The Mirror Crack'd

A relatively weak who-done-it. Ms. Taylor is an American actress trying to stage a comeback after a personal tragedy sidelined her career. The setting is 1953 England. Her husband, Rock Hudson, is the film's director, and the producer's (Tony Curtis) wife (Kim Novak) her archrival. Although credited as being based on an Agatha Christie novel, the movie was also inspired by the real-life tragedy of the beautiful and talented actress Gene Tierney. During a U.S.O. road show while she was pregnant, Ms. Tierney contracted measles and gave birth to a mentally retarded daughter in 1943. If you blink you'll miss Pierce Brosnan in one of his first, and uncredited, screen appearances.

This is almost a 10. Highly underrated. Good plot, great atmosphere, wonderful star performances and a mystery that's hard to solve. What's not to like? No, it's not academy award material, and wasn't meant to be. MIRROR CRACK'D rates up there with EVIL UNDER THE SUN. Wish more films of this ilk were made today. Pure escapist entertainment with no special effects or gory scenes. Fine for the whole family. TAYLOR, LANSBURY, CURTIS and especially NOVAK are top notch. An actress named Maureen Bennett is also very good in her small role. Also note a young Pierce Brosnan in a bit role. This is really a well done who and why done it. Try seeing it a second time to spot some of the clues you've obviously missed the first time.

Surprisingly faithful adaption of the excellent Christie book adds some campy insults to the story by having Taylor and Novak square off as jealous rivals, but the outcome still carries a mild punch. Lansbury is excellent as Jane and it's nice to see Liz reunited with Hudson after their stint in the 50's on Giant. One of the better all star casts for an Agatha picture, with a nice recreation of St Mary Mead. Makes you feel like you're really in a small English village.

Highly underrated, this low-key little whodunit manages to bring together two unlikely genres, the English village murder mystery and the catty Hollywood self-satire. While who did do it is not that surprising, the reason why is clever and touching. (Interestingly, the central plot is loosely based on the real-life tragedy that befell Gene Tierney, star of the legendary film noir "Laura.") The cast of 50's Hollywood icons give very good performances, though, sadly, for most it represents the last really good parts they have had. Hudson is especially good in a bittersweet role. Lansbury is crisp and efficient as Miss Marple and could have made a series of these films had she not found meatier material as another mistress of murder on "Murder, She Wrote." Indeed, though I adore Margaret Rutherford, I think Lansbury does better by the role of Miss Marple. This is not a great mystery movie, but works very well as light entertainment and as a last hurrah for several fine actors.