Cluedo
Tags: murder

Plot synopsis:
In 1954 New England, six strangers are invited to a party at a secluded New England mansion known as Hill House. After being met at the door by the butler, Wadsworth, the guests are reminded that they have been given a pseudonym to protect their true identity and asks that they only use that name with the other guests. During dinner, Wadsworth admits a seventh attendee, Mr. Boddy, and announces that each of the guests is being blackmailed:
Professor Plum is a former professor of psychiatry and current employee of the World Health Organization whose medical license was revoked because he had an affair with one of his female patients.
Mrs. Peacock is the wife of a U.S Senator who has been accused of accepting bribes to deliver her husband's vote and claims she must pay their blackmailer to avoid a political witch hunt.
Miss Scarlet is the owner of an illegal escort service in Washington, D.C..
Colonel Mustard is thought, at first, to have been blackmailed for scandalous photographs with one of Miss Scarlet's employees, but it is later revealed that he was a war profiteer who made his money from selling stolen radio components on the black market. He now works at the Pentagon on a private fusion bomb (which is revealed later in the film).
Mrs. White is an alleged "black widow" who was drawn in to avoid a scandal regarding the mysterious death of her nuclear physicist husband. She was previously married to an illusionist, who also disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
Mr. Green is a homosexual, a secret that would cost him his job with the State Department if it were widely known.
Finally, Wadsworth reveals Mr. Boddy's secret to the guests: he is the one who has been blackmailing them. As the guests begin to shout at Mr. Boddy, Wadsworth explains that he has gathered all the guests together to confront Mr. Boddy and turn him over to the police. Confronted by Wadsworth's revelation, Mr. Boddy reminds the guests that, if turned over to the police, he can reveal their secrets while in police custody. Mr. Boddy then distributes to each guest a wrapped gift box which, when opened, reveal one of six weapons: a wrench, a candlestick, a lead pipe, a knife, a revolver, and a rope with a hangman's knot. Mr. Boddy suggests that they use the weapons provided to kill Wadsworth and destroy the evidence, keeping their secrets safe. Mr. Boddy turns out the lights in the room, creating a moment of chaos in which someone shoots the revolver. When the lights come back on, Mr. Boddy is lying on the ground and is pronounced dead by Professor Plum.
Everyone denies killing Mr. Boddy, and Wadsworth reveals that he arranged the event in revenge for his wife who had committed suicide after being blackmailed by Mr. Boddy for having Socialist friends. While trying to decide how to proceed, Wadsworth and the guests check on Mrs. Ho, the Cook, who is found dead in the kitchen with the knife. Upon returning to The Study, Mr. Boddy is gone and is later found dead by Mrs. Peacock in the bathroom from the candlestick. Wadsworth and the guests assume there must be another person in the house that killed The Cook and Mr. Boddy, so they split up in pairs and search the house with the weapons locked in the cupboard. Over the course of search, three weapons (the wrench, the lead pipe, and the revolver) are used to a kill stranded motorist found dead in the lounge, a police officer (after he investigate the motorist's abandoned car) in the Library, and a singing telegram girl in the Hall. Yvette, the maid, is found dead in the Billiard Room with the rope.
Wadsworth announces to the other guests that he deduced the identity of the murderer and runs through a frantic re-enactment of the entire evening, scene by scene, with the guests in tow. Wadsworth points out that each of the victims had a connection to one of the guests and were actually accomplices that enabled Mr. Boddy to find out the secrets he later used to blackmail the guests.
The cook had earlier been employed by Mrs. Peacock.
The motorist was Colonel Mustard's driver during the war and knew of his involvement with the black market.
Yvette had worked for Miss Scarlet and had an affair with Mrs. White's husband, which made Mrs. White hate her, and led her to kill her husband. Colonel Mustard's scandalous photographs were of him and Yvette "in flagrante delicto" (caught in the act).
The police officer had been on Miss Scarlet's payroll for his silence.
The singing telegram girl was one of Professor Plum's patients. He once had an affair with her.
The accounting is interrupted by an evangelist at the front door warning "the 'Kingdom of Heaven' is at hand", who is encouraged to leave. Wadsworth then flips the electricity to the house.
At this point, the story proceeds to one of three endings: A, B, or C.
=== Ending A ===
Having used her former call girl Yvette to murder Mr. Boddy and the cook, Miss Scarlet killed her and the others to keep her true business of "secrets" safe, planning on using the information learned tonight for her own benefit. While Miss Scarlet holds Wadsworth at gunpoint with the revolver, Wadsworth tells her that there are no more bullets in the gun, but Miss Scarlet insists she still has one left and threatens to kill him. Wadsworth reveals himself to be an undercover FBI agent and arrests Miss Scarlet as police arrive and secure the house. The evangelist is revealed to be the chief. Although still insisting to Miss Scarlet the revolver is empty, Wadsworth realizes she was right when he accidentally fires the last bullet into the air, hitting a chandelier and causing it to crash closely behind Colonel Mustard.
