Murder by Death

directed by Robert Moore
Category: "Comedy"
Year of Release:1976
Date Added:10/20/2024
Date Watched:10/20/2024
Description:Mysterious Lionel Twain (Truman Capote) invites the world's most famous detectives to his mansion to solve a mystery. All of them are tested to see how observant they are. At midnight, Twain's body is discovered. Attempts are made on each of their lives during the night. In the morning, each attempts to solve the mystery and win $1 million. In turn, they reveal that the butler is really somebody else who is really somebody else who is really a woman who is really Twain who celebrates the fact that he was smarter than all the detectives. They drive off, realizing they've been duped and that everything was faked. At which point, Twain pulls off his mask to reveal that he's really the cook. The detectives were Sam Diamond (Peter Falk spoofing Sam Spade), Sidney Wang (Peter Sellers spoofing Charlie Chan), Milo Perrier (Jame Coco spoofing Hercule Poirot), Dick Charleston (David Niven spoofing Nick Charles), and Jessica Marbles (Elsa Lanchester spoofing Miss Marples). Alec Guinness played Bensonmum, the butler.
My Rating:5

Reviews for Murder by Death

Review - Murder by Death

This was one of the first movies I saw in the theater, so I didn't realize at the time how stupid it was. My guess is that I also didn't understand most of the references to fictional detectives. It was just parody, with no actual crime and no actual criminal. As Sellers character says of the experience, "The only murder was of perfectly good weekend," or words to that effect. He could have said the same of the two hours it took me to watch it. TCM played it because it was the only appearance in a movie of Truman Capote. It's easy to see why there weren't others.

Reviewed by Roger on 2024-10-20 11:59:54

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