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Marple: The Moving Finger (2006) (TV) More at IMDbPro »

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12 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Better than expected, 28 August 2006
5/10
Author: benbrae76

There is many a war hero who has returned home asking the question...Why did I survive?...then suffering bouts of guilt, booze and depression, and thoughts of suicide. Such, presumably, is Jerry Burton's state of mind as he rides his motorcycle into a tree, escaping death, but incurring broken legs. (Or has he had a failed love affair? The script doesn't make the reason quite clear.) Recovering from the "accident", he completes his convalescence helped by his sister Joanne in the lovely idyllic village of Lymstock. Thus is an interesting deviation from the novel's flying accident theme. And for once in this series, given Agatha Christie's inclinations towards the use of psychology in her story-lines, I suspect the change might just have had her approval. It has no real bearing on the main plot of course, but gives a little more bite to Jerry's romance in it.

Unlike most of the episodes of the series "Marple", this adaptation of "The Moving Finger" stays, by and large, faithful to the original mystery, and I for one (after vilifying other episodes), must reluctantly confess that I rather enjoyed it, although more thought could have been given to the casting.

I was reared in an English village at the time that this story is supposed to take place. Never once did I see a vicar such as portrayed here by Ken Russell, either High Church or otherwise, wandering around dressed as if he'd just come from a "Barchester Chronicles" film set, and although Christie described his wife as "not at all like a vicar's wife", Francis de la Tour's interpretation also jars with the setting.

One of the main reasons that "whodunnits" are so popular, is that readers enjoy following the clues to reach the identity of the culprit before the "resident" sleuth. This is only possible if the clues are presented. The pivotal clue of Symmington's unfortunate maid is virtually hidden. (I know this story so well, and even I nearly missed it.) Perhaps I'm being a little picky, because as far as the series goes, this episode, and "A Murder is Announced", are the only two I've seen that wouldn't have poor Agatha spinning in her grave. However I still prefer the Joan Hickson version of this story, and that earlier series as a whole. I just cannot see Geraldine McEwan's somewhat brusque Jane Marple, as the one that the author envisaged. I'm sure Joan Hickson's more unobtrusive Jane Marple was. But if the mantle of the elderly sleuth must be borne, I suppose that Geraldine is as good a choice as could be made.

Has the message really got through to the scriptwriters at last, or is it that they've been advised from above to actually read the novels before adapting them? And/or deciding perhaps that Dame Agatha'a plots are fine just as she wrote them. One would hope this trend continues, but I still have my doubts about forthcoming productions. Time will tell.

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13 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
Pleasantly stunned, 13 February 2006
8/10
Author: petehazell from United Kingdom

This is definitely a rarity in ITV1's Marple series - it appears to have been adapted by someone who has not only read the novel, but also understood it.

There were minor changes made to the story, but they were nowhere near the wholesale destruction of plot and character visited upon other entries in the series, notably Sleeping Murder (rendered thoroughly nonsensical by the addition of the end of the pier show).

Geraldine McEwan was as good as ever, and the cast for this one seemed to be treating it relatively seriously, with the exception of Ken Russell, whose turn as the vicar proved that he's even worse as an actor than he is as a director.

The production suffered from the series' standard malaise of treating the characters as if they were all cardboard stereotypes, thus making it difficult for the audience to care for them, but most of the time the cast managed to rise above this and seem reasonably believable. If ITV1 can produce more of this standard, then a third series could be watchable - particularly if they adapt stories which actually feature Miss Marple, as opposed to what we've got coming in the next couple of weeks...

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8 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Hardly one for the Christie traditionalists but gaudy, surprisingly lively and strangely entertaining, 2 April 2006
Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK

Having survived a motorcycle accident/suicide attempt with only two broken legs, Jerry Burton comes to the quiet village of Lymstock to recuperate in peace. However being introduced around the village Jerry and his sister Joanna quickly get to hear everyone's dirty secrets and benefit from the gossiping that comes with any afternoon tea. However this is just the superficial stuff because underneath most of the village is receiving poison pen letters. When Mrs Symmington, one of the village's residents, commits suicide as a result of one such letter, things become more serious and accusations are flying between everyone. Luckily the houseguest at the vicarage is none other than the unassuming Miss Marple (visiting following a suicide of an old acquaintance), who may be able to help cast some light on the situation.

Opening a backdrop that makes no attempt at reality, then flashing up a gaudy title cad followed by a sequence that is washed out apart from blood red colours a la Sin City I knew that this film was not going to have much in common with the old BBC Miss Marple series than I know. This was my first shot at the new ITV version of Miss Marple (or "Marple" as they have called it in a fit of modernism) and I wasn't sure quite what to expect once the first few minutes had thrown me off my stride. The mood did settle down after that but the tone was still very much of a lively modern mystery rather than the drier and more repressed drama from the BBC. I'm not sure this is an entirely welcome thing but it did at least make it more suitable for Sunday night viewing.