=== Ending B ===
Mrs. Peacock is revealed as the murderer of all the victims and escapes after holding the others at gunpoint. However, Wadsworth reveals himself as an FBI agent with the night's activities set up to spy on Mrs. Peacock's activities, believing her to be taking bribes by foreign powers. As Mrs. Peacock makes her way to her car, she is captured by the police, and the evangelist is revealed to be the chief.
=== Ending C ===
This ending is dubbed by the movie (on the home video release) as "But here's what really happened." Each murder was committed by a different person: Professor Plum killed Mr. Boddy in the hall with the candlestick, Mrs. Peacock killed the cook in the kitchen with the knife, Colonel Mustard killed the motorist in the lounge with the wrench after unlocking the cupboard where the weapons were kept and getting into the lounge via a secret passage from the conservatory, Mrs. White killed Yvette in the billiard room with the rope, and Miss Scarlet killed the cop in the library with the lead pipe. Mr. Green is accused of shooting the singing telegram girl in the hall with the revolver. Wadsworth then reveals not only did he kill her himself, but that he is, in fact, the real Mr. Boddy and the man Professor Plum killed was simply his butler. He had brought the other victims, who were his accomplices in the blackmail scheme, to the house to be killed by the guests and thus plans to continue blackmailing them now that there's no evidence against him. Mr. Green then draws another revolver and kills the blackmailer. Mr. Green reveals to the others that he is actually an undercover FBI agent and the whole evening was a set-up to catch the criminals. The police and FBI arrive and arrest all the guests for murder as the evangelist is revealed to be the chief. Mr. Green then declares that he killed Mr. Boddy, "In the Hall, with the revolver." He tells the chief to round everyone up, then smiles and says, "I'm going home to sleep with my wife."

Review: Still one of the best adaptations of the classic boardgame!!!. Riding high on the success of the TV Series of the early 1990's, in 1994 Cluedo was adapted into one of the best games ever made for the Philips Cd-I (with a sequel in 1995). Players are presented with an engaging and fascinating in depth murder mystery to solve. There are six different mysteries in total, each with 4 possible outcomes. The mysteries are "The Hooded Madonna", "Happy Ever After", "Deadly Patent", "Blackmail" "The Road to Damascus" and "Not In My Backyard"Filmed at the beautiful Arley Hall in Cheshire, the mysteries setting of "Arlington Hall" is opulent and decadent. Players must search the mansions nine rooms for evidence and locate and examine the six infamous weapons whilst they also interrogate the six "colorful" characters suspected of the dreadful deed asking them for statements, alibis, observations etc. The use of live actors (something which has unfortunately not been repeated in most Cluedo computer games since, animation seemed to prove the order of the day since then) really comes into its own with the flashback element of the game.The characters: Mr. Boddy. Master of Arlington Hall and uncle of Miss Scarlet. Mr Boddy is feared rather than loved. It is no wonder they all want him dead. Angus MacInnes portrayal of the character is superb. Greedy, self-important, and cunning, Mr. Boddy is often wanted dead due to his wacky decisions regarding the Hall or crooked business deals. He treats his household staff with contempt, his niece with domination, Mrs. Peacock with false romantic promise, Prof. Plum like the S*** on his shoe, Col. Mustard with blackmail, and Mr Green with double-crossings! Mrs. Elizabeth Peacock. "If I were a man I would kill you NOW!" One of the best members of the cast, Susan Wooldridge does the role justice with her portrayal of the intimidating widow. Her character is marked by a vein of arrogance and haughtiness, her motive for murder often being the fact she simply cannot handle being rejected by Mr. Boddy (HEA, NIMB,). Mrs. P always comes into her own in scenes with Miss Scarlett. The two despise each other and their time together often escalates from great one liners to physical violence. In particular the most hilarious scene of all the mysteries, the Conservatory scene in "The Road To Damascus" in which she is slapped by Miss Scarlett.Mr. Jonathan Green "You won't double-cross me Boddy! You wait and see!" He has two loves in life, Miss Scarlett, and money! And who wins overall? just ask the lead pipe he stuck in Scarlett's face at the prospect of loosing thousands! Always involved in some shady deal with Boddy that goes awry his motives constantly lean towards the financial over the emotional. The character is interesting to say the least however, he is not very engaging and Milligan's portrayal seems to lack some spark.Mrs. Blanche White "Oh shut up will you! By the time I'm finished nobody is going to believe a word you say" Reprising her role from the TV series, there is one word for Joan Simms' Mrs. White: Fantastic (and slightly scary!). When you interview her she is a sweet little old lady. In the flashbacks however she