Set in 1953, there is great excitement in the village of St Mary Mead because an American film crew is coming to shoot their production of Mary Queen Of Scots at Gossington Hall, which is owned by Miss Marple's old friend Dolly Bantry (WENDY MORGAN). The crew comprises leading lady Marina Gregg (ELIZABETH TAYLOR), her husband and director Jason Rudd (ROCK HUDSON), Marina's co-star Lola Brewster (KIM NOVAK) and the producer Marty Fenn (TONY CURTIS). A party is held at the hall to celebrate the arrival of the crew, which is the most exciting thing to have happened in the village for many years. However, Marina and Lola don't get on and are forever trading insults and then tragedy strikes when local girl Heather Babcock (MAUREEN BENNETT) dies after drinking a cocktail laced with poison. It subsequently turns out that Heather spilt her drink and that Marina gave her hers so now it looks as if Marina was the intended victim. Inspector Dermot Craddock (EDWARD FOX) is in charge of the case and as he happens to be the nephew of the spinster detective Miss Marple (ANGELA LANSBURY), they both investigate the case together. However, before Miss Marple can present the solution to the interested parties and Craddock can make an arrest, the killer among the film crew strikes again...<br /><br />THE MIRROR CRACK'D is based on Agatha Christie's 1962 Miss Marple whodunit, "The Mirror Crack'd From Side To Side" and the film was EMI's third big budget, all-star Christie adaptation following up MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (1974) and DEATH ON THE NILE (1978). However, despite a pleasing recreation of the 1950's period, the film proved to be a complete disappointment as practically everyone in the star studded cast seems uncomfortable in their parts with the exceptions of Tony Curtis as maverick Hollywood producer Marty Fenn and Edward Fox as Inspector Craddock. There is a memorable scene (and there aren't many here) between the two where Craddock asks "What does The End stand for?" and Fenn replies "I don't know but it looks great up there on the silver screen". Angela Lansbury who offered an excellent performance as the alcoholic romantic novelist Salome Otterbourne in DEATH ON THE NILE is sadly wasted as Miss Marple as too little is seen of her despite the fact that she is one of the most important characters in the film. However, just a few years after this, she would achieve great success on television in the long running MURDER SHE WROTE as the mystery writer turned detective Jessica Fletcher. All in all, THE MIRROR CRACK'D is a pretty missable offering as very little tension is created and the direction is sadly lifeless. The mock fifties b-movie entitled "Murder At Midnight", which features the excellent British character actor Nigel Stock is a great laugh though.