple films with Lansbury (yet only one was ever made).

The stellar cast boasted Elizabeth Taylor (taking over from Natalie Wood, who either turned it down or dropped out after being cast, according to conflicting accounts), Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, Kim Novak, Geraldine Chaplin, Edward Fox, and Maureen Bennett (who was "introduced" here and went on to mostly TV bit parts).

The movie is set in a small English village in the 1950s. An American film company is shooting a picture about Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I. At a reception held at the country estate of the lead actress, Marina Rudd (Taylor) and her director husband Jason (Rock Hudson), a local, Heather Babcock (Bennett) is poisoned. Right before the murder, Babcock was in the midst of regaling Marina with a long-winded story about how she met the star once backstage.

Also in attendance at this soiree, and therefore suspects, are Marina's longtime feuding rival and co-star, Lola Brewster (Novak), the film's producer (Tony Curtis) and Marina's personal assistant (Geraldine Chaplin), who may be having a thing with Marina's husband.

Marple is on the scene to help her inspector nephew (Fox) investigate this bizarre, but not really all that interesting, death. And herein lies one of the fundamental problems with the story: The victim was a prattling boob I wanted to poison after a few minutes, so the murder was never a crime as much as a relief.

The main question that is supposed to create intrigue is: Was Marina the intended target? Alas, it never really goes anywhere. So you have a mystery that is never very compelling.

And the campy catfighting between Taylor and Novak just don't have the zest and verve of those delicious and dastardly Crystal and Alexis "Dynasty" doozies that came a few years later. Blame the writers, since the ladies were definitely up to it. Although, I'm not so sure how today's audiences will appreciate two women venomously attacking each other.

Back to the writers, Jonathan Hales and Barry Sandler; there seems to be two separate stories with shifting tones at play, which becomes part of the problem. In the "Hollywood" portion with Taylor and Hudson, we are given a very grave and serious saga... that is, until Novak and Curtis are on the scene, and things become light and campy. In the village portion we have Marple and her nephew, and theirs has this period goofy feel we can't possibly take seriously. When these two worlds come together, especially at the end when Marple solves the crime, it rings cold and it's hard to be moved the way we should. Director Hamilton is also at fault here for his lack of cohesiveness, but Lansbury's silly take on Marple doesn't help one bit. Nor does the deadeningly slow pace of the film. Yet, most of the fault is with the writing.

It's a damn shame, too, because Taylor has some fantastic moments. With a better script this could have been a comeback for her. After her second Oscar for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," Taylor starred in a string of highly anticipated but less-than-successful films like "Reflection in a Golden Eye," "Boom," "Under Milk Wood," "The Only Game in Town," "Night Watch," and "A Little Night Music."

And once the reasoning behind the reveal comes to light, suffice to say one must really contextualize in order to not find part of the storyline to be truly insensitive and borderline offensive.

Kino Lorber's 2K video restoration preserves the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio and the film looks magnificent – the costumes, the countryside and even Taylor's eye-popping colorful flowered hat in the early scene.

The English Mono DTS-High Def Master Audio is crisp and clear, so the very odd score by John Cameron is enhanced.

Extras are disappointing with tv spots and trailers. The one decent bonus is the chatty and informative Audio Commentary by film historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson, but that means watching the film again!

"The Mirror Crack'd" Special Edition
Blu-ray
$17.97
https://www.kinolorber.com/film/the-mirror-crackd-special-edition