Product: Murder by Death (1976)
Rating: 4.0
Nice spoof to the mystery genre
Murder by Death is a nice sendup for those fans who relish detective novels. Based on Neil Simon's screenplay, the film utilizes well-timed wit and spoof to entertain. Although nonsensical at points, much of the film's power resonates in its "who done it" murder mystery approach and mood, and has a wonderful cast and great humor throughout. It is not a film to bash for seeming silly and preposterous mainly because it embraces the nonsense with good fun. While watching, I was reminded often of the 1985 film Clue, a spinoff of the popular detective board game, in which we meet various characters of the game who try to solve the murder at the film's beginning.In Murder By Death, Mr. Lionel Twain (played by Truman Capote) has given invitations to a select and elite group of literary sleuths (Agatha Christie, Perriot, Sam Shade among others) and his proposition is quite unusual: they will meet, dine and then solve a murder that will take place AFTER they arrive. The best of the detective business arrive one by one to the estate of Lionel Twain, but seem to be puzzled as to the motive of bring all together. They arrive, and Twain makes an auspicious entrance, and then boasts to giving one million dollars to the one who can solve the crime that will happen at exactly midnight. When the murder takes place, motives abound, and no one is quite sure who to trust. They do all this in a slapstick, silly sort of way as we try to follow along and solve the mystery. Great dialogue and witty lines make this worth some of the mistakes. I thought Peter Falk did an exceptional job as Spade, too!The ending to the film might have been thought out better, but still, it is a great dinner movie, and one that fans of the murder literary world will appreciate. There is a short interview with Neil Simon, but I wasn't that impressed with it. Over all, still, a nice addition to the DVD library.