Film, TV or Theatrical Adaptations
The novel's first adaptation was as Murder with Mirrors in 1985 for television with Sir John Mills as Lewis Serrocold, Bette Davis as Carrie Louise, Tim Roth as Edgar Lawson and Helen Hayes as Miss Marple.
It was adapted again for the BBC series Miss Marple starring Joan Hickson as Miss Marple, Jean Simmons as Carrie-Louise Serrocold, Joss Ackland as Lewis Serrocold and Faith Brook as Ruth van Rydock; first broadcast on 29 December 1991. The film was basically faithful to the novel, with the exception that Alex survives the attack on his life.
It was adapted for the fourth season of Marple, starring Julia McKenzie as Miss Marple, Penelope Wilton as Carrie Louise Serrocold, Brian Cox as Lewis Serrocold, and Joan Collins as Ruth Van Rydock. It was broadcast on 1 January 2010.
Some elements of the plot were also incorporated into the 1964 film Murder Ahoy!, which starred Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple, along with a token tribute to The Mousetrap. Instead of a sprawling Victorian estate, the delinquent boys are housed on board a retired ship called the Battledore, and they go ashore periodically to commit mischief under the direction of their criminal mastermind. Apart from these elements, however, this film is not based on any of Christie's works.
Read more about this topic: They Do It With Mirrors
Famous quotes containing the word theatrical:
“A Man who always acts in the Severity of Wisdom, or the Haughtiness of Quality, seems to move in a personated Part: It looks too Constrained and Theatrical for a Man to be always in that Character which distinguishes him from others.”
—Richard Steele (1672–1729)