--- title: "The Mirror Crack'd" year: 1980 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-mirror-crackd" fi1m_id: "the-mirror-crackd" imdb_id: "tt0081163" tmdb_id: 6028 wikidata_id: "Q2543979" fi1m_score: 52 critics_reviews: 3 published: "2026-10-04T17:05:00.346740+00:00" updated: "2026-10-04T17:05:00.864739+00:00" region: "ES" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Mirror Crack'd (1980) Directed by Guy Hamilton · 1h 45m · Mystery, Crime, Thriller ## Identity The Mirror Crack'd - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-mirror-crackd - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** the-mirror-crackd - **IMDb ID:** tt0081163 - **TMDB ID:** 6028 - **Wikidata ID:** Q2543979 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081163/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/6028, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2543979 **Fi1m score: 52** · Critics: 3 of 6 reviews so far *In a sentence:* Elizabeth Taylor and Kim Novak trade insults in front of the whole village and the murder has to wait its turn > Guy Hamilton’s Christie is a comfortable, well-dressed afternoon, with Taylor and Novak sniping at each other in front of the whole village. The mystery underneath is thin, and Angela Lansbury’s Miss Marple spends too much of it on the sofa. ## Synopsis St Mary Mead, 1953. A Hollywood company arrives to shoot a costume picture about Mary Queen of Scots, and the village turns out in its best hats to look. Marina Rudd (Elizabeth Taylor), a star returning to work after years away, has bought Gossington Hall from Mrs. Bantry (Margaret Courtenay) with her director husband Jason Rudd (Rock Hudson). Her rival Lola Brewster (Kim Novak) has been cast opposite her, and the two have unfinished business. The producer Martin N. Fenn (Tony Curtis) wants the picture made and the women kept apart. At a reception at the Hall, a local woman, Heather Babcock (Maureen Bennett), drinks a cocktail and dies. Miss Marple (Angela Lansbury), laid up with a sprained ankle, sends Inspector Craddock (Edward Fox) up to the Hall to ask who the drink was for. ## Review In 1953 a Hollywood company comes to St Mary Mead to make a costume picture. *The Mirror Crack’d* is Agatha Christie by way of John Brabourne and Richard Goodwin, the producers of *Murder on the Orient Express* and *Death on the Nile*, and follows the same recipe: one famous detective, a dozen famous faces, period frocks and a country house. Guy Hamilton directs at an even pace, and Barry Sandler and Jonathan Hales have kept the shape of the novel. The joke is that four Hollywood stars whose best years were the 1950s have been hired to play Hollywood stars whose best years were the 1950s. Elizabeth Taylor is Marina Rudd, an actress coming back from a breakdown to play Mary Queen of Scots. Kim Novak is Lola Brewster, cast against her and still angry about something from years ago. Their meeting at the Gossington Hall reception is the scene everyone remembers: two women smiling for the photographers while insulting each other’s age, figure and husbands. We laughed, properly, and then felt a little ashamed, because the film is asking two actresses to play has-beens in front of a crowd and did not seem to notice how close to the bone that was. In her quieter scenes with Rock Hudson, Taylor drops the grand manner and is simply a tired woman, and it caught us off guard. Angela Lansbury plays Miss Marple as brisk and pleased with herself, which is closer to the books than the fluttering version. The opening, in which a black-and-white thriller breaks down in the village hall and she names its killer for the audience, is the best use of her. Then the script sprains her ankle and she spends most of the film at home, sending Edward Fox’s Inspector Craddock up the hill to do the legwork. Fox is dry and good, and Wendy Morgan’s Cherry gets the only lines that sound like a person from 1953. Anyone coming to this after *Murder, She Wrote* will find Lansbury hard to see as anyone but Jessica Fletcher, which is not the film’s fault. Christopher Challis shoots the village in soft greens and the Hall in warm brown, and the film looks like a Sunday afternoon, which is what it is for. Michael Stringer dresses Gossington Hall as a house that has just changed hands and not settled. Phyllis Dalton puts Taylor in jewels and wide hats and Novak in satin cut too tight, so the clothes tell you who is winning. John Cameron’s score is light and stays in the village. Richard Marden cuts without hurry, which suits the tea and does nothing for the suspense. The men have less to do. Hudson, as Marina’s director husband Jason Rudd, is kind and worried, at length. Tony Curtis plays the producer Martin N. Fenn as a loud American with a cigar and gets the laughs he goes for and no others. Geraldine Chaplin, as the secretary Ella Zielinsky, is sour and watchful, the one performance that suggests a life off screen, and the film does not give her enough of it. Charles Gray’s butler, Bates, is there to open doors. The murder, when it comes, is of Heather Babcock (Maureen Bennett), a local woman who drinks a cocktail plainly meant for someone else. The question of who and why is Christie’s, and it holds. Hamilton stages the investigation as interviews in armchairs, and the detail that unlocks it is shown so squarely that the film seems worried we will miss it. Set against *Murder on the Orient Express*, where Sidney Lumet kept a dozen stars in a corridor and made you feel the train, this is slack. It runs 105 minutes and feels longer in the middle, when the stars are off screen. The few reviews so far disagree, and we are in the middle. There is a comfortable afternoon here, a party scene worth the ticket, and a mystery that would not keep a bright twelve-year-old guessing. Watch it on a wet Sunday with someone who remembers who Rock Hudson was. If they do not, the joke will need explaining, and the joke is the best thing in the film. *Fi1m score 52, published 4 October 2026.