Murder by Death (1976)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Robert Moore

Writer:

Neil Simon (written by)

Release Date:

23 June 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Mystery | Thriller | Crime

Tagline:

By the time the world's greatest detectives figure out whodunnit... you could die laughing!

Plot:

Five famous literary detective characters and their sidekicks are invited to a bizarre mansion to solve an even stranger mystery.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Butler | Detective | Blind | Mansion

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Eileen Brennan	...	Tess Skeffington
Truman Capote	...	Lionel Twain
James Coco	...	Milo Perrier
Peter Falk	...	Sam Diamond
Alec Guinness	...	Bensonmum
Elsa Lanchester	...	Jessica Marbles
David Niven	...	Dick Charleston
Peter Sellers	...	Sidney Wang
Maggie Smith	...	Dora Charleston
Nancy Walker	...	Maid
Estelle Winwood	...	Nurse
James Cromwell	...	Marcel
Richard Narita	...	Willie Wang

Also Known As:

Un cadavre au dessert (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Assassinato por Morte (Brazil) [pt]
Crimen por muerte (Venezuela) [es]
Eine Leiche zum Dessert (West Germany) [de]
Invito a cena con delitto (Italy) [it]
Meghívás egy gyilkos vacsorára (Hungary) [hu]
Middag med mord (Denmark) [da]
Mord med døden til følge (Norway) [no]
Murha, murha, päästäkää etsivät irti! (Finland) [fi]
Prosklisi se gevma apo enan ypopsifio dolofono (Greece) [el]
Släpp deckarna loss, det är mord (Sweden) [sv]
Un cadáver a los postres (Spain) [es]

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:PG (Approved No. 24496) | Portugal:M/12 | Belgium:Tous | Finland:K-12 | Iceland:L | Ireland:PG | Netherlands:AL | Norway:15 | UK:PG | West Germany:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Oakley Court, Windsor Road, Oakley Green, Windsor, Berkshire, England, UK

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

It was while working on this film that Alec Guinness received the script for Star Wars (1977). He read it between scenes in his dressing room.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): At one point in the dining room Milo Perrier is referred to as Marcel Perrier. Marcel is Milo Perrier's chauffer.

Quotes:

Sam Diamond: That was then, this is now, and nobody knows what tomorrow will be. That's the way things are, whether we like it or not.
Tess Skeffington: Oh, Sam, I worry about you sometimes. I really do.

Movie Connections:

References King Kong (1933)

A hilarious whodunit spoof

This is an utterly hilarious parody, spoofing detective stories. Much of the humor is verbal, some of it relies on stereotypes and such related (mainly) to the crime story genre. Some of the humor is a tad dirty, and a bit of it is quite dark. Personally, I loved it, but if you have anything against such humor, you may want to skip this one. It doesn't try too hard to make you laugh. The laughs roll in quite naturally, as it parodies a few of the most well-known fictional detectives; Agatha Christie's Mrs. Marble, among others. The setting is one typical to detective stories, and the atmosphere is simply perfect. The plot is very good, and develops nicely while still remaining interesting. The pacing is mostly flawless, but it seemed to lose momentum some, around the last third. The acting is all good, especially from Alec Guinness, Peter Falk and Peter Sellers. One wouldn't expect particularly good performances in a comedy, but this manages. The film is well thought out and equally well-executed. The only thing I didn't like, was that the ending, or maybe the entire third half of the film seemed a bit anticlimactic. At this point, all the action is done, and we're just waiting to find out who's behind it all. The very end is quite good though, a very funny and entertaining twist to say the least. And everything leading up to it is incredibly funny. The characters, while admittedly based somewhat on stereotypes, are all entertaining and each have their own shtick; among them are Milo Perrier, the perpetually hungry and ridiculously sensitive Frenchman, and the *very* British Dick Charleston, played to perfection by David Niven, and last but most definitely not least, Sam Diamond(Peter Falk, doing his Columbo thing), borrowing from noir and Bogart, complete with nonsensical, lengthy rants. I recommend this to anyone into detective movies and/or spoofs. Do keep the humor I mentioned early in the review in mind when considering whether or not to watch. 8/10