Those are the two glaring complaints I have about A CARIBBEAN MYSTERY, a made for TV movie which dawdles on for a long time before getting to the point of a series of murders committed at a vacation resort.
Helen Hayes, her American accent intact, still makes a passable Miss Marple even when she utters the name of a quaint village in England as her home, St. Mary Mead. Barnard Hughes is the mean-spirited man whose rudeness becomes a bit overdone after the first few scenes, making you wish he's going to be one of the victims. Not so. He and Miss Marple join forces to solve the crime.
The conclusion is rushed through with brief explanations and not much dramatic conflict, so it's a bit of a letdown--although the murderer's identity is never hard to guess. The acting ranges from competent to barely competent, but the script is rather mediocre.
Recommended for rabid Christie fans only. Nicely photographed with Santa Barbara, California filling in for the Caribbean, but this is very tepid stuff, to say the least, nowhere as good as other Christie outings.
Helen Hayes, her American accent intact, still makes a passable Miss Marple even when she utters the name of a quaint village in England as her home, St. Mary Mead. Barnard Hughes is the mean-spirited man whose rudeness becomes a bit overdone after the first few scenes, making you wish he's going to be one of the victims. Not so. He and Miss Marple join forces to solve the crime.
The conclusion is rushed through with brief explanations and not much dramatic conflict, so it's a bit of a letdown--although the murderer's identity is never hard to guess. The acting ranges from competent to barely competent, but the script is rather mediocre.
Recommended for rabid Christie fans only. Nicely photographed with Santa Barbara, California filling in for the Caribbean, but this is very tepid stuff, to say the least, nowhere as good as other Christie outings.