Manhattan Murder Mystery

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Movie
German title Manhattan Murder Mystery
Original title Manhattan Murder Mystery
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1993
length 103 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Woody Allen
script Woody Allen
Marshall Brickman
production Robert Greenhut
Charles H. Joffe
Jack Rollins
music different composers, e.g. B. Cole Porter , Richard Wagner
camera Carlo Di Palma
cut Susan E. Morse
occupation

Manhattan Murder Mystery is the 24th feature film in which Woody Allen directed it. Here he mixes the genre typical for him of "New York intellectual comedy" with classic thriller elements.

action

Carol and Larry Lipton live in an apartment in Manhattan . The anonymity of their neighborhood is broken when they meet retired couple Paul and Lillian House, who live on the same floor as the Liptons. The sudden death of Lillian and the not exactly sad-looking widower occupy Carol and prompt her to investigate. She does not rule out murder as the cause of death, although the neighbor was diagnosed with a heart attack. Together with mutual friend Ted, she investigates and discovers that Paul House is in a relationship with another woman. Because Larry is jealous of Ted, he then also deals with the alleged murder case and shadows Paul and his wife. They discover that Lillian is still alive, but then discover her body. Paul manages to get rid of the body before Carol and Larry find the police to believe. In order to convict Paul anyway, they try to blackmail him with the body allegedly found by them. A phone call from Paul's lover underscores the threat. In the finale, Larry and Carol finally meet Paul in his abandoned cinema and uncover the murder case: On the evening of the heart attack, it was not Lillian who died, but her sister who was visiting. Paul and Lillian passed the dead woman as Lillian so that Lillian could take her fortune in her place. In the murder of his (allegedly long dead) wife, Paul saw the perfect murder and hoped for a carefree life with his lover and the stolen fortune.

Reviews

James Berardinelli wrote on ReelViews that the film is a typical Woody Allen film, but with a sense of humor that a wider audience can understand. He wrote that he hadn't enjoyed an all movie like this comedy in years. Berardinelli criticized the "annoying" camera work by Carlo Di Palma.

Epd Film wrote in February 1994: "The director and author has succeeded in creating a perfect mixture of genre parody and everyday viewing, of formal stylization and immediacy."

Thomas Groh writes on filmzentrale.de about the similarity to The Window to the Courtyard : “Manhattan Murder Mystery could also be called The Wall to the Neighbors, based on Hitchcock's The Window to the Courtyard. ... This is followed by the classic Hitchcock situations - for example, entering the apartment in the absence of the suspect, with the neighbor mounted parallel to this, who is approaching his apartment with swift steps - which are played through with skill and shrewdness. Similar to the grand master of suspense, the camera is the narrator's mischievous accomplice: it deceives, hides, simulates the movement of opening doors, creates tension. Despite all the similarities, despite all the references: Manhattan Murder Mystery is an Allen film. It feels that way, it looks that way too. "

Awards

Diane Keaton was established in 1994 for the Golden Globe nominated. Woody Allen was nominated for the César in 1994. Anjelica Huston was nominated for the BAFTA Award in 1995 .

The German Film and Media Assessment FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the rating particularly valuable.

Margin notes

  • Actually, the plot of Manhattan Murder Mystery was planned as a narrative thread of the film Der Stadtneurotiker . Because of its complexity, Woody Allen decided not to use the storyline in the urban neurotic.
  • Originally Mia Farrow was supposed to play the role of Carol. However, since they split from Woody Allen in the year of filming, the role was temporarily cast with Woody Allen's regular actress and former partner Diane Keaton .

literature

  • Woody Allen : Manhattan murder mystery. Screenplay (Original Title: Manhattan murder mystery ). German by Jürgen Neu. Diogenes, Zurich 1994, 199 pages, ISBN 3-257-22678-0

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Review by James Berardinelli
  2. ^ Criticism on filmzentrale.de

Web links