The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side by Agatha Christie
published 1962
A great favourite from the later Marple era: St Mary Mead has
moved with the times, there is a new estate (the Development), and Gossington
Hall – a key location in the 1942 Body
in the Library - has been bought by a filmstar, Marina Gregg. The
background of modern life is done well: Christie manages to shelve her old-person grumpiness
and see the good aspects of modern life as well as gently poking fun at change.
The everyday scenes are particularly appealing - the book is rooted in reality despite its film studio connections. And
the film studio moments were real in their own way, as in this era the Margaret
Rutherford Marple films were being made. Those films are problematic in various ways,
and Christie agonized over them, but she certainly knew her stuff. The book is
dedicated to Margaret Rutherford – the two women were friends, despite the
difficulties of the films.
Marina Gregg agrees to hold a charity fete in her house and
grounds, so many many people are milling around: villagers, local worthies and
filmworld riffraff. Someone dies when a drink is poisoned. Great setup…
As usual, there are limited but sometimes odd details of
clothes and appearances. One visiting filmstar has Fiji Islander hair – I feel
this was cultural appropriation and perhaps not a real thing. There is a
surprising and enjoyable description of a fashion shoot:
On the pavement near Keats’ house a pretty little scene was being enacted. A slim girl wearing diaphanous organdie was standing clutching an immense black hat. On her knees, a little way behind her, a second girl was holding the first girl’s skirt well pulled back so that it clung around her knees and legs. In a deep hoarse voice a girl with a camera was directing operations.
(picture from Clover
Vintage Tumbler, from the 1950s)
The plot is very well done and clever. It has been seen as
controversial because of similarities with a real-life incident, which Christie
says she was not aware of. I don’t think there’s anything to gain in pursuing
it. Books will always be written, and sometimes there will be unlucky
coincidences.
Miss Marple is at her best in this book – furious with her carer/companion,
escaping when she can, being scarey at the right moments.
There have been a number of adaptations – it is ideally
suited for a lavish production, with some great roles for older women.
Elizabeth Taylor and Claire Bloom have both played Marina Gregg, but I must put
a word in for Lindsay Duncan in the most recent BBC adaptation: a key moment
comes when Marina Gregg ‘looks like the Lady of Shallott’. The doom or curse
has come upon her – I think Duncan does a magnificent job with this quite
difficult moment.
The question of adoption features in the book, an issue that
crops up several times in the oeuvre – particularly Ordeal by Innocence
and Mrs
McGinty’s Dead. Christie’s own mother was adopted – though in an
informal family setting – and one of the biographers, Laura Thompson, thinks
this was significant feature in all their lives, casting a long shadow. However
this is rather thrown away here.
And that leads into my small criticism. There’s a slight
feel that Christie introduced too many elements, and then wasn’t sure what to
do with them: a loosening of the plot reins. We could have done without the
revelation about Marina’s first marriage, and I defy anyone who hasn’t read it in the past week to say
exactly who Giovanni was, and what happened to him and why. And what on earth
is that story about the fence and the parlourmaid?
But perhaps I am over-analysing – it is still a good strong
entry, keyed to a time and place, with a genuine attempt to update St Mary Mead
without JUST saying (as she sometimes did) ‘oh everything was much better in
the past’.
The picture of a fete is from the National Library of Wales
Standing in for Marina Gregg in filmstar mode is Gloria Vanderbilt, photographed by Toni Frissell in the 1960s, from the Library of Congress, and (in the blue dress) another Toni Frissell picture.
I do like this one, Moira. I love Miss Marple's friendship with Dolly Bantry here, and of course, the plot is a great blend of mystery with (I think I can say this without spoiling the novel) real sadness. And what a great look at the village get-together, and everyone's reaction to Marina Gregg...
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, and how nice that Miss Marple also makes a friend of young Cherry. And most certainly, it's a book with real emotions in it.
DeletePerhaps the Fiji hair was the fashionable Italian cut which Christie loathed
ReplyDeleteOr maybe it was like the "afro" of later years?
DeleteI'll need to find a pictur of the Italian cut! Afro sounds possible also
DeleteHow a out a compilation of Christine's views on current fashion from violet powder to sloppy Joe's?
ReplyDeletethat's a great idea! she's unpredictable, because she uses real items and trends, but I think she also makes things up. I have spent some time in the lifetime of the blog trying to track down the likes of Fiji hair and Collegian hats, and have concluded she invented them. But the jumper suits, the wool stockings and so on were all real.
