Murder by Death (1976)

You won't be disappointed!

Boring

Better Late Then Never

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

MURDER BY DEATH is a murder mystery spoof. It's very similar to CLUE in terms of plot, and with similarities in the way the plot unfolds too.Five of the world's greatest detectives are invited to "dinner and a murder" by an eccentric millionaire. That's the plot in a nutshell. I really don't want to say much more because it would spoil the fun, suffice to say that a murder takes place and the detectives try to solve the mystery.Each of the detectives is based on a known fictional detective. Peter Falk plays Sam Diamond, a spoof of Sam Spade for example. Peter Sellers plays Inspector Wang, a spoof of Charlie Chan. David Niven and Maggie Smith play Dick and Dora Charleston, spoofing Nick and Nora Charles. James Coco plays Milo Perrier, a spoof of Hercule Poirot. And finally, Elsa Lanchester plays Jessica Marbles, a spoof of Miss Marple. Like me, you're probably either unfamiliar or not totally familiar with one or more of these. It probably helps in the understanding of the jokes if you know a lot about all of them. For example, Milo Perrier's insistence that he's "not a Frenchie" but instead "a Belgie" is something you might not understand if you weren't familiar with the character of Hercule Poirot, who is the detective in a number of Agatha Christie novels and stories. The other characters in Poirot stories often mistake him for a Frenchman, to which he replies (often forcefully) that he's Belgian.For me, much of the fun of the film derives from the way the actors play off against each other, trying to steal scenes, very much in the same way that their characters are each trying to demonstrate better detective skills than the others. It's delightful to watch.Peter Sellers, Peter Falk, David Niven, Maggie Smith, Alec Guinness, James Coco and Eileen Brennan are simply brilliant in this film and deliver some of their finest performances here. Elsa Lanchester seems somewhat miscast as Jessica Marbles but no one can forget her memorable entrance as she pushes in a wheelchair, in which sat is an old woman, who the others assume is Miss Marple (sorry, Marbles). But it turns out that the old woman is her nurse. Finally, Truman Capote is a playwright rather than an actor but he enjoys himself as the eccentric Lionel Twain and plays the part very well in my opinion. The lines in which he's mocking the other detectives are very funny and well delivered.The film is kept moving on nicely but isn't quite as fast-paced or energetic as CLUE. There's none of the running around and new situations springing up so quickly. But it does have that similar stage farce feeling to it and mostly takes place at one location, as that film also did. And there are also the great one-liners, with the following surely being the best:Sellers: Did you hear that?Narito: No.Sellers: Neither did I.I'm not going to mention what they were talking about there or why the line is so funny when delivered. You'll have to see for yourself.Overall, MURDER BY DEATH is an excellent murder mystery spoof with great performances, plenty of laughs and even a few surprises.

Five detectives and their sidekicks are invited to the house of millionaire Lionel Twain for a "dinner and murder" evening. What was thought to be a game, at a point, turns deadly serious.OK, ish, but not very engrossing. The plot seems quite basic, to the point of non-existence, on the one hand, and overly complex, and gratuitously so, on the other. Humour is mostly quite corny, though it has its moments. Good cast, though they all pretty much play stereotypical roles, roles you would expect them to play, and which they have played several times. No exceptional performances - they could do the characters in their sleep.

I hated the movie. The movie is about the worlds greatest detectives who get invited to a mansion where they are challenged to solve a murder which hasn't been committed yet. The plot has some holes, they are quite annoying, but it isn't the plot that made me hate the movie. The core concept is actually not that bad.The biggest problem I have with this movie is the dialogue, the acting, the depiction of the characters and that it is not at all funny.Lets start with the funny part. The key to a good joke is timing. Some of the jokes could have been funny but there is no timing. The jokes go on and on and sometimes the joke is even explained by the detectives. There are many possibilities to make jokes around the blind servant and the deaf housekeeper but they are making more or less the same jokes over and over again. Many of the jokes are outright offensive to the Chinese and women.Every single character is a stereotype. Which isn't so unusual in this genre but they are all played so over the top that you can't connect to any of them at all. The Chinese detective (Mr Wang) is insulting. He speaks this stereotypical Chinese accent and is an insult because he mocks the culture of the Chinese people. He frequently says offensive things. He even says he bought his sidekick. Slavery wasn't a real thing in china at that time. I know racism wasn't such a big deal back then, but even at that time this was considered downright offensive.The writer tried to make fun of the cliché characters in detective literature and movies but didn't know where to stop. None of the main characters are likable. I hated every single one of them.Sam Diamond, an American detective, (I believe he was from Chicago) has this silly accent. I didn't really understand how this character fits in the movie. He is kind of a distraction from the general style of the movie. He is kind of a mockery of film Noir detectives. That doesn't really fit into this kind of detective story. He is extremely offensive towards women. Well I know it was most likely intended as humor because the film noir movies of the 40s and 50s are often considered sexist. But what is funny about a man mistreating women.I could go on about the characters but I just wanted to give you an example.Most of the movie the characters do nothing at all they are just annoyingly talking to each other in silly accents. When I watched 20 minutes of the movie I lost all interest and was suffering through it. I really don't understand why so many people like it.Not a single one of the jokes is funny every single character is so over the top idiotic. It is racist sexist. It was just insulting.

This is an amusing detective spoof movie by Neil Simon, where millionaire Lionel Twain (Truman Capote) has invited the five greatest detectives to a "dinner and murder." The detectives and their sidekicks are asked to solve a murder in the bizarre mansion, which is full of mysterious features like a blind butler (Alex Guinness), a deaf-mute maid (Nancy Walker), identical rooms, secret passageways, falling statues and deranged animals.Mixed in with the chaotic fun are unforgettable characters like the prim but pompous Dick Charleston (David Niven), the sarcastic wise-guy Sam Diamond (Peter Falk), the thoughtful and eccentric Sidney Wang (Peter Sellers), the sultry Tess Skeffington (Eileen Brennan) and the elegant Dora Charleston (Maggie Smith). Each and every of the characters' humorous, thoughtful, cynical and sometimes racy dialog will send you tearing up with laughter.The detectives solving the alleged murder will intrigue you, providing a somewhat suspenseful "whodunit" plot. But, the extensive and bizarre plot twists and turns leave this film unpredictable and may even confuse you if you're trying to solve the case on your own.There are plenty of laughs and suspense and, throw in a stimulating and attractive music score by Dave Grusin, you got an enjoyable weekend movie.Grade B+