is vicious and mean with a penchant for threatening people with household tools. She is very much the comic element that is needed. Deliciously evil, at times she would do away with all the houseguests as well as Mr. Boddy is she had her way, yet you always end up feeling sorry for her. Well, she is almost fatally electrocuted in one mystery and almost trips over Mr. Greens rope on the stairs in another.Professor Peter Plum "I'll show you what I think of your patent!" A "why does it always happen to me" character! Plum is very meek and utterly downtrodden and slightly annoying. Well, we need a nice-guy in amongst all the devious ones I suppose. It is not surprising he is the least frequent killer as it seems he wouldn't even hurt a fly. His motives for murder include a stolen patent, the threat of jail, and being besotted with Miss Scarlett and wanting to protect her.Miss Vivienne Scarlett "You can't take my home and destroy my life on a whim" Poor Nicola Van Dam! Known throughout the Cluedo world for her laughable acting skills. Her performance varies A LOT depending which mystery you play. (It's just unlucky her worst ones are the ones that made it onto the better know CD-Rom version of the game.) In some mysteries (HEA, THM, NIMB) she carries the role really well with a mix of elegance, poise, artfulness, and getting to act like act complete B*TCH to everyone with shining moments in "Happy Ever After", "The Road to Damascus" and "Not In My Backyard". Her performance in "Deadly Patent" is a low point, which contains certain Ballroom scene which has given her a bad name. (Possibly one of the worst portrayals of a woman in emotional distress ever made.) She is Mr. Boddy's niece and Arlington Halls regular floozy. Over the six mysteries she manages to be in affairs with Mustard, Green, AND Plum! Colonel Michael Mustard "If this HAS to be done it better be done by someone who knows what they're doing" A dashing, gallant chap. A ladies man in every sense of the word, John Standing's Mustard could rival some of the top notch Mustards of the TV series! Mustards motives are defiantly the most diverse of the group and include revenge (THM, HEA), blackmail (B), patriotism (NIMB), gentlemanly protection of Mrs. Peacock (DP), and gambling debts (TRTD). A well written and well acted character, believable and charming in all aspects of the game. (Mustard's interviews are definitely the best of the bunch!) In 1997 cut down versions of "Deadly Patent", "Road To Damascus" and "Blackmail" were made into the "Cluedo CD-Rom".. new life to the board game. I'll be honest. I love Cludeo as a game but the board game does get boring. Its just the same every time, you're guessing with playing cards. The i see this little gem in the computer game shop (cant remember which). I looked it over expecting it to be the same board game with playing cards and i couldn't be more wrong. The characters are real people (including Joan Sims of the Carry On era). The house you can actually walk around. You can interview the suspects, look for clues. wow this has breathed new life in the Cludeo franchise. If you can find this on Ebay and don't have Windows XP. BUY IT!!!!!! The multiple solutions will give you hours if not weeks of fun. Just make sure you have a stock of pencils and a pad handy - You'll need it!!. Stick to the board game.. 'Cluedo' is a video game based on the famous Parker Brothers board game, which is called 'Cluedo' in Britain but 'Clue' in America. Although retaining the British name for this video version, and using a British cast, the producers seem to be making entente with American video gamers. One of the characters in this game is named Mr Green, as in the American board game. In the British version of this game -- which actually pre-dates Parker Brothers' American version -- the same character is named Reverend Green.I should explain the different names. In the early 20th century, there was a very popular board game in Britain called 'Ludo', from the Latin for 'I play'. Ludo is probably the best example of an absolutely generic board game: it consists of counters moving along squares on a board, with no specialised theme as there is in Monopoly or Risk. When the murder-themed board game was invented, it was named 'Cluedo' in Britain to rhyme with 'Ludo'. As Ludo was never popular Stateside, the Yank version of Cluedo was cried 'Clue'.This video version has the same premise as the board game. Mr Boddy has been murdered. Each of his guests (as well as the butler) is a possible suspect. All of them join forces to solve the murder, apparently unconcerned that the murderer will queer the investigation. The players must determine who committed the murder, with what weapon, in which room of the house. (Shouldn't the location of the body indicate the murder scene?) Because this is a video game, designed for repeated replays, there is no single 'correct' solution. The two most eccentric characters are played by the two best-known actors in this cast, Joan Sims and John Standing. The graphics and audio are not especially impressive. You'll have a better time playing the board game. Hell, you'll have a better time playing Ludo.