The Mirror Crack'd is a thoroughly enjoyable Agatha Christie mystery which follows in the screen tradition of Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, besting both of them thanks to a witty, well constructed screenplay by Jonathan Hales and Barry Sandler. Angela Lansbury is featured as Miss Jane Marple, an amateur detective who is a highly skilled observer of human nature. Edward Fox plays her nephew, Chief Inspector Dermot Craddock of Scotland Yard.
The story is set in the quiet and quaint English village of St. Mary Mead. The tranquility of the place is shattered with the arrival of an American film company come to shoot an English period drama. At a reception for the outsiders, Heather Babcok, an ebullient fan of movie star Marina Gregg (Elizabeth Taylor), is served a poisoned cocktail and dies on the spot. Was the drink meant for her or someone else? The suspects include director Jason Rudd (Rock Hudson), husband of Marina who is having an affair with his executive secretary, Ella Zielinsky (Geraldine Chaplin); Marty N. Fenn (Tony Curtis), the anxious producer; and Lola Brewster (Kim Novack), Fenn's actress wife who has been feuding with Marina for years.
Everything about The Mirror Crack'd is just right — from the lovely sets to the bitchy repartee among the Hollywood folk to Elizabeth Taylor's multilayered performance to Edward Fox's nuanced depiction of the Inspector to Angela Lansbury's perfect portrayal of the idiosyncratic and insightful Miss Marple. This entertainment is one of the season's best screen treats.