DeleteA list is a really appealing notion...
Angela Lansbury played Miss Marple in the movie version, with Elizabeth Taylor. I've always wondered if that inspired someone to cast her as that certain iconic TV sleuth later on! She wasn't quite dithery enough for my idea of Miss M, and she certainly wasn't the sort of person who could be overlooked....and my gosh, in one scene she was actually smoking!
ReplyDeleteYes indeed I should have mentioned that! And I wouldn't be at all surprised if it pointed her in the direction of Jessica Fletcher.
DeleteThe movie also kind of cheated us on the Marple quotient. She hurt her leg at the start of the film, and most of the interviewing was done by Dermot Craddock (her nephew here). Of course many liberties were taken in the dialogue, to bring in more of a Hollywood feel!
DeleteThat was Edward Fox was it? that film had quite the cast, they all loved playing movie people I think. It does seem a mistake to knock out Miss Marple. If it was a different actress I might suspect she wanted an easy time, but we all know Angela Lansbury is the consummate trouper!
DeleteI saw her on stage in the West End of London when she was 88, Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit, she was astounding, dancing around the stage like a teenager!
Yes she was a wonder. You were so lucky to see her! And that was another role where she was following Rutherford! Fox did a few other films with the director, I've wondered if they were chums and that's why Craddock's part was expanded.
DeleteSo now I had to look up the director! He had quite the portfolio, James Bond and some very British action films.
DeleteI remember enjoying this book when I read it, and also enjoying the Angela Lansbury film, although she certainly did not fit the image of Miss Marple very well. I don't remember any specifics about the story and there was a lot going on.
ReplyDeleteI had forgotten that this was the first book that I noticed Miss Marple getting older and feeling it, and it made me sad.
We have started watching Murder She Wrote with Angela Lansbury. I had never watched them before at all and am amazed at how fun they can be. We are in Season 3 I think.
I know what you mean about Angela Lansbury and Miss M - I felt the same way about Geraldine McEwan: not the book Miss Marple, but enjoyable anyway.
DeleteI watched Murder She Wrote when they were new, and enjoyed them - they were SO successful, it's surprising really. I don't know what I'd make of them now, but it's encouraging to me that you like them.
I think the success of MSW was due partly to a great time-slot and partly to Lansbury's great talent. We had never seen any female leads like her on TV! And some credit should go to the show's creators, who also came up with "Columbo."
DeleteThey certainly knew what they were doing...
DeleteI agree with Marty, Angela Lansbury is such a good actress and although the plots can be a bit unbelievable, she makes up for it. We also enjoy the guest stars, Glen enjoys seeing how many he can identify.
DeleteI must have read this - I remember the changes in the village and Miss Marple being unexpectedly open-minded about them - but my memories of it are heavily overlaid by the various screen versions. I should re-read.
ReplyDeleteSovay
Yes a good point. I am wary of adaptations, and try not be too snooty - and many of them are marvellous, even if not faithful.
DeleteBut what I am most wary of is saying 'well X in the film - that was not in the book', because I have turned out to be quite wrong in the past! I think I have a good memory, but...
Margaret Rutherford also had an "adoption" story of sorts. She and her husband (Stringer Davis, "Mr Stringer") agreed to be adoptive parents to a young adult writer, Gordon Hall. Gordon later wrote a biography of Rutherford, but was better known for having one of the first sex-change operations and then one of the first (legal) interracial marriages in the southern US. As Dawn Simmons she was quite notorious in her new hometown of Charleston SC.
ReplyDeleteFascinating, thank you. There were a lot of slightly mysterious adoption stories around in those olden days - fuelled by a certain amount of shame and judgement, and also by people's reluctance to enquire too much. Questions that mustn't be asked.
DeleteI love reading about fetes (as you now know) but this is a Christie where you remember the plot the minute you start a reread (not always the case with her books but not necessarily a bad thing because you notice her plotting more), if nothing else. I don't think I have ever seen a Christie-based movie except a bizarre new one a few months ago set in Venice but this sounds like a good one to hunt down.
ReplyDeleteThat is so true - I always say a middling book is better for re-reading because you don't remember it so well.
DeleteI have seen a lot of Christie movies, and they are very variable, but this book stood up well to adaptation I think - with the provisos mentioned in comments above.