* ## What the critics say With only 3 reviews in so far, the lean is negative. Variety is the one dissenter, taking the film as a pleasant nostalgic throwback and finding Elizabeth Taylor more affecting than expected, with her sparring against Kim Novak counted as a strength. Radio Times agrees that the Taylor–Novak clash dominates, but treats that as a problem: the rest of the cast barely register, Angela Lansbury’s familiar persona makes her Miss Marple feel less fresh, and the mystery itself is mediocre. Time Out goes furthest, calling the film a flop and granting it only an odd, perverse fascination. ## Straight answers **Is The Mirror Crack'd worth watching?** *The Mirror Crack'd* is a comfortable, well-dressed Agatha Christie afternoon rather than a good mystery, and we scored it 52. Elizabeth Taylor and Kim Novak insulting each other at a party is worth the ticket, but Angela Lansbury's Miss Marple spends most of the film at home with a sprained ankle and the puzzle is thin. Watch it on a wet Sunday with someone who remembers Rock Hudson. **How long is The Mirror Crack'd, and what is it rated?** *The Mirror Crack'd* runs 1h 45m. It is a mystery and crime film. **Where can I watch The Mirror Crack'd in Spain?** *The Mirror Crack'd* is streaming on Amazon Prime Video in Spain, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video from €2.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is The Mirror Crack'd, and is it suitable for children?** *The Mirror Crack'd* is a PG and about as gentle as a murder mystery gets. The one death comes from a poisoned cocktail at a reception, there is no blood or menace, and the investigation is conducted from armchairs. Children will not be frightened, though they are likely to be bored once the stars leave the screen. **How does The Mirror Crack'd compare to Sunset Boulevard?** [*Sunset Boulevard*](https://film.one/film/sunset-boulevard) is the far better film, and *The Mirror Crack'd* is only nodding at it. Both are about a faded Hollywood star coming back to work, but Billy Wilder plays it straight and cruel, and Gloria Swanson's Norma Desmond is impossible to dismiss, where Taylor and Novak are playing has-beens for laughs in a country-house whodunit. Choose Wilder unless you specifically want Miss Marple and tea. **Is The Mirror Crack'd based on a true story or a book?** *The Mirror Crack'd* is based on Agatha Christie's novel of the same name, not on a true story. Barry Sandler and Jonathan Hales keep the shape of the book, and the question of who the poisoned drink was meant for is Christie's and still holds. You do not need to have read it, though readers will know that the film shows its key clue very plainly. **What should I watch after The Mirror Crack'd?** After *The Mirror Crack'd*, try [*Sunset Boulevard*](https://film.one/film/sunset-boulevard) (1950, Fi1m 91): The faded-star picture this one is nodding at, played straight and a good deal crueller. Then [*Gosford Park*](https://film.one/film/gosford-park) (2001, Fi1m 85): A country-house murder where the servants are the point and the whodunit barely matters. ### Reviews we read (3) - **Variety**, Variety Staff (70/100, inferred): The review regards the film as a nostalgic throwback, while finding Elizabeth Taylor’s performance genuinely affecting. It also praises her comic sparring with Kim Novak and the supporting performances. [Read](https://variety.com/1980/film/reviews/the-mirror-crack-d-1200424830/) - **Radio Times**, David Parkinson (2/5): The critic calls the mystery mediocre and finds Lansbury’s familiar persona makes her Miss Marple feel less novel. Taylor and Novak’s clash is singled out as so dominant that the other performers barely get noticed. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-xjnyj7/the-mirror-crackd/) - **Time Out**, DMacp (25/100, inferred): The review dismisses the film as a cinematic bellyflop, though it finds it perversely fascinating. It singles out that odd fascination as the film’s one saving quality. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-mirror-crackd) ## Details - **Director:** Guy Hamilton - **Director:** Guy Hamilton - **Screenplay:** Barry Sandler, Jonathan Hales - **Novel:** Agatha Christie - **Cinematography:** Christopher Challis - **Editor:** Richard Marden - **Music:** John Cameron - **Production design:** Michael Stringer - **Costume design:** Phyllis Dalton - **Producer:** John Brabourne, Richard Goodwin - **Cast:** Angela Lansbury as Miss Marple; Geraldine Chaplin as Ella Zielinsky; Tony Curtis as Martin N. Fenn; Edward Fox as Inspector Craddock; Rock Hudson as Jason Rudd; Kim Novak as Lola Brewster; Elizabeth Taylor as Marina Rudd; Wendy Morgan as Cherry - **Runtime:** 1h 45m - **First release (the UK):** 6 February 1980 - **Genres:** Mystery, Crime, Thriller - **Box office:** $11 million ## Where to watch in Spain - Amazon Prime Video: streaming - Amazon Prime Video: rent €2.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy €7.99, hd - Apple TV: buy €7.99, hd *Checked 2026-10-04.* Also available in: AT, BG, CA, CH, CZ, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, HR, HU, IE, IN, IT, LT, NO, PT, RO, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Murder on the Orient Express* (1974): Same producers, same recipe, and Lumet keeps every star in the corridor earning their keep. - *Evil Under the Sun* (1982): Hamilton tries Christie again with Ustinov, more sun, more bitching and a tighter puzzle. - *Sunset Boulevard* (1950), Fi1m 91: The faded-star picture this one is nodding at, played straight and a good deal crueller. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/sunset-boulevard.md) - *Gosford Park* (2001), Fi1m 85: A country-house murder where the servants are the point and the whodunit barely matters. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/gosford-park.md) - *8 Women* (2002): French divas snowed in with a corpse, singing between accusations; the catfight done as farce. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-mirror-crackd