Agatha Christie: Miss Marple Complete TV Mini Series - 12 Episodes Boxset Edition [Dutch import]

bought the dvd boxset for my mates mum.. < honest> and shes loving them.. 3 dvds are subtitled on the bottom & cannot be removed but shes not bothered .. she altered the zoom size to cut most of them out. the other 9 episodes can be removed . shes well made up with them. they were delivered quick& in the state described..

Great value to get all 12 full episodes of Joan Hickson's Miss Marple for under £17. (2 stories on each of a six disc set with all in English - yet there are the three titles where the Dutch subtitles cannot be removed, afterall, that's how the Dutch learn such good English). Running time said to be 1380 minutes in comparison to the 999 minutes of the 'English' 12 disc set at nearly three times the price. This difference in time may account for some of the edits supposedly made to the English edition.

After seeing the abysmal portrayal by Geraldine McEwan in the abomination that was the "Marple" series with (as if McEwan's interpretation of Miss Marple wasn't bad enough!) its preposterous political correctness, what a relief it was to once again see how Miss Marple is really meant to be portrayed. Joan Hickson is the definitive Miss Marple and if anyone is going to attempt to make another series, then they really should look to recreate Joan Hickson's performance, perhaps in some of Miss Marple's stories that weren't covered by these twelve.

As to this set of six dvds containing all twelve of the original series, it is very good value for money and interesting to see that they must have sourced different avenues for the stories contained here, as some have the title sequences how I remember them when the series was shown on tv recently, whilst some states 'part one' but nevertheless shows the complete story with no breaks in it. Others state 'part one' and then later on show an 'end of part one' which thankfully goes straight into part two, without starting it from scratch with the music and all the title sequences playing again, but just a few titles over the scene that was playing. I guess this was done to make sure that none of the filmed scenes were missing, which was a nice touch. Though at one point I did wonder, at the end of the last story "They Do It With Mirrors", if some of the summing up was missing, as it was a little difficult to see how Miss Marple had worked it out from what Inspector Slack had said, (about the mirrors) but it would be strange if some of this was missing when the series is so complete vis a vis the title sequences.
Also of interest is that the pictures used at beginning and end of each story, though of the same things, feature different drawings of different people, though the same in most other respects, though some are very faded, almost in monochrome or sepia, and some have pastel shades of colour, and at the end of some stories, the drawn sketches of Miss Marple were also different. I found all this interesting and was glad that they had not made all the beginning and end credits the same for continuity but had kept the variation, as it was good for compare and contrast. (For those who take notice of such things!)

I found it rather odd that Inspector Slack was plain old inspector for some stories, chief inspector for another and Superintendant Slack in another, I loved the way he was always exasperated with Miss Marple, and both their performances were splendid in this respect.
Odder still was Inspector Craddock, (played by John Castle) in "A Murder is Announced", he is no relation at all to Miss Marple, and she refers to him as Inspector throughout, and indeed even ventures at one point to state that she does hope he is not finding her irritating, (as he appeared to be) to which he replies "Put the thought out of your mind, Miss Marple!" Whilst in "The Mirror Crack'd" story, he is portrayed as being Miss Marple's nephew, and she refers to him as Dermot throughout. He is still Inspector Craddock but in one story no relation, while in another, her nephew. I can only surmise that the makers did not forsee the series being eventually put onto dvd or vhs where people could see these little inconsistencies.
That one thing aside, everything else about this series is spot on. Couldn't be bettered. The acting is flawless, the filming excellent, none more so than in the Caribbean story, where the use of bright white against a clear blue sea was artistically splendid and conveyed perfectly well the contrast between this region and the greenery of St Mary Mead, where Miss Marple hails from.
"At Bertram's Hotel" is one of my favourite stories, the settings are marvellous, though quite why this is one of the stories with the unremovable Dutch subtitles is very intriguing, (the subs were removable in nine of the stories, so why not all of them?) I loved the gentle old world charm of this story more than the others, and the discussion about seed cake between Miss Marple and her friend was utterly delightful. A real treat all round.
So nice to have the complete series all contained within one package. And the packaging is indeed very nicely presented in a fold out set, very pleasant to handle and look at.
No lover of Agatha Christie's stories, and indeed, of Miss Marple, will be disappointed by this series.
Teacake anyone?