A Caribbean Mystery (1989) (TV)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

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)

"By far and away the best adaptation of Christie's novel."

Miss Marple is enjoying a holiday in Barbados recovering from a recent illness. However, an ex colonial police officer called Major Palgrave (Frank Middlemass), boasts to Miss Marple about a murder story and takes a photograph out of his wallet which apparently has a murderer's face on it. However, he suddenly sees that person and quickly puts the photograph back into his wallet. Miss Marple didn't take it very seriously at the time but when Major Palgrave is found dead the next morning, she wishes she had when more murders follow.

By far and a way the best version of Christie's whodunit. It was filmed in Hollywood in 1983 as a lacklustre TV movie starring Helen Hayes as Miss Marple and was saddled with an indifferent script. This BBC production is lengthly, but there is more attention to detail and a first rate cast including Donald Pleasance, Frank Middlemass and not forgetting Hickson's Miss Marple. All do fine work in their roles.