Of all the Agatha Christie's Marple TV-movies I've seen thus far, which are 17 out of a total of 23, my absolute favorite sequence of the entire series features in "The Blue Geranium". Detective Somerset interrogates Miss Marple as one of the eyewitnesses shortly after the discovery of a young man's corpse. Not knowing who she is, he expects to receive standard and simple answers, but Miss Marple astounds him with very accurate details and intelligent deductions. It's not a particularly spectacular or memorable scene, but it perfectly epitomizes the force of the almighty Agatha Christie's protagonist. Miss Marple is far more alert and much more intelligent than any snobbish Scotland Yard inspector, but she doesn't put herself in the spotlights.
"The Blue Geranium" is a sublime installment in the series, and features a different type of narrative structure, for once. The story opens in St. Mary Mead, Marple's homestead, where a banal event suddenly provides the missing clue for a murder mystery that occurred in the town of Little Ambrose, which she visited a few months earlier, and where an innocent person is about to be executed. Following the mysterious death of a rich but insupportable woman whilst locked inside her bedroom there are many suspects, but her unfaithful husband and gambling-addicted brother-in-law are the prime suspects. The downgraded Scotland Yard inspect Somerset (excellent role of Kevin McNally) doesn't take the investigation too serious, but Miss Marple sees the true nature of the seemingly good Christian villagers in Little Ambrose. It's a compelling whodunit with good twists, effective red herrings and a very intense climax. One of the best instalments in the series, and definitely my favorite (so far) starring Julia McKenzie as Miss Marple.
"The Blue Geranium" is a sublime installment in the series, and features a different type of narrative structure, for once. The story opens in St. Mary Mead, Marple's homestead, where a banal event suddenly provides the missing clue for a murder mystery that occurred in the town of Little Ambrose, which she visited a few months earlier, and where an innocent person is about to be executed. Following the mysterious death of a rich but insupportable woman whilst locked inside her bedroom there are many suspects, but her unfaithful husband and gambling-addicted brother-in-law are the prime suspects. The downgraded Scotland Yard inspect Somerset (excellent role of Kevin McNally) doesn't take the investigation too serious, but Miss Marple sees the true nature of the seemingly good Christian villagers in Little Ambrose. It's a compelling whodunit with good twists, effective red herrings and a very intense climax. One of the best instalments in the series, and definitely my favorite (so far) starring Julia McKenzie as Miss Marple.