The Mirror Crack'd

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The Mirror Crack'd

Directed by	Guy Hamilton
Produced by	John Bradbourne Richard Goodwin
Written by	Agatha Christie (novel) Barry Sandler (screenplay)
Starring	Angela Lansbury Elizabeth Taylor Kim Novak Rock Hudson Edward Fox Geraldine Chaplin Tony Curtis
Music by	John Cameron
Cinematography	Christopher G. Challis
Editing by	Richard Marden
Distributed by	Columbia
Release date(s)	December 19, 1980
Running time	105 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

The Mirror Crack'd is a 1980 feature motion picture directed by Guy Hamilton boasting an all-star cast, Angela Lansbury, Geraldine Chaplin, Tony Curtis, Edward Fox, Rock Hudson, Kim Novak, and Elizabeth Taylor, with Wendy Morgan, Maureen Bennett, and Charles Lloyd Pack.

This crime/mystery/thriller was adapted by Jonathan Hales and Barry Sandler, based on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple novel The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (1962).

Scenes were filmed at Twickenham Film Studios, Twickenham, London, England, and on location in Kent.

1 hour, 45 minutes; widescreen; color

1 Plot
2 Quotes
3 Trivia
4 Movie goofs
5 See also
6 External link

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Set in the fictional English village of St. Mary Mead, home of Miss Jane Marple (played by Lansbury), in 1953, a big Hollywood production company arrives to film a costume movie about Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I with two famous movie stars, Marina Rudd (played by Taylor) and Lola Brewster (played by Novak).

The two actress' are old rivals who hate each other. Marina, who is making a much heralded comeback after a prolonged "illness" and retirement, when she, in reality, had a nervous breakdown, and her husband, Jason Rudd (played by Hudson), who is directing the movie they are making, arrive with their entourage. When she learns that Lola will be in the movie as well, she becomes enraged and vents her anger.

Lola and her husband, Martin N. "Marty" Fenn (played by Curtis), who is producing the movie they are making, then arrive. Excitement runs high in St. Mary Mead, as the locals have been invited to a reception held by the movie company in a manor house, Gossington Hall, to meet the celebrities. Lola and Marina come face to face at the reception and exchange some potent and comical insults, nasty one-liners delivered with considerable flair by Novak and Taylor, as they smile and pose for the cameras. The two square-off in a series of hilarious and cleverly written and performed cat-fights throughout the movie.

Marina, however, has been receiving anonymous death threats. After her initial exchange with Lola at the reception, she is cornered by a gushing, devoted fan, Heather Babcock (played by Bennett), who bores her with a long and detailed story about having actually met Marina in person during the war. After recounting the meeting they had all those years ago, when she arose from her sickbed to go and meet the glamorous star, Babcock drinks a cocktail that was made for Marina and drops dead from poisoning.

The incident is unfortunate for Marina's mental state, and she is beside herself. Everyone is certain she was the intended murder victim. Once filming begins on the movie, she discovers that apart from threatening notes made up of newspaper clippings, her cup of tea on the set has also been spiked with poison, sending her into fits of terror.

The police detective from Scotland Yard investigating the case, Inspector Delbert Craddock (played by Fox), is baffled as he tries to uncover who is behind the attempt on the life of the actress and the subsequent murder of the innocent woman. The suspects pile up. Is it Ella Zielinsky (played by Chaplin), Jason's production assistant who is secretly having an affair with him and would like Marina out of the way? Or, is it the hotheaded screen goddess Lola Brewster?

Inspector Craddock asks his aunt, the renowned amateur detective Miss Jane Marple, who injured her foot at the reception and is confined to her home, for assistance. The main suspect, Zielinsky, is then killed by a lethal nose spray after going to a pay phone in the village, where she called the murderer and threatened to expose them. Miss Marple, now back on her feet, visits Gossington Hall, where Marina and Jason are staying, and views where Babcock's death occurred. Working from information received from her cleaning woman, Cherry Baker (played by Morgan), who was working as a waitress the day of the murder, the determined elderly sleuth begins to piece together the events of the fatal reception and solves the mystery. By the time she has collected all the evidence to indicate who committed the crime, however, another death occurs at Gossington Hall, which sadly closes the case on who the murderer in St. Mary Mead actually is.

[edit] Quotes

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Lola: (to Jason) "My Svengali!"
Lola: "I could eat a can of Kodak and PUKE a better picture!"
Vicar: (played by Pack) "Oh, Mr. Rudd, I understand that you are a fillum producer."
Jason: "Oh, no, sir. A director."
Vicar: "Is there any difference?"
Jason: "Yes, sir. The, uh, producer supplies all the money; the director spends it. Then the producer yells that the director is spending too much money; the director doesn't pay any attention, and goes right on spending. The director gets all the credit; the producer gets an ulcer. You see, it's all very simple. Excuse me.
Lola: "You seem lovely, as always. Of course, there are fewer lights on than usual. In fact, any fewer and I'd need a seeing-eye dog."
"Marina: "Oh, I shouldn't bother to buy one, dear. In that wig, you could play Lassie."
Lola: "Same adorable sense of humor. And I'm so glad to see that you've not only kept your GORGEOUS figure, but you've added SOOOO MUCH to it!"
Marina: "What are you doing here so early, dear? I thought the plastic surgery seminar was in Switzerland."
Lola: "Actually, darling, I couldn't wait to begin our little movie. You know the saying: once an actress, always an actress."
Marina: "Oh, I do know the saying. But what does it have to do with you?"
Lola: "Cute angel. So, do tell. How does it feel to be back, after being away SO LONG?"
Lola: "Chin up, darling... Both of them!"
Marina: "Lola, dear, you know, there are really only two things I dislike about you."
Lola: "Really? What are they?"
Marina: "Your face."
Marty: (forgetting he is in England and picking up the phone) "Get me the Coast.... What do you mean, what coast?"
Marina: (to Lola) "What are you supposed to be, a birthday cake? Too bad everybody's HAD a piece."
Marina: (looking in the mirror) "Bags, bags, go away. Come right back on Doris Day."
Inspector Craddock (speaking of Marina and Lola) "I heard the two of them are close. Is that true?"
Ella: "Close? If you put the two of them together in a tank with a shark, the shark would have an identity crisis."
Ella: "Marty Fenn's a producer. He only lies when he speaks."
Inspector Craddock: (to Jason) "I'm sure you'll make a fine film without the aid of Scotland Yard. I'm here about a minor matter of murder."

[edit] Trivia

Some have speculated that Agatha Christie used the real life tragedy of actress Gene Tierney to construct her fictional plot in The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, as the motive behind the murder is similar to an incident that happened to her.
At one point, Lola refers to having "Alexander" brought in to do her hair. Elizabeth Taylor's hair was done for the movie by Alexandre de Paris.