Miss Marple: Volume One (Blu-ray)

How very much I love all things Marple is humiliating. Moving on.... The high definition restoration on Miss Marple is nothing short of a digital miracle. The colors brightened to such an extent, I found myself remembering dull and drab locations and people practically dressed in burlap sacks as compared to what they were wearing, sitting on, walking past. Nothing is unnatural, not too bright, not neon, certainly not overly contrasted, but precisely what you would expect in terms of the coloring on objects, locations and people, if this were filmed today without any strange lenses or lights. It appears wholly natural, real, and beautiful. I didn't expect such a high quality presentation. To add to that, the clarity is excellent, film grain was satisfactory to me, and I am never pleased with grain, and the aspect ratio is maintained. The only picture issue is the standard one for UK shows released on Blu-ray in America: this should be faster, by 4%, showing in the original PAL compatible speed at 1080i and, as a consequence of the films running slightly slower, because they were slowed down during conversion, the dialog seems a bit slow, to me and the films drag ever so slightly. Still, this is a beautiful set for video/picture quality and will not be beat. For sound, the audio appears to me very well preserved. I did not notice significant flaws. Voices were clear and consistent and the music was as fun as ever. I hope you find what you are looking for. As for this one, I absolutely recommend it for anyone who loves Marple and very strongly advise getting this one if you love a love of quaint English villages and murder mysteries.

This first volume of 4 movies is extremely strong in everything: strong stories with strong plots and strong twists, strong actors, strong cinematography and strong interest from beginning to end, not to mention strong Blu Ray picture quality. I don't know yet about the other two volumes which I also received at the same time, but when I'll have seen them my review will be on their respective pages. The 1st part BONUS is also in Blu Ray and very interesting about real crimes in London. 2 stories last almost 2 hours, and 2 almost 3 hours. And more than 1 viewing is necessary to understand every single rich plot detail I must say, so you get your money's worth and more!... A very good purchase indeed!...

We've owned many iterations of the Joan Hickson Miss Marple series (VHS, DVD and now Blu Ray), so we were delighted to hear of the newly restored Blu Ray release. First the stories: The Joan Hickson versions of Miss Marple reflect a more genteel time. A time where the pace of life was slower and people acted with more respect and consideration toward others. (Except for the odd murder...) At first glance these stories may seem dull and boring when compared to the pacing of current movies. But on further viewings one starts to see how varied and engaging the characters are. Agatha Christie wrote murder mysteries that revolved around the psychological side of crime, not explosions, car chases and nudity. Thankfully, these movies leave something to the imagination and are mostly faithful to the books that they are based on, unlike the more recent Miss Marple efforts. The restoration: The restoration of theses movies was beautifully done. They lack the "pop" in color that a more recent movie may have but I feel that the softer hue that these Blu Rays have is perfectly fitting for the time period they represent. While watching these we couldn't help but be amazed by all the things that the restored Blu Rays revealed that we couldn't see in our DVD set. (Color and patterns of clothing and upholstery) Overall, this was a great purchase and we can't wait for the next set to be released.

I bought all three series for my wife, who is a huge fan of the originals. Having watched a few on Blu-ray, I think they are very good, with a couple "cons." This is the definitive Marple in our family's opinion, though we still like the more recent modernized ones. First, they look great in terms of grain, sharpness and color. A huge improvement over the DVD versions we own. You will constantly be noticing details that escaped you on previous viewings. There also seem to be some small additional scenes included in these that were not in the as-broadcast PBS versions. The picture does not naturally lend itself to the big screen wide screen set. You either have to zoom in (missing sometimes important parts of the frame) or else live with bars on the ends. We first settled on zoomed in, and sometimes as when a car drives from left to right at the bottom of the screen, you can't see all of it. And tops of heads are cut off. So I think we're going to try the bars again. Since it wasn't filmed in wide screen originally, this is what it is. Just don't be surprised by it. What was surprising to us looking at these on a large (70") screen was how often focus was off. Person who is talking a little fuzzy, the back of the chair they are sitting in is razor sharp. This happens often in some episodes and is distracting. Some of the close ups of faces are just plain out of focus. I am sure nobody noticed this on a TV set during the original run but in a decent home theater it is quite apparent. And another thing these Blu rays can't fix from the source material. So all in all, we like them. They are a big step up in picture quality, but not audio quality, from the DVDs. The sound is a bit primitive. Enhanced details like footsteps and other background noises but in general it sounds like compressed mono. My receiver shows it as mono. Dialogue can be faint at times, better at others.

Agatha Christie, Miss Marple stories are great traditional entertainment. I enjoy it so much that I bought Miss Marple Volume One, Volume Two and Volume Three through amazon.com. The only rough thing is that the first disk, with Murder at the Vicarage in Volume One is scratched so that the disk plays Murder at the Vicarage fine, but the second piece on the same disk, The Moving Finger, does not play well at all. It is nobody's fault, these thinks just happen. When I can afford the added expense I'll just buy another copy of Volume One. Maybe I'll give the extra copies of disks 2 and 3 to a friend.

