The five best detectives in the world, and a guest, are invited to "dinner and a murder" at the home at the mysterious Lionel Twain (Capote). The guests are,
-The first arrival is Sidney Wang (Sellers), China's star detective, who speaks in riddles. He brings his adopted Japanese son Willie (Narita). Who get a room with a roaring fire...on one of the beds.
-Next is married couple Dick (Niven) and Dora (Smith) Charleston, the well bred detective (and spouse) who follow the rules of decorum. Their room is decorated with candy cobwebs, powdered sugar dust, and a live "fake" rat.
-Then Belgium detective and lover of food Milo Perrier (Coco) and his driver / assistant, Marcel, (Cromwell). They argue about most things, such as pronunciation (their accents get in the way), and Perrier is offended when people thinks he's French.
-Followed by hardboiled American detective Sam Diamond (Falk) and his long-suffering girlfriend / assistant Tess Skeffington (Brennan). He is suspicious of everyone, including Tess, and knows a lot about everyone else.
-The final arrival is detective Jessica Marbles (Lanchester) and her former nurse (Winwood), who is elderly (93ish) and hard of hearing. Jessie now cares for her in addition to solving crimes.
Twain has called these detectives together to prove that he is the greatest criminologist in the world. He challenges the detectives to solve a murder: he tells them when and where it will occur. He also hints that the murderer and victim are in the room (although he doesn't tell them who it is). Twain is aided by his blind butler, Bensonmum (Guinness), and his deaf mute maid (Walker) who can't read in English (but can't write). Hilarity ensues while the detectives try to outmaneuver each other.
A gathering of the biggest names in comedy (see Its a Mad Mad Mad Mad World and Clue)... how could it be bad? In addition to the comic talents of the cast, the characters are spoofs of classic detectives. Two of the detectives are spoofs of literary characters by mystery author Agatha Christie: Milo Perrier and Jessie Marbles are Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple respectively. The rest of the detectives are spoofs of film detectives: Sidney Wang is Charlie Chan (created by Earl Derr Biggers), the Charleston's are Nick and Nora Charles from the Thin Man films (and the novel by Dashiell Hammett), and Sam Diamond is a combination of all the detectives portrayed by Humphrey Bogart. If you are familiar with any of these characters, it is interesting to see how they are portrayed in the film. The cast is amazing, with the exception of Truman Capote, who was not an actor and is the only low point in the film. He can't really act and is just annoying, thankfully he is only on screen for a few scenes. Nancy Walker, who plays the maid, is great and practically steals the show, but is sadly in less of the film than Capote. However, she has some great moments such as meeting and trying to communicate with the butler and her "scream" a few scenes later. Excellent film, chalked full of laughs. Not the easiest to find, but worth the search (try TCM).
*This film is often compared to the 1985 film "Clue." To read a review specifically comparing these films, go to http://www.fernbyfilms.com/2009/07/20/movie-review-murder-by-death-vs-clue/
Murder by Death (1976) minutes
Director: Robert Moore
Starring: Eileen Brennan as Tess Skeffington
Truman Capote as Lionel Twain
James Coco as Milo Perrier
Peter Falk as Sam Diamond
Alec Guinness as Bensonmum
Elsa Lanchester as Jessica Marbles
David Niven as Dick Charleston
Peter Sellers as Sidney Wang
Maggie Smith as Dora Charleston
Nancy Walker as the Maid
Estelle Winwood as the Nurse
James Cromwell as Marcel
Richard Narita as Willie Wang
-The first arrival is Sidney Wang (Sellers), China's star detective, who speaks in riddles. He brings his adopted Japanese son Willie (Narita). Who get a room with a roaring fire...on one of the beds.
-Next is married couple Dick (Niven) and Dora (Smith) Charleston, the well bred detective (and spouse) who follow the rules of decorum. Their room is decorated with candy cobwebs, powdered sugar dust, and a live "fake" rat.
-Then Belgium detective and lover of food Milo Perrier (Coco) and his driver / assistant, Marcel, (Cromwell). They argue about most things, such as pronunciation (their accents get in the way), and Perrier is offended when people thinks he's French.
-Followed by hardboiled American detective Sam Diamond (Falk) and his long-suffering girlfriend / assistant Tess Skeffington (Brennan). He is suspicious of everyone, including Tess, and knows a lot about everyone else.
-The final arrival is detective Jessica Marbles (Lanchester) and her former nurse (Winwood), who is elderly (93ish) and hard of hearing. Jessie now cares for her in addition to solving crimes.
Twain has called these detectives together to prove that he is the greatest criminologist in the world. He challenges the detectives to solve a murder: he tells them when and where it will occur. He also hints that the murderer and victim are in the room (although he doesn't tell them who it is). Twain is aided by his blind butler, Bensonmum (Guinness), and his deaf mute maid (Walker) who can't read in English (but can't write). Hilarity ensues while the detectives try to outmaneuver each other.
A gathering of the biggest names in comedy (see Its a Mad Mad Mad Mad World and Clue)... how could it be bad? In addition to the comic talents of the cast, the characters are spoofs of classic detectives. Two of the detectives are spoofs of literary characters by mystery author Agatha Christie: Milo Perrier and Jessie Marbles are Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple respectively. The rest of the detectives are spoofs of film detectives: Sidney Wang is Charlie Chan (created by Earl Derr Biggers), the Charleston's are Nick and Nora Charles from the Thin Man films (and the novel by Dashiell Hammett), and Sam Diamond is a combination of all the detectives portrayed by Humphrey Bogart. If you are familiar with any of these characters, it is interesting to see how they are portrayed in the film. The cast is amazing, with the exception of Truman Capote, who was not an actor and is the only low point in the film. He can't really act and is just annoying, thankfully he is only on screen for a few scenes. Nancy Walker, who plays the maid, is great and practically steals the show, but is sadly in less of the film than Capote. However, she has some great moments such as meeting and trying to communicate with the butler and her "scream" a few scenes later. Excellent film, chalked full of laughs. Not the easiest to find, but worth the search (try TCM).
*This film is often compared to the 1985 film "Clue." To read a review specifically comparing these films, go to http://www.fernbyfilms.com/2009/07/20/movie-review-murder-by-death-vs-clue/
Murder by Death (1976) minutes
Director: Robert Moore
Starring: Eileen Brennan as Tess Skeffington
Truman Capote as Lionel Twain
James Coco as Milo Perrier
Peter Falk as Sam Diamond
Alec Guinness as Bensonmum
Elsa Lanchester as Jessica Marbles
David Niven as Dick Charleston
Peter Sellers as Sidney Wang
Maggie Smith as Dora Charleston
Nancy Walker as the Maid
Estelle Winwood as the Nurse
James Cromwell as Marcel
Richard Narita as Willie Wang
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