Murder By Death

You're in for a real treat! I consider this film a comedy film noir, but serious enough for the viewer to enjoy a good crime-mystery. This film has a few twists to it. Just when you think you know who the killer is, SURPRISE, they gotcha. There is plenty of fun and adult humor along the way. There is an excellent all-star cast here to enjoy: Alec Guinness, David Niven, Maggie Smith, Peter Sellers, Richard Narita, James Coco, James Cromwell, Eileen Brennan, Peter Falk, Nancy Walker, Estelle Winwood and Elsa Lanchester. If Truman Capote seems to be a little, well...different. Well, you've guessed something else, unintentionally. Yes, Truman Capote, respectfully, lived a different lifestyle. He was gay. He played "Lionel Twain" and made it a memorable performance. Maggie Smith is such a delight in this film. Sometimes I will watch this film again just for her comedic preformance. Her delivery of lines is perfect. David Niven always a class act. Peter Falk wears a trenchcoat again, which of course reminds us of his "Lt. Columbo" character which over thirty years now he is still playing on television in brand new tv-movies. It's neat to see Eileen Brennan in a good, funny role. Nancy Walker has a gem of a role. We remember her in the film, "Best Foot Forward" and the tv series "Rhoda". On this DVD version is a ten-minute conversation with Neil Simon about the casting and the making of "Murder By Death". What would have been nice is if they would have had a cast reunion for audio commentary or on-camera interviews. If you liked "Murder By Death", you might like the follow-up The Cheap Detective (1978). Peter Falk, Eileen Brennan,James Coco and James Cromwell are also showcased in this film with another different all-star cast. There is also another film simular to , but not as good as, "Murder By Death" called "Clue" (1985), based on the board game. This film also has an all-star cast, including Eileen Brennan.

This movie is by far one of the most highly underrated films of all time. I love it. Everything about it is classic. You'll have to watch it a minimum of five times just to get most of the jokes and puns with in it. The set design and overall atmosphere of the movie is awsome. Would reccomend this film highly.

Despite the (mostly) excellent cast this movie production of Neil Simon's play leaves a little to be desired. In particular I think that director Robert Moore needed to work harder toward getting the timing of his players down pat and focusing the jokes. I also think it was a mistake to cast Truman Capote in the role of Lionel Twain, the eccentric millionaire who invites the five world famous detectives to his estate with the idea of matching murderous wits with them and fooling them. Although he looks the part, Capote stands out like a sore thumb amidst the much more experienced and talented cast, so much so that I almost felt sorry for him. He pronounces his lines competently but with neither flair nor finesse.

The premise of the play reveals Neil Simon's satirical intent: the characters are all caricatures of famous fictional detectives: Inspector Sidney Wang (Peter Sellers ) as a Charlie Chan type; Sam Diamond (Peter Falk) as a Sam Spade type; Inspector Milo Perrier (James Coco) as a famous Belgique detective of similar name (Agatha Christie's Poirot) who could also be Georges Simenon's famous French detective (except that he cries out, "Not Frenchie--Belgie!"). The absurd plot begins as the detectives motor toward Twain's haunted, fog-shrouded castle in northern California for a dinner that is never served. Everything is played as a farce ("farce --n. 1. a comedy based on unlikely situations and exaggerated effects." --Random House College Dictionary) and everybody tries to ham it up. I particularly liked Peter Sellers as the Chinese Wang with his #3 adopted Japanese son in tow. Alec Guinness plays the blind butler ("The butler did it!") while Nancy Walker has a small part as the blind and deaf cook. David Niven is mildly amusing as the debonaire Dick Charleston who, unbeknownst to his wife (Maggie Smith), has only a buck-seventy-some in his tuxedo pocket (and some stamps) after going through some of her millions.

Representative joke: When asked by his #3 adopted Japanese son why HE has to clean up the dead body, Inspector Wang tells him, "Because your mother isn't here." By the way, the makeup on Peter Sellers ("Inspector Slanty," according to Sam Diamond) is especially well done. As usual Peter Sellers manages to look more like the character he playing than himself, so much so that one needs to do a double take to realize it is Peter Sellers at work.

One of the problems with a movie like this is that all the actors are trying to upstage one another and every line and pratfall is played as MY moment in the spotlight so there is little contrast around which to frame the best bits. Still, afficionados, especially those viewing this repeatedly, will find plenty to crack up about.

See this for Neil Simon, one of America's most popular playwrights, whose semi-sophisticated, upbeat comedies delighted theater and movie audiences for several decades beginning in the Sixties. I particularly loved The Out-of-Towners (1970) with Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis; The Good-bye Girl (1977) with Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason; and the unforgettable The Odd Couple (1968) starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. Simon and Peter Falk followed this up with The Cheap Detective (1978). Incidentally, Falk's work here and in The Cheap Detective and in a couple of earlier Columbo movies served as a proving ground for his long-running TV hit Columbo.