Agatha Christie-Marple-4.50 from Paddington (2004)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Mystery	Main Menu Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	93:54 (Case: 95)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Andy Wilson
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Geraldine McEwan Griff Rhys Jones David Warner Niamh Cusack Ben Daniels Charlie Creed-Miles Ciarán McMenamin Pam Ferris Tim Stern Michael Landes Kurtis O'Brien Toby Marlow Rob Brydon
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	Dominik Scherrer

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Agatha Christie created two of the most enduring characters in crime fiction, Hercule Poirot & Miss Jane Marple. Both of these characters have recently been brought to life again in a series of four Granada Television telemovies each. The Poirot ones arrived first and were followed by these ones featuring Miss Marple. Both series were shown on ABC television here in Australia and both have been released as a series of DVDs by Roadshow.

    As you would expect from Agatha Christie, all four of these new Miss Marple (played here by the wonderful Geraldine McEwan) stories are full of murder, twists, lies, red herrings and deceptions. It is impossible to describe the plot in detail without giving away the story and spoiling the twists. Accordingly, for each movie I will describe the crime and the main characters involved.

   4.50 from Paddington involves the witnessing of a murder by Mrs McGillicuddy (Pam Ferris), a friend of Miss Marple's. She takes the 4.50 from Paddington station on her way to visit Miss Marple and as she travels along she sees a man strangling a woman in another train which passes hers. Based upon the timing, they determine that the body must have been thrown from the train into the grounds of Rutherford Hall, inhabited by the Crackenthorpe family.

    The characters who become involved are:

• Lucy Eyelesbarrow (Amanda Holden) - A friend of Miss Marple who is persuaded to apply for a position as housekeeper at Rutherford Hall in order to collect information for Miss Marple.
• Luther Crackenthorpe (David Warner) - The patriarch of the family. He is not completely well and spends a lot of his time in bed. His father set up his will so that Luther did not inherit the house. His wife died some years earlier.
• Detective Inspector Tom Campbell (John Hannah) - A friend of Miss Marple who gets called in to investigate the murder.
• Emma Crackenthorpe (Niamh Cusack) - Daughter of Luther and the most loyal of his offspring.
• Doctor David Quimper (Griff Rhys-Jones) - The Crackenthorpe family doctor.
• Brian Eastley (Michael Landes) - The American widower of Luther's other daughter, Edith who is also dead. He has a young son.
• Alfred Crackenthorpe (Ben Daniels) - The oldest son of Luther who stands to inherit the house. An unpleasant man.
• Harold Crackenthorpe (Charlie Creed-Miles) - The middle son who has married the obnoxious Lady Alice.
• Cedric Crackenthorpe (Ciaran McMenamin) - The youngest and favourite son of Luther, a struggling artist.

    This is a good fun and diverting murder mystery, well played by the excellent cast, especially Geraldine McEwen who makes Miss Marple quirky, inquisitive and interesting. Recommended for fans of gentle murder mysteries in the Agatha Christie style.

Video

    The video quality is good but not quite as good as you might expect for such a recent production.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is most likely the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was reasonably clear and sharp throughout although certainly not crisp. The sharpness was also affected by light grain throughout. There was no evidence of low level noise. The shadow detail was very good.

    The colour was very good with no issues to report.

    The only noticeable artefacts were some small bits of edge enhancement and mild aliasing such as at 7:55 on the cupboard and 25:00 on the tapestry and a few other spots.

    There are no subtitles which is disappointing.
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is very good.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 224 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.

    The score of this film by Dominik Scherrer is very good indeed, surprisingly so for a television production. It adds significantly to the mood of the show. The music sounds very warm and full.

    The surround speakers were used quite extensively for music when played using Dolby ProLogic II.

     The subwoofer was used to add bass to the music but this was more a function of my amp's bass management than anything else.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    None.

Menu

    The menu was very simple only allowing for scene selection. Music plays over a still from the show.

    The set of four movies are available as a box set in Region 1 which includes the following special features:

• Hour long behind-the-scenes featurette with cast and crew interviews
• History of Marple adaptations
• Photo gallery
• Agatha Christie bio
• Cast filmographies 

    As the local releases include no extras, this is obviously a better solution.

    The video quality is good.

    The audio quality is very good.

    The disc has no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall