Agatha Christie-Marple-Sleeping Murder (2006) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Mystery | None | |
Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2006 | ||
Running Time | 93:19 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Edward Hall |
Studio
Distributor |
Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Geraldine McEwan Russ Abbot Geraldine Chaplin Philip Davis Dawn French Martin Kemp Aidan McArdle Paul McGann Sophia Myles Anna-Louise Plowman |
Case | Amaray-Transparent | ||
RPI | ? | Music | Dominik Scherrer |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Dolby Digital 2.0 (256Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | English for the Hearing Impaired | Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
Agatha Christie created two of the most enduring characters in crime fiction, Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. Both of these characters have recently been brought to life again in a series of Granada Television telemovies over the last few years. 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 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.
In this episode, the story revolves around a young woman, Gwenda Halliday (Sophia Myles) who has lived all her life in India with her father and is now going to England to prepare for her wedding. With an employee of her soon-to-be husband she starts searching for a home along the south coast of England. In a small village she finds a house that she instantly falls in love with and starts to organise for its purchase and renovation. As she progresses this she starts to have premonitions and visions of a murder which seems to have occurred many years before. Her fiancé's employee calls in Miss Marple to help solve the mystery. Once again the cast is full of English television regulars including Dawn French.
Stylistically, this telemovie includes some nice touches, somewhat reminiscent of a 1950s melodrama. Another quality English murder mystery from the Agatha Christie collection.
The video quality is very good but not spectacular.
The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, 16x9 enhanced, which is most likely the original aspect ratio.
The picture was quite clear and sharp throughout without being overly crisp. The sharpness was also affected by some light grain. There was no evidence of low level noise. The shadow detail was good.
The colour was very good with no issues to report.
The only noticeable artefact was a little mild aliasing.
There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired which are clear and easy to read.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
The audio quality is very good.
This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 256 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.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
None.
The menu was very simple only allowing for scene selection and turning on and off of subtitles. Music plays over a still from the show.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This series of four movies are available as a box set in Region 1 which includes the following special features:
As the local releases include no extras, this is obviously a better solution.
The video quality is very good.
The audio quality is very good.
The disc has no extras.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV667A DVD-V DVD-A SACD, using Component output |
Display | Sony FD Trinitron Wega KV-AR34M36 80cm. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL)/480i (NTSC). |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Pioneer VSX-511 |
Speakers | Monitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Sony SAW2500M Subwoofer |