Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Apparently Bette Davis fans will watch her in anything, which explains why even though she was deathly ill she agreed to travel to England to do this made-for-TV mess. She looks far more ill than the role suggests, supposedly in her current condition because of a bout with the flu. Indeed, she looks ghastly in over-emphasized make-up and is unable to give anything but poor line readings to her role as the woman who is rumored to be the victim of a poison plot.Even older than Bette is Helen Hayes as Miss Marple, but she at least is spry enough to convince us that she could be the meddlesome type her character is supposed to be. Her scenes with Leo McKern, as a befuddled police inspector, are a joy to watch.The less said about the rest of the cast, the better. Even pros like John Mills fails to make his character believable as the head of the household. The usual red herrings don't work here, as the murderer is revealed far too soon for anyone paying attention to details.Chalk this one up as another misfire in an attempt to do justice to Agatha Christie's work.

The only reason I saw this was for Bette Davis. She was frail as a bird, yet beautiful in her old age. Love that she's wearing big false eyelashes!!! Otherwise this Agatha Christie movie was so DULL! With so many missed opportunities for some entertaining mystery! It was badly filmed and cheap-looking and virtually suspense-free! The murder scene when the people are in the drawing room was botched by the director. No atmosphere at all!!!! Almost no fun dialog that said much about the characters. The only good actors were the woman playing Mildred and John Mills. Helen Hayes was really shaky as ms. Marple. Her American accent came through much too much -and she was supposed to be a great stage actress!!!! Leo McKern was the only one adding some personality to his character. The young actors were terrible but the American guy was at least not wearing underwear under his jeans...!!!! This is certainly NOT one of the classic Agathas and does not deserve to be mentioned!

It's interesting to set this film beside the Joan Hickson version, which was, like her whole Marple series, excellent. This version is not so, so terrible, though. It benefits from a sumptuous location and excellent actors like McKern, Woodvine and Tutin. I don't feeling the actors are having a laugh at the author's expense - unlike everyone involved in the latest run with Geraldine McEwen as Marple, which I find totally unwatchable.Christie's stories don't suffer from being updated to the 80s. The issues she raises here were just as live in the 80s as the 50s, and now. She gets in some sharp observation of the type of person who pretends to everyone (and themselves) they are only interested in helping young criminals, while using them to boost their ego, confirm their theories, and what have you. These leeches are still around.

Compare this to _They Do It with Mirrors (1991) (TV)_ and you see why even Agatha Christie thought 'Joan Hickson' (qv) the perfect Miss Marple. Not even Sir 'John Mills' (qv), 'Bette Davis' (qv) and 'Helen Hayes' (qv) can make this film truly enjoyable. The producers must have been unable to afford to set the film in its time, and just dropped it 40 or 50 years out-of-time: doomed from the start.