Teresa Reviews “A Caribbean Mystery” (1989): Nemesis in a Pink Fluffy Sweater

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This week we reviewed TWO versions of “A Caribbean Mystery.” Click here to read about the Julia McKenzie version.

Fidelity to text: 3 and 1/2 poison bottles.
Minor characters are removed, new ones added (mainly island citizens), scenes added or deleted, the island was changed, one character’s rationale is changed, but almost all the changes are in line with the novel.

Quality of movie on its own: 4 and 1/2 poison bottles.
I always deduct a 1/2 poison bottle for lack of subtitles as actors, even English ones, mumble. Seeing more of the resort island, especially the local police force and residents was a nice touch; it let the scriptwriter demonstrate that people are people the world around. Aunty Johnson (a new character for the film) provides gossip and evidence and recognizes Miss Marple as a kindred soul: an old lady deeply interested in the goings on of her fellow villagers.

The movie opens with Miss Marple’s house empty, dark, and the mail piling up. It’s a good opening, moving from dreary, rainy, gloomy England to the vivid sunshine and palm trees of the Caribbean. Miss Marple is enjoying an all-expenses paid vacation curtesy of nephew Raymond West to recover from a recent illness in exotic surroundings and plenty of fresh tropical air.

To further emphasize the change from England, the soundtrack changes too. I noticed those steel drums at once and the brighter, bouncier music. We also see far more of the locals than were present in the novel. Inspector Weston gets far more scenes demonstrating his quiet competence. And, remarkably, he knows who Miss Marple is!

The scriptwriters took the trouble of fleshing out Victoria as well, adding a charming scene in which Miss Marple visits Victoria’s Aunty Johnson for tea.

Aunty Johnson and Miss Marple hit it off right away as they both understand the true nature and power of gossip: it lets you understand human nature and what people do versus what they say. We also get a sadly true-to-life scene afterwards when Molly, our hotel owner, tells Victoria to remember her place and not take the paying guests off hotel grounds to see the real residents of the island. It spoils the fantasy of paradise when you see worker housing, transportation, and poverty.

Another very atmospheric addition was the exhumation of Major Palgrave, overseen by Inspector Weston. It’s done late at night (I assume to slow down the gossip) and we see the coffin being dug up and hauled out. Good music matches the scene. Inspector Weston gets many more scenes interrogating various characters. He knows his business and the contrast between him and the island governor couldn’t be stronger. The governor is more interested in his stamp collection, not being bothered, and not bothering those higher up the food chain than he’s interested in seeing justice done.

We lose a few characters but they aren’t missed. The biggest character change is Lucky Dyson. She’s still married to Greg Dyson while carrying on an affair with Edward Hillington. Here, she gets a scene with Inspector Weston where she clarifies her motivation in helping Greg Dyson’s first wife, Mary, along to her death. It was a mercy killing because Mary (named Gail in the novel) was suffering horribly as she died by inches from cancer and Lucky, the nurse, couldn’t stand to see her dear friend suffer any longer. In the novel, Lucky is far more unpleasant. She fooled her lover Edward into getting the drugs needed to murder Mary. She then married the grieving widower about a month later. She’s blackmailing Edward over helping her in her crimes. In the film, she’s toying with him because it’s fun but it didn’t seem like Edward helped overdose Mary with morphine.

This motivational improvement does not save Lucky from her fate. The actress playing Lucky was perfect. Loud, brassy, a bottle blonde, she stole every scene she was in. Supposedly she slightly resembles Molly Kendal but only if you aren’t paying attention, you’re seeing her from the back, and if it’s dark.

Molly, I’m sad to say, was a tepid drip of water compared to Lucky.

I’ll be charitable and say the actress playing Molly Kendal was showcasing a woman who was overburdened and being driven insane by her gaslighting husband. Belladonna poisoning would make anyone nuts with its hallucinations and blackouts. But my God was she bland. Nice looking, but there wasn’t any spark. It’s like her entire function in life was to marry the wrong bad boy so he could mooch off her and when he was done mooching, trade her in for a richer, stupider model.

This being a Christie mystery, that richer, stupider model was already waiting in the wings.

The other interesting character was Edward Hillington, but not interesting in that I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the screen. Oh, no. I could not for the life of me see why a livewire like Lucky Dyson wasted time on a tepid, reserved man whose sole purpose in life was capturing, torturing, and killing butterflies followed by sketching their remains. A different actor might have livened up Edward Hillington. I understand why his wife might have married him; boy next door, family approval, there wasn’t much to choose from, but Lucky Dyson? Remove her motive for amusing herself with Edward Hillington and you’re left with, with, well, I don’t know what you’re left with. She can’t be that bored.

Joan Hickson was wonderful as always. She expresses her boredom listening to Major Palgrave so well and her sparring with Mr. Rafiel is a pleasure to watch. And yes, you get to see her as nemesis, wrapped in a fluffy pink shawl at the climax.

The climax was enhanced by the scriptwriter’s choice to emphasize another tidbit of island culture. Aunty Johnson tells the murderer that it’s been nine days since Victoria was murdered. Victoria was buried with a whip in each hand and she came back to see justice done. Was that a hint of voodoo? It could be. I know that in the Episcopal church, you don’t get buried with a whip in each hand if you were murdered. I have no idea if the scriptwriter made that tidbit up out of whole cloth but it helped demonstrate again that Miss Marple was alone on an island, not her own. She took it in stride.

She does return to St. Mary Mead and it is, naturally, gloomy and raining. Oh to be in England instead of a tropical island in the Caribbean.

Add A Caribbean Mystery with Joan Hickson to your must-watch pile. You’ll enjoy your tropical vacation with a side of murder.

Support Peschel Press at no cost to you! Buy the Joan Hickson box set.