Murder by Death
| Murder by Death | |
|---|---|
 poster for theatrical release | |
| Directed by | Robert Moore |
| Written by | Neil Simon |
| Produced by | Ray Stark |
| Starring | Eileen Brennan Truman Capote James Coco Peter Falk Alec Guinness Elsa Lanchester David Niven Peter Sellers Maggie Smith Nancy Walker Estelle Winwood |
| Cinematography | David M. Walsh |
| Edited by | Margaret Booth John F. Burnett |
| Music by | Dave Grusin |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates | June 23, 1976 |
Running time | 94 min |
| Country | U.S.A. |
| Language | English |
Murder by Death is a 1976 comedy movie written by Neil Simon and directed by Robert Moore. The plot is a spoof of the traditional country house whodunit, familiar to mystery fiction fans from classics such as Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, a form also parodied for the stage in Tom Stoppard's The Real Inspector Hound. The cast is an ensemble of British and American comic stars playing send-ups of well-known fictional sleuths, including Hercule Poirot and Sam Spade.
It also features a rare performance by In Cold Blood author Truman Capote. The film was presented at the Venice International Film Festival in 1976.
Plot
The plot combines a convoluted, highly improbable murder-mystery arc with plenty of farce, slapstick, witty banter, and self-referential humour.
A group of detectives, each accompanied by a relative or associate, is invited to a dinner and murder by the mysterious Lionel Twain. Having lured his guests to his mansion (the address of which is given as "2-2 Twain") and which is managed by a blind butler and a deaf and dumb cook, Twain announces that it is in fact he who is the greatest detective in the world. In order to prove it, he challenges them to solve a murder which will take place in the house at midnight that very night, with a reward of $1 million to the winner. The time comes and everything seems fine, until they discover that Twain himself has been murdered.
The party spends the rest of the evening investigating, dining, and bickering, manipulated by a mysterious behind-the-scenes force, confused by red herrings, baffled by the "mechanical marvel" that is Twain's house, and ultimately finding their own lives threatened. The ending piles on twist after twist as each sleuth presents his or her theory on the case.
After a brutal night where one pair is almost killed by a snake, another by a scorpion, another by a falling ceiling, a fourth by poison gas and the fifth by a bomb, they all collect in the office where the butler — believed to have been murdered earlier — is sitting behind the desk very much alive and not at all blind: "The butler did it". However each detective then claims that the butler is in fact various incarnations of Twain's associates and even his daughter. At first the butler plays the part of each of the persons with whom he is identified but then pulls off a face mask to reveal Lionel Twain very much alive.
Twain then attacks each of the detectives (and effectively the authors who created them) for the way in the plots in their adventures have been handled: including introducing crucial characters at the last minute for the traditional "twist in the tale" — something which the assembled detectives had been doing a few minutes earlier — ansd witholding clues and information which made it impossible to find out whodunnit. None of the detectives walk away with the million dollars.
It is not clear whether any murder has actually taken place. In the last spoken line of the movie, Sydney Wang, when asked if there was a murder or not, replies "Yes; killed good weekend!"
After the guests leave, Twain pulls off another mask, revealing "himself" to be Yetta, the deaf cook.
Cast and characters
The plot takes place in and around the isolated country home inhabited by eccentric multi-millionaire Lionel Twain (Capote), his blind butler, Jamesir Bensonmum (Alec Guinness), and a deaf and mute maid named Yetta (Nancy Walker). The heroes are all pastiches of famous fictional detectives.
- Inspector Sidney Wang, played by Peter Sellers, is based on Charlie Chan, and appropriately accompanied by his adopted, Japanese son Willie (Richard Narita). Wang wears elaborate Chinese costumes, and his grammar is frequently criticized by the host.
- Dick and Dora Charleston (David Niven and Maggie Smith) are polished, sophisticated society types modeled on Nick and Nora Charles from the Thin Man series of films. Their excellent breeding gets them out of a few scrapes during the course of the weekend.
- Milo Perrier (James Coco) is a take on Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, and arrives at the house with his chauffeur, Marcel Cassette (James Cromwell in his first feature film role). The portly Perrier is overly fond of food and appears annoyed that he must share a room with lowly Marcel. He is repeatedly annoyed by being mistaken for a Frenchman, as he is Belgian.
- Sam Diamond represents the hard-boiled, American-style detective, a pastiche based on The Maltese Falcon's Sam Spade and Richard Diamond, Private Detective. Played by Peter Falk, he is ably assisted by Eileen Brennan as his tough but loyal secretary, Tess Skeffington.
- Christie's other great creation, Miss Marple, appears here as Jessica Marbles, played by Elsa Lanchester as a hearty, tweed-clad Englishwoman, with a frail, seemingly gaga companion, her ancient "nurse" Miss Withers (played by Estelle Winwood, 93 years old at the time), for whom she is now caring. Ironically, in real life, the two English-born actresses did not care for each other and exchanged mordant, biting insults (recounted in Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon).
Production notes
- Charles Addams, creator of The Addams Family, drew the caricatures displayed under the beginning and end credits and on the poster.[1]
- The film was shot entirely at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California, then named "The Burbank Studios."
Deleted scenes
Some time after the film's initial release, four scenes were cut. The first finds Jessica Marbles and Miss Withers discussing payment with their taxi driver. In the second, Dick and Dora Charleston narrowly avoid running over Tess Skeffington, who's been hiking for miles back to Sam Diamond's car from a service station (because she and Sam ran out of gas on the road). Satisfied that Tess is okay, the Charlestons drive off... just leaving her there!
The third falls between the discovery of Twain's body and the discussion of motives. Willie Wang has found a note in Twain's hand and, thinking it's a clue, makes a speech about how he'll solve the case and win the prize. However, the "clue" is a worthless note.
In the fourth, another detective in a deerstalker cap and his doctor friend (obviously meant to be Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson) arrive late and are directed to the house just as the other characters are leaving hastily. Reportedly this scene was cut because of a dispute over the rights to the Holmes and Watson characters. None of these scenes are included in the current DVD release.
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