Agatha Christie's Marple: Geraldine McEwan Collection

I can't speak to whether or not the stories have been changed dramatically from the actual books they're based upon, but I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed watching all three seasons of "Agatha Christie's Marple" staring Geraldine McEwan, which are collected here in this very affordable set AGATHA CHRISTIE'S MARPLE: THE GERALDINE MCEWAN COLLECTION DVDs.There's over 19-hours of mysteries to get involved in and I enjoyed McEwan's portrayal.If you read my other review for the fifth season of  Agatha Christie's Marple: Complete Series 5 [Blu-ray ] you'll know that I started with that season and so I'm working my way backwards into this show. Anyway, I really enjoyed season 5 and so I decided to get this collection; I'm glad that I did.Even though there is a cast change after season three and Julia McKenzie takes over the role of "Jane Marple" from Geraldine McEwan, both actresses do a fine job in it. Now I've read some of the other reviews who felt that neither actress did justice to the character, or felt that Joan Hickson ( Miss Marple - 3 Feature Length Mysteries (The Body in the Library / A Murder Is Announced / A Pocketful of Rye) ) was the definitive Miss Marple, but I enjoyed all three.Mind you that I've only read one Christie story, "The Blue Geranium," so I'm not at all an aficionado of Christie or her characters, but I found the mysteries on this collection entertaining and I'll be watching them over and over again. The scenery, music, cinematography, clothing and set decoration is absolutely gorgeous and each episode is a finely honed story.However some die-hard fans of the books have have not been pleased with story tweaks and reworkings, but I think if you enjoy mysteries and British accents, and aren't too much of a Christie purist, you'll really enjoy these shows.Here's a run down of the special features on the set:*** SERIES 1 ***-- Behind-The-Scenes Featurette - 01-hour:54-secondsGeraldine McEwan ("Jane Marple") talks about the show and stepping into the iconic character and canon and this fabulous featurette shows behind the scenes of the filming and includes interviews with Joanna Lumely ("Dolly Bantry") and Jack Davenport ("Superintendent Harper"), among others.-- Text - Viewers can read additional information:"Marple On Film & TV" and "Christie Bio"*** SERIES 2 **** Behind-The-Scenes Featurettes * (Instead of combining the featurettes into one showing the DVD's producer split them up so that each one is on the appropriate episode)-- "Behind-the-scenes of Sleeping Murder" - 16-minutes:19-secondsMcEwan talks about character and this featurette includes interviews with cast member Sophia Myles and Aiden McArdle, director Edward Hall, and shows rehearsal footage.-- TextAgatha Christie Bio & Select Cast Filmographies-- "Behind-the-scenes of By The Pricking Of My Thumbs" - 16-minutes:34-secondsMcEwan, Anthony Andrews ("Tommy Beresford"), Charles Dance ("Septimus Bligh"), Jane Whitfield ("Mrs. Lancaster") talk about their respective characters, etc.-- "Behind-the-scenes of The Moving Finger" - 13-minutes:44-secondsInterviews with cast members McEwan, James D'arcy, Emilia Fox, Frances De LaTour and others.-- "Behind-the-scenes of The Sittaford Mystery" - 11-minutes:42-secondsInterviews with cast members James Murray, Zoe Telford, McEwan and others.*** SERIES 3 **** TEXT * they got cheap on this season with no behind-the-scenes extras, but includes text on Christie Bio and Booklist, Cast Filmographies, and Still photo galleries.Anyway, this is a great DVD set and it comes housed in three regular sized clam-shell DVD cases, each holding four DVDs, within a box.

