A Caribbean Mystery (1989) (TV)

Director:

Christopher Petit

Writers:

Agatha Christie (novel)
T.R. Bowen (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 December 1989 (UK)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

While on vacation at a resort hotel in the West Indies, Miss Marple correctly suspects that the apparently natural death of a retired British major is actually the work of a murderer planning yet another killing.

Plot Keywords:

Miss Marple | Hotel | Resort | Barbados | Murder

Cast

Joan Hickson	...	Miss Jane Marple
Donald Pleasence	...	Jason Rafiel
Adrian Lukis	...	Tim Kendal
Sophie Ward	...	Molly Kendal
T.P. McKenna	...	Dr. Grahame
Michael Feast	...	Edward Hillingdon
Sheila Ruskin	...	Evelyn Hillingdon
Frank Middlemass	...	Major Palgrave
Robert Swann	...	Greg Dyson (as Robert Swan)
Sue Lloyd	...	Lucky Dyson
Barbara Barnes	...	Esther Walters
Stephen Bent	...	Jackson
Joseph Mydell	...	Inspector Weston
Valerie Buchanan	...	Victoria Johnson
Isabelle Lucas	...	Aunty Johnson
Shaughan Seymour	...	Napier
Gregory Munroe	...	Dr. Lydia - Pathologist
T.R. Bowen	...	Raymond West (as Trevor Bowen)
James Curran	...	Piers Musgrave

Directed by
Christopher Petit

Writing credits
Agatha Christie		(novel)
T.R. Bowen		(screenplay)

Produced by
George Gallaccio	....	producer

Original Music by
Ken Howard

Cinematography by
John Walker		(photography)

Film Editing by
Bernard Ashby
Paul Garrick

Production Design by
Don Giles

Costume Design by
Colin Lavers

Makeup Department
Vivien Riley	....	makeup designer
Sharleen Rassi	....	key hair stylist (uncredited)

Production Management
David Mason	....	production manager

Art Department
Linda Sherwood-Page	....	graphic designer
Francis Smith	....	properties buyer
Paul Birkbeck	....	title illustrator (uncredited)

Sound Department
Malcolm Campbell	....	sound recordist
John Hale	....	dubbing mixer
Stephen Young	....	dubbing editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Pat Deveney	....	gaffer electrician
David Hall	....	second assistant camera

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

Other crew
Phil Baggarley	....	supervisor: operatives
Murray Carrad	....	finance assistant
Heidi Easton	....	assistant floor manager
Juley Harding	....	production assistant
Julian Hearne	....	assistant floor manager
Fiona B. McTavish	....	production associate
Alison Passey	....	production secretary
Errol Rollins	....	liaison: Barbados

Production Companies

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

Distributors

• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (1989) (UK) (TV) (original airing)
• A&E Home Video (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• A&E Home Video (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• A&E Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• A&E Television Networks (19??) (USA) (TV)
• Just Entertainment (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Malavasi Editore
• Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) (199?) (Germany) (TV) (as N3) (as "Karibische Affaire")
• TM 3 (199?) (Germany) (TV) (as "Miss Marple: Karibische Affaire")

Also Known As:

Miss Marple: A Caribbean Mystery (UK) (series title)

Runtime:

USA:104 min (DVD)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Barbados

Company:

7 Network

Quotes:

Jason Rafiel: I had to think about this quite a bit before mentioning it to you.
Inspector Weston: And why is that, Mr. Rafael?
Jason Rafiel: It wasn't my idea, and the person who had it - the idea, I mean - is a little old lady who knits and wears lace. She also has a mind like a bacon slicer.
Inspector Weston: Why didn't she come to me herself?
Jason Rafiel: She didn't think you'd take her seriously.
Inspector Weston: I might have done.
Jason Rafiel: I doubt it. It's a very good disguise. She even had me fooled for a minute.
[He laughs]
Inspector Weston: Better have her name for the record.
Jason Rafiel: Miss Marple.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Version of A Caribbean Mystery (1983) (TV)

A Drugged Blur

Christie did all sorts of things with mystery, but in this case she stuck to the genre as genre. In this case, the idea is to deepen the groove, to follow the pattern and surprise with small things rather than the grand upsets of other stories.

In that case, the subtleties are important: the richnesses of character aren't there to define a person, instead to indicate a world, many worlds as candidates for the one world that is true.

These BBC do more than just tinker with the story, they flatten those worlds into characters, and then strut these characters as stereotypes. All the richness of the mystery is lost.

In this case, there's an extra cause for humor: to enhance the local flavor and also satisfy modern correctness, we have extended additions involving the local people: an aunt and a patronizing voodoo bit.

The result is an unwatchable mess.

Since nothing of value can be said of this particular episode, this is a good a place as any to remark on the portrayal of Miss Marple. In the books, the character is a busybody, slightly obnoxious, fussy. Bright, but only by measurements in her own world. She is as occupied with her garden as the gossip in the village. She is, in fact, as comical in her own way as Poirot is meant to be.

The BBC characterizations make Poirot more comical and Marple decidedly less so. She is reduced to one mannerism, an "oh dear oh dear oh dear" or some slight variation, while at the same time hovering near fondly remembered grandmotherisms. The whole

fulcrum of the craft is in the position of the detective, where they are in comparison to us. Here that fulcrum has been blindly moved to a sunnier spot.

A real shame.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.