The plot follows Jerry as much as it does Miss Marple and it perhaps says more about my feelings towards McEwan than anything else but I felt this was quite a good thing. It also allows us (the audience) to encounter the clues at the same time as Jerry and not have to have them all put together there and then. This device worked reasonably well although I didn't think the mystery was developed that well. The nature of the telling is good though as it is entertaining, bright and lively. The direction and production helps because rather than being dry, everything is colourful and full, meanwhile the visual style is more adventurous than the earlier series would have suggested possible.

The cast continues this "big and bold" theme by basically having loads of famous names in it – from main characters right down to lesser roles. Personally I'm not sure about McEwan as Miss Marple; she doesn't suit the role and she doesn't convince me that she is that smart or cunning in the way Hickson did, although she is still good value. D'Arcy is fairly good as the main leading actor, he is quite interesting and doesn't push to steal the film from anyone else. The support cast are heaving at the sides and demonstrates such eclectic casting that I couldn't help but be taken in. The material seems to have been evenly spread which means no one person stands out that much. Allen is fun in a simple "bumbling detective" style role, while Enfield, Brook, Fox, Stubbs, Sessions, Russell, de la Tour and others easily fill out the film with plenty of good turns.

A strangely modern Marple then but quite enjoyable at that. The narrative is solid enough and produces a reasonably good mystery to work with but it is the cast and the generally lively production that sticks in the memory and makes this better than it should have been. I struggled with McEwan because Marple has always been a bit drier in my mind but I must admit that this glossy production was hard to dislike for what it did.

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6 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Marvellous Marple!, 16 February 2006
7/10
Author: Stargazer59 from United Kingdom

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I half expected "Agatha Christie's Marple" to be a little on the stodgy side but "The Moving Finger" turned out to be great fun. This was partly due to the all-star cast but also the knowing screenplay by Kevin Elyot which contained many laugh-out-loud moments at the numerous in-jokes. Best of these sprung from Ken Russell's character, the Reverend Caleb Dane Calthrop, speaking out against fornication, in the knowledge that the director-turned-actor himself has built a career making movies on that selfsame subject, from "Women in Love" to "Mahler", "Lisztomania" to "Tommy"!

The preview I read called the casting of Ken, together with comedian Harry Enfield as the dastardly uptight solicitor Richard Symmington, dodgy thus missing the point that this production intended itself as self-mocking. From the opening shots of playboy and World War II veteran Jerry Burton, played by James D'Arcy, first on his motorcycle and then in a red sports car with sister Joanna, a red-headed Emilia Fox, so blatantly filmed as period parody in the style of the time against a back projection, the story always managed to entertain.

I missed Paul McGann in last week's opening episode but "Doctor Who" Jon Pertwee's son Sean was on hand this week as the rather nervous Dr. Owen Griffith and I believe "Doctor Who" companion Bonnie Langford appears in the next yarn as a pushy mother! The poison-pen letters in "The Moving Finger" turn out to be one enormous red herring which distract Inspector Graves, a superb turn from Keith Allen, into hilariously staking out the women's institute's typewriter! Credit must also be given to John Session's Cardew Pye, as gay as the name sounds, reminding me of Nickolas Grace's performance as stuttering Anthony Blanche in "Brideshead Revisited"!

Another interesting piece of casting was that of ex-"Big Breakfast" presenter Kelly Brook as governess Elsie Holland who gains a place in the affections of our hero Jerry before he realises he is in love with Megan Hunter, played to perfection by Talulah Riley fresh from her success as Mary Bennet in the recent movie version of "Pride and Prejudice". The ye-olde-worlde scenes of Lymstock, a typically idyllic-seeming English country village, were picture-postcard perfect and made me think I was still watching "The Avengers"!!! Highly recommended.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
So far, one of McEwan's best episodes, 24 February 2006
10/10
Author: shanty_sleuth

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

OK, so there were a few minor things with lighting, and the back-projection of the driving scenes were a bit odd, but all in all this is an excellent Miss Marple starring Geraldine McEwan. Harry Enfield was a magnificent portrayal of the uptight solicitor Richard Symmington, and Imogen Stubbs was a great gossipy, snobbish Mona Symmington. Ken Russell scared me (I have to admit) as Reverand Caleb Dane Calthrop, and I can't believe Frances De La Tour was cast as his wife, Maude (she looked as ugly as a gargoyle)! James D'Arcy was a good Jerry Burton, and Emilia Fox as Joanna Burton was good.

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode, and it's on my Top 3 list along with "A Murder is Announced" and "The Murder at the Vicarage." This adaptation isn't as good as Hickson's version, but still very enjoyable. I recommend that you see it, for I know you will enjoy it!

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the better ITV versions, 13 February 2006
2/10
Author: dis-6 from Urmston, Manchester, UK

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

After the travesty of Sleeping Murder, I feared how ITV could wreck Moving Finger but they actually did a good job with this one. Yes they did change a few things like the makeover of Megan but overall the cast and script were faithful to the Christie story !

