Teresa Reviews The Lady’s Maid and the Maid (1990)

Teresa reviews The Lady’s Maid and the Maid (1990), an Estonian Miss Marple episode, and found it a serviceable telling of the short story.

(c)2024 by Teresa Peschel

Fidelity to text: 3½ garrotes
Most of the story remains; what was cut was replaced by long scenes of people driving around the Baltic coastline.

Quality of film: 3 garrotes
It’s okay. Ita Ever is very watchable, plus a kitten, which makes everything better.

Read more of Teresa’s Agatha Christie movie reviews at Peschel Press.

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Way too much time was spent watching people drive along the Baltic coast in odd-looking cars. I assume it’s the Baltic coast, since Estonia has a lot of coastline and that body of water looks too big to be a lake.

The episode opens with a very stylish Miss Politt attempting to locate Mrs. Spenlow. She doesn’t answer the door, so Miss Hartnell (one of St. Mary Mead’s officious do-gooders) takes charge. Mrs. Spenlow’s body is discovered, garroted in her dressing gown, and we’re off.

Inspector Slack, looking far too young, shows up to interview Miss Marple. She spots the pin in his lapel which he picked up at the crime scene. She’s already heard the gossip about the murder. I’m assuming he’s either flustered by her acumen or her wielding a soldering iron to repair a massive boombox. She also smokes and hastily stubs out her cigarette.

Mr. Spenlow appears guilty to everyone because he doesn’t show any grief over his wife’s death. Unlike the story, he doesn’t explain why he’s so stoic. Miss Marple, who knows something about being fitted for a dress, puts together Mrs. Spenlow’s attire at death and the pin in Slack’s lapel, and realizes the murderer must be that rarity: not the husband.

She accosts the police secretary who looks fourteen and gets to speak with Colonel Mehchett. He dismisses the idea that this murder is related to a long-ago emerald theft.

We do not see Miss Marple work out where the mysterious phone call came from because it looks like Miss Politt lives by herself instead of a room over the post office.

It’s a serviceable retelling of the story but serviceable is all you get.