I love a good mystery and had become hooked on Hercule Poirot years ago but could not develop enthusiasm for Miss Marple after seeing one of the early shows. But PBS mysteries ran a few episodes starring Julia McKenzie and I thought to myself "that's how Miss Marple should be". Picked up a couple of DVDs from my library only to realize these had Geraldine McEwan. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Ms. McKenzie and think she makes a fantastic Miss Marple, but for me Ms McEwan IS Miss Marple (it's like Doctor Who - everyone has their favorite Doctor even though all of them are wonderful). It's the subtle things she does - a raised eyebrow, twinkling eyes, the big sigh - that really bring the character life. Having all of her movies in one set was too enticing to pass up. It's the English cozy mystery at it's best and no one did it better than Agatha Christie. And while some of my favorite episodes were not written with Miss Marple, they still stayed very true to the actual stories and lost nothing at all by her addition (yes I know, Tommy & Tuppence and Superintendent Battle were reduced to a pittance or removed totally and I do feel their loss but it was still handled beautifully that unless you were familiar with the stories you wouldn't notice anything). This is a must have for all Miss Marple and Agatha Christie fans.

The plots are more updated. There is only so many times you can redo The Body In The Library, etc. So throw in a couple of lesbians in uptight 1950's, and there you go! It would have been funnier with a couple of gays, but lesbians are kinder and gentler. I enjoyed the new plots, but my favorites are mysteries that Marple was never originally in. Some of the actors (especially Eileen Atkins) are marvelous.Miss Marple this time around is more of a Bohemian, puckish kind of sleuth. Kind of cute, hippie Miss Marple. It fits Geraldine McEwan's petite size. I do love Joan Hickson as Miss Marple, but this is a nice change. With Hickson, she's prim and proper. With Julia McKenzie a warm, rather stout Miss Marple. They are all good actors.So give the new versions a chance. They'll grow on you.

No, these episodes are not true to Ms. Christie's writings but that's not an issue for me. I've only read a couple Agatha Christie books - don't think less of me - so I see these as pure entertainment. I enjoy McEwan's portrayal of Miss Marple and am disappointed that she only did 12 episodes. [I also find it sad that she died a couple weeks ago.] I first saw these on Netflix and watched them over and over and over again so when Netflix no longer offered them I finally caved and bought the dvd set. It's going to take a couple weeks to watch all of them but so far, the dvd quality is fine.

Absolutely love Agatha Christie's Marple. Geraldine McEwan is excellent in the role of Jane Marple, and I love how they've given her a backstory that crops up every so often. It is a little bit of insight into what makes Marple tick, yet it doesn't interfere with the story. Very well done. I also like the caliber of English actors that the show's producers were able to get to play various parts. It definitely enhances the quality of the shows.

In this set of DVD's,, the filmmaker shows a more personal side of Agatha Christie's detective. One episodes shows Miss Marple with a well-worn photo of a good-looking, uniformed man. As she gazes, we see a hazy flashback to Miss Marple and her friend/fiance/lover as he boards a train carrying him away from her. No reason to think Miss Marple never had a romance--I wonder about that very personal mystery!

My wife and I already had the more authentic version of Ms. Marple acted by Joan Hickson, Geraldine is just so much fun to watch, not quite such an 'old lady' as Hickson even if not quite so authentic to what Agatha Christie wrote.

Great product. Clear and quality good.

Superb supporting cast, well acted and very authentic sets and scenery. I can't comment on whether they're true to the books but then, films never are. I read a lot of books and , when I see the film, it never matches what my imagination had played in my head while reading the book. This series does set the bar for good film mysteries and I''l enjoy watching it again and again. While I may know on second and subsequent viewings "whodunnit", it'll always be refreshing to see the actors play out their roles again in such intriguing surroundings. I very much enjoy Geraldine McEwans portrayal of Miss Marple.

This set is excellent. The quality is superb. The acting and episodes are very entertaining even for the most discerning Miss Marple fans. Does not disappoint on any level.

Geraldine McEwan delivers an excellent Miss Marple with a twinkle in her eye. Not closed captioned, but a truly good presentation, an one not to be missed. She provides a different take on Marple than does Jean Hickson, but it is still an excellent take, and worth the price of admission.

We have really enjoyed watching these DVDs. Well done, with great actors in all the roles. In my opinion Geraldine McEwan is one of the best actresses to play Miss Marple. The locations are also really beautiful. Only problem is that we have nearly watched them all already. If only they had made more....