Of the cast special mention should be made of Sean Pertwee as the doctor, Keith Allen as the detective and Harry Enfield as the repressed solicitor Symmington. But the real delight was in the well known names and faces in tight effective cameos like John Sessions as Mr Pye, Ken Russell as the vicar ! and Frances Der la Tour as Mrs Calthrop.

This still isn't as good as the Hickson version but its nearly its equal. Excellent job all round!

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Miss Marple does it again, 29 July 2006
10/10
Author: lonedragon1422 from United States

This was a terrific movie. I watched it on PBS, and I had to wait a week for the last hour. It is the only time in my life where I've bitten my nails all week about a two parter episode to a show. It had the perfect blend of mystery, while also giving you a feeling that you were learning something about the characters.

The acting was superb, and I felt as if the story really was unfolding right before my eyes. They cast really well, from the gossipy Mrs. Symmington, to Talulah Riley as Megan, and then of course, Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple herself. She will always be my favorite Miss Marple, and there have been several.

The best part of The Moving Finger, is that the ending was so completely unexpected. My hats off to Miss Marple.

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
A Marvelous Gallery of Grotesques, 10 July 2006
8/10
Author: raymundohpl from Honolulu, Hawaii

I thought BY THE PRICKING OF MY THUMBS in this new Miss Marple series was good, but THE MOVING FINGER has presented a lineup of many pleasing and not-so-pleasing eccentrics and British grotesqueries. The famed director Ken Russell portrays a shambling vicar, the Rev. Calthrop, like a fugitive from one of his deliriously enjoyable films; his wife, Maud is portrayed by Frances de la Tour, the horsey and lugubrious actress who portrayed the gigantess Madame Olympe Maxime in HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE; Sean Pertwee, son of the late and great Jon Pertwee plays a nervous, mousy Dr. Griffith who is seduced by the hoydenish and blazing red-headed lorelei, Joanna Burton, played by Emilia Fox; the waspish and flagrantly gay Cardew Pye has an unexpected soft centre, courtesy of John Sessions; James D'Arcy plays Jerry Burton as a seemingly unsympathetic character who gradually begins to come out of his self-imposed protective shell as the story progresses. Geraldine McEwan seems to have put her stamp on the Jane Marple character by presenting her as somewhere between the indomitable Dame Margaret Rutherford's swashbuckling and sputtering Miss Marple and the icily restrained and too-perfectly-emotionless Joan Hickson's Miss Marple, which is generally seen as the portrayal closest to Dame Agatha Christie's original intent for the character. Mugging, smiling, very physically active, McEwan gives her Miss Marple a distinctive flair that may be an acquired taste, like rutabagas, to some of you viewers out there. The rest of the cast is more than adequate, and director Tom Shankland does an OK job pulling all the story threads together.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Nearly spot on, 5 April 2008
9/10
Author: Iain-215 from United Kingdom

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I enjoyed this very much on a first viewing. Then I re-read the book and watched again with renewed respect because it really is a very faithful adaptation and much of the characterisation is spot on - more so I'm afraid to say than the Hickson version. Caleb Dane Caltrop is a creature who seems to exist on another plane, frequently spouting Latin and sometimes making the most dazzlingly accurate observation...that is exactly what we get from Ken Russell. His wife is a determined, enigmatic and slightly frightening woman...that is what Frances de la Tour gives us. Aimee Griffith is a jolly, overbearing, gossipy and opinionated woman which is just how Jessica Stevenson portrays her and - finally - Joanna Burton is a bright, modern, exotic girl who brings a dash of colour and life into Lymstock and Emilia Fox does this perfectly.

There is a great deal of mischievous humour in this book and it is reflected in this adaptation. It is true that Mr Pye should not be so extravagantly gay given the period setting but his nature is well hinted at in the book. My only slight reservations were in the portrayals of the Symmington household. I felt Harry Enfield was quite weak, Elsie Holland should not really be a seductress despite her goddess looks, Mona Symmington should probably be rather more pathetic than Stubbs' virago and Megan was just a bit too knowing and moved too quickly from childish lump to Audrey Hepburn (as someone else described it).

As always, this series looks terrific. 'Moving Finger' is even brighter and brasher than other instalments but I don't mind that at all as a contrast to the older, grainy Hickson versions. The linking motifs of the 'letters through the box' and the funerals were great. Overall, a really good entry in this series and easily the best in Season 2.

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Absolutely AMAZING!, 19 September 2007
10/10
Author: tml_pohlak_13 from Canada

After being "ripped off" on "SLEEPING MURDER" where the storyline was completely different than the book, I made a firm resolution to read the book FIRST and watch the movie later. I absolutely loved this great adaptation. The biggest difference was an added suicide and changing Mrs. Holland's personality a bit. And Jerry Burton was made a drunken sex maniac. Other than that this movie was a beautiful adaptation of the original. I absolutely recommend this movie for anyone, regardless whether you read the book or not. This is truly one of the best adaptations of the series. Now, I have to watch "BY THE PRICKING OF MY THUMBS" and "THE SITTAFORD MYSTERY". Then I will form a full impression of this series.

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