Sleeping Murder (1987) (TV)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

John Davies

Writers:

Agatha Christie (novel)
Ken Taylor (screenplay)

Release Date:

11 January 1987 (UK)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

When a young bride moves into a country manor, long repressed childhood memories of witnessing a murder come to the surface.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | House | Miss Marple | Country Doctor | Insane Asylum

Cast

Joan Hickson	...	Miss Jane Marple
Geraldine Alexander	...	Gwenda Reed
John Moulder-Brown	...	Giles Reed
Jack Watson	...	Mr. Foster
Joan Scott	...	Mrs. Cocker
Frederick Treves	...	Dr James Kennedy
Eryl Maynard	...	Lily Kimble
Ken Kitson	...	Jim Kimble
Jean Heywood	...	Edith Paget
Jean Anderson	...	Mrs. Fane
Terrence Hardiman	...	Walter Fane
John Bennett	...	Richard Erskine
Geraldine Newman	...	Janet Erskine
Georgine Anderson	...	Mrs. Hengrave
Edward Jewesbury	...	Mr. Sims
Esmond Knight	...	Mr. Galbraith
John Ringham	...	Dr. Penrose
David McAllister	...	Raymond West (as David McAlister)
Amanda Boxer	...	Joan West
Donald Burton	...	Bosola
Struan Rodger	...	Ferdinand (voice)
Gary Watson	...	Major Kelvin Halliday
Kenneth Cope	...	Jackie Afflick
Peter Spraggon	...	Detective Inspector Last
Sheila Raynor	...	Shop Assistant

Directed by
John Davies

Writing credits
Agatha Christie		(novel)
Ken Taylor		(screenplay)

Produced by
George Gallaccio	....	producer
Guy Slater	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Ken Howard

Cinematography by
Peter Hall		(photography)

Film Editing by
Jerry Leon

Production Design by
Victor Meredith		(as Vic Meredith)

Costume Design by
Judy Pepperdine

Makeup Department
Sheelagh Wells	....	makeup designer

Production Management
Michael Cameron	....	production manager

Art Department
Paul Birkbeck	....	title illustrations
Linda Sherwood-Page	....	graphic designer
Barbara Spiller	....	properties buyer

Sound Department
Malcolm Campbell	....	sound recordist
Colin Goudie	....	dubbing editor
John Hale	....	dubbing mixer

Music Department
John Altman	....	musical director
Alan Blaikley	....	composer: title music
Ken Howard	....	composer: title music

Other crew
Patricia Greenland	....	production assistant
George Griffiths	....	location manager
Thea Murray	....	production associate
Christopher Sandeman	....	assistant floor manager
Mandy West	....	assistant floor manager

Production Companies

• 7 Network
• A&E Television Networks
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Distributors

• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (1987) (UK) (TV) (original airing)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1987) (USA) (TV)
• Mystery! (1987) (USA) (TV)
• A&E Home Video (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• A&E Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Arts & Entertainment Video (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Just Entertainment (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Miss Marple: Sleeping Murder (UK) (series title)

Runtime:

USA:102 min

Country:

Australia | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Lympstone, Devon, England, UK

Company:

7 Network

Trivia:

A line in the film's ending, 'Cover her face, Mine eyes dazzle, Gwennie', spoken by Dr. Kennedy to Gwennie, are references to almost identical lines in Scene 2, Act 4 of the 17th century Jacobean play 'The Duchess of Malfi' published by the English playwright John Webster in 1623. In the 'Duchess of Malfi' the referenced line is 'Cover her face. Mine eyes dazzle. She died young.', spoken by the character Ferdinand to Bosola.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Although the character of Gwenda Reed is purportedly a New Zealander the accent is clearly Australian.

Quotes:

Miss Jane Marple: Good advice is almost certain to be ignored, but that's no reason for not giving it.

Movie Connections:

Followed by A Caribbean Mystery (1989) (TV)

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Mysteries of the past should be left alone; otherwise, they may awaken danger. Using that well-known idiom, Dame Agatha pens another whodunit, wherein a young married woman's infatuation with an old, stately English house translates into buried secrets and impending murder.

Having already read Christie's novel and concluded that this story was not quite as good as some of her other works, I watched the BBC adaptation of "Sleeping Murder", not expecting a lot. The film, like the book, gets off to a slow, tedious start. The plot gets better as it plods along. Toward the end, Director John Davies injects some needed suspense. The screenplay is a bit talky. Acting is adequate. I especially like Joan Hickson as Jane Marple who delightfully meddles in the business of a newlywed couple, and who naturally is a step, or several steps, ahead of everyone else in solving the crime.

The story is not dependent on majestic scenery or unusual visual perspective, so that cinematography is fairly unimportant. But sets are important here, and so the filmmakers have given adequate attention to production design and costumes. Overall, they have done a good job with a Christie story that is relatively weak, and thus rendered a film that is reasonably entertaining.