THE MIRROR CRACK'D gives some fine stars at the tail end of their careers something worthwhile to chew on--a good script and some gorgeous Bririth scenery substituting for the little town of St. Mary Mead where most of the action takes place.

The choicest bits of dialog go to ELIZABETH TAYLOR and KIM NOVAK as catty rivals who find themselves co-starring in a new film to be produced by Novak's husband, TONY CURTIS and directed by Taylor's husband, ROCK HUDSON. Also involved, of course, is ANGELA LANSBURY, as the famous sleuth, Miss Marple, who has a funny bit at the film's start where she attends a screening of a murder mystery where the film breaks down. To the disappointed audience, she tells the rest of the plot which she has figured out.

When a local girl is murdered, it's up to Miss Marple to solve the real-life mystery. Though slow in developing its storyline, it's interesting to note that an incident that occurred to movie star Gene Tierney is incorporated into the plot as an important clue.

Fans of Christie will most likely come away from this one recalling the catfight remarks between Taylor (getting a little hefty here) and Novak (still streamlined enough). Other than that, the only member of the supporting cast that really stands out is EDWARD FOX as Inspector Craddock, Miss Marple's nephew, who finds himself doing most of the legwork when Miss Marple becomes ill.

Interesting but certainly not the best of Christie, lacking the usual amount of taut suspense one expects in any murder mystery.

Lord Brabourne who produced The Mirror Crack'd as he did a few other films adapted from Agatha Christie's work was lucky to have produced this at all. He was the son-in-law of Lord Louis Mountbatten and when the IRA blew up the yacht they were on, Brabourne's mother and son were killed on the vessel as well as Mountbatten. Brabourne, his wife and a younger son survived. This all happened a year before The Mirror Crack'd filmed and was released.

This film is right in keeping with the high standard of pictures Brabourne made of Christie stories like Murder On The Orient Express and Evil Under The Sun. As the story involves an American film crew over in Great Britain in 1953 Brabourne was able to get a quartet of top Hollywood names in support of Angela Lansbury as Jane Marple.

Producer Tony Curtis and Director Rock Hudson are collaborating on a film about Mary Queen of Scots that will star Hudson's wife Elizabeth Taylor in the title role. Curtis's wife Kim Novak plays what would be billed as a cameo in the film as Queen Elizabeth. Taylor and Novak are rivals in the tradition of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford and get off some truly bitchy lines at each other.

Maureen Bennett who is one of the villagers and who met Taylor years ago in passing when she was a WREN and Taylor was entertaining troops is poisoned at a gathering of the villagers and the film crew. Someone spiked Bennett's daiquiri and who could possibly want to murder this ingenuous fan. Later on Hudson's secretary and girl Friday and trenchant observer of the whole Hollywood scene Geraldine Chaplin is also poisoned when her inhaler is similarly spiked.

When Lansbury figures out the who in the film it all becomes deceptively simple. The motive however is an incredibly complex and obscure one involving a trivial passing incident that brought to life a great tragedy suffered by one of the visiting Americans.

The film is a reunion of sorts with Hudson and Taylor as co-stars of the classic Giant from the Fifties, a personal favorite of mine for both its stars. Also back in those days Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis were both the leading contract stars at Universal studios, but they never starred together in anything. They did appear in Winchester 73 as featured players but had no scenes together. I really liked Curtis the best in this film with him doing a wonderful satire of Darryl F. Zanuck in the producer part. I'm sure Agatha Christie must have met Zanuck sometime because she had him down great and of course Curtis knew him as well.

Definitely The Mirror Crack'd is a must for Agatha Christie fans and for fans of the stars. And considering what its producer went through we are lucky to have it at all.

THE MIRROR CRACK'D is one of the later Agatha Christie film adaptations, made just before her work moved almost exclusively into TV series versions. This one features Angela Lansbury in unconvincing old age make-up as Miss Marple, although at 54 she was simply a decade too young for the role and never convinces. Not that Marple is involved much, in an otherwise convoluted and long-winded tale of showbusiness and rivalry between stars. This gets off to a great start, with a film-within-a-film of old time stars that's worth the admission price alone, but soon gets bogged down in silly shenanigans and a boring murder case. The incredible cast truly is the only reason to tune in, with the likes of Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis rubbing shoulders, although the most fun comes from the cat fights between Kim Novak and Elizabeth Taylor as a pair of old-time rivals.