This volume has been beautifully re-mastered. The picture is clear and crisp and the color is much more intense than the previous version but still somewhat muted to reflect the era. I am thrilled to see that the BBC decided to restore this wonderful series starring the GREAT Joan Hickson. I hope this restoration will attract a younger audience so they can enjoy these stories by the incomparable Agatha Christie and the brilliant acting all around in a 21st century format. Just FYI - the stories on this volume: THE MURDER AT THE VICARAGE THE MOVING FINGER THE BODY IN THE LIBRARY A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED (my personal favorite)

I have a new blue ray dvd player that should handle this but the dvd won’t play it. Sad, we were looking forward to seeing it.

Fine edition of the BBC Miss Marple with Joan Hickson - the only true Miss Marple on screen ever! The colors are marvelous and finally true to life and the picture is crisp and detailed, true HD. Has a black border though, as the original fromat is 4:3. Little drawback in regard to delivery: It was very fast - but the BluRay cover itself was cracked in two places. Not serious, yet the envelope perhaps should have contained cardboard... The sealing (cling wrap) was undamaged as was the disk itself. So am satisfied overall. Miss Marple: Volume One (Blu-ray)

Opino que la adaptación está muy lograda. He disfrutado enormemente con cada uno de los capítulos, el inglés es exquisito.

This DVD version of this series is fantastic quality and well worth watching. By far the best series of Miss Marple ever made. I feel sure Agatha Christie would love this Miss Marple better than any other as I do too.

If you are hesitating about buying this blu-ray set, hesitate no longer. Buy it now! As other reviewers have said, if you are UK based, do not worry about it being Region 1, it plays perfectly on any UK region 2 player, complete with english subtitles if you need them. The picture and sound are a huge improvement over the old UK DVD sets, and I cannot praise these sets highly enough (this applies to all 3 sets which, between them, make up the complete collection.) I'm afraid you will have to cope with tiresome adverts for inferior series at the start of each disc, but you can jump through these quickly. I do not need to spend very much time on the programmes themselves. Watching them again on these superb discs, one is reminded that this is an almost flawless television series. At its heart, of course, is the astonishing performance by Joan Hickson, who captures the character with total conviction, and in a way not even approached by any of her predecessors or successors. I know that everyone says it, but she really IS Miss Marple. Because she is perfection, one sometimes forgets the brilliance of the supporting casts, which include such fine actors as Gwen Watford, Paul Eddington, Andrew Cruickshank. Ursula Howells, Joan Sims, Selina Cadell, Tom Wilkinson, Margaret Tyzack, Jean Simmons, Claire Bloom. On top of all this, the stories are all as faithful as possible to the original novels, which cannot be said of the later ITV series. So treat yourself! Television detective fiction doesn't get any better than this, and the blu-ray is a massive improvement on the DVDs.

Volume One of a Remastered Hi-Def Version of the Original TV Mystery Series Blu-Ray 4:3 BBC 2-Disc Volume One Release Review by Roberto C. It appears to be an obvious limitation of the original film format that this new remastered release, though in HD Blu-ray resolution, is still in the older 4:3 aspect ratio but as commented by others, the improved technical quality of the video and audio makes it a real pleasure to view. Being a long time aficionado of Christie’s Miss Marple stories, I have always found it rather an amusing and curious thing that Miss Marple herself always just happens to be somehow but a mere step away from the event of a jolly good murder! I have viewed the two recent Marple series on PBS in the last few years as good although the storylines were faster and more compressed but I always remembered the remarkable Joan Hickson series back in the later ‘80s and early 90’s. Now, on viewing the first four mysteries of this updated release I am reminded again of the subtlety of her demure stance in portraying the role of the old spinster who could manage to melt into a crime scene virtually unnoticed, then underplay herself while delivering her lines with an uncanny sense of timing. Hence, I say the Ultimate Miss Marple! By its title as Volume One it implies that the BBC plans to release all of the material done with Joan Hickson as the indefatigable Christie’s Miss Marple. According to the Wikipedia filmograpy of Hickson, she participated in twelve of these mysteries for the BBC so it would seem there will be three volumes issued for release in this series (in fact am just aware that Volume Two will be available through Amazon at end of March 2015 in Can. & US).

This volume contains four Agatha Christie murder mysteries featuring Christie's most well known and much loved amateur detective Miss Jane Marple. The role of Miss Marple, an elderly spinster with "a mind like a meat cleaver" is played by my most favourite Miss Marple of all, British actress Joan Hickson, who sadly passed away some years ago. She is perfect as the shrewdly intelligent, mild mannered, Jane Marple, who lives in a quaint little English village and who manages to find and solve murders no matter where she goes. The stories are set in the 1950's and these BBC adaptations are absolutely fabulous; the costumes and makeup, the cars, the houses and decor, they're all perfect. Luckily, there are 2 more volumes available.