Review: Murder By Death

Review: Murder By Death

The world’s greatest detectives are invited to the mansion of eccentric Lionel Twain (famed writer Truman Capote) for a little murder-mystery fun as he locks the doors and warns everyone that a murder will take place before midnight and that one person will be the murderer, another the victim. Whoever first solves the mystery will earn one million dollars. Peter Falk plays the Sam Spade-inspired gumshoe Sam Diamond, with Eileen Brennan as his lady friend Tess (Bogey fans can call her ‘Effie’, though). Elsa Lanchester plays Miss Jessica Marbles, with Estelle Winwood as her addle-brained elderly nurse. Dame Maggie Smith and dapper David Niven play Dick and Dora Charleston, modelled after Nick and Nora Charles from “The Thin Man” series. James Coco plays pudgy, chocolate-loving Belgian detective Milo Perrier, with James Cromwell as his dopey chauffeur. Peter Sellers plays Sidney Wang, a parody of Charlie Chan. Sir Alec Guinness plays the blind butler whose amusing name is Jamesir Bensonmum (think about that). Nancy Walker turns up as a recently hired deaf mute cook.

Hilarious 1976 Robert Moore (“Chapter Two”, “The Cheap Detective”) detective spoof features much silliness, great comedic timing, a top cast, and a superb Neil Simon (“The Odd Couple”, “The Goodbye Girl”, “The Cheap Detective”, “Chapter Two”) script full of great lines. Some suggest that Sellers’ Charlie Chan spoof, Sidney Wang is offensive to Asians, but in addition to being the funniest performance in the film, I can’t believe people haven’t noticed that he’s spoofing a bad racial stereotype. Everyone notices how spot-on all the other character spoofs are, but they don’t afford Sellers’ Wang (heh heh, dick jokes are funny!) the same courtesy simply because they don’t want to feel bad about laughing at a racial stereotype. Relax, it’s intended to be a send-up of that character, and the stereotype is part of that character. Lighten up, people.

I wasn’t overly enthused by Niven or Smith, but that might be because I’ve never seen “The Thin Man”, nor do I know much about it. Still, Maggie Smith is much more preferable than no Maggie Smith, so I was glad to have her here. Many people love Falk’s Bogey impersonation best (even though it’s not all that far removed from Falk’s usual performance), but good as he (and the excellent Brennan) may be, he’s outshined by several of the other cast members. Sellers (an acquired taste), pudgy Coco, Guinness (showing fine a aptitude for physical comedy), Capote (playing himself essentially, but who cares?), and Winwood come off best in my view, getting all the best lines and moments. Having said that, the following exchange between Winwood’s Miss Withers and Elsa Lanchester’s Jessica Marbles might not tickle your funny bone nearly as much as it did mine;

Jessica Marbles: I smell gas!

Miss Withers: I can't help it, I'm old.

Jessica Marbles: No, not that kind of gas. The kind that kills!

Miss Withers: Well, sometimes my gas...

Or this idiotic but gut-bustingly funny exchange between Coco’s Poirot spoof and his dumb chauffeur;

Marcel: Something isn't right in all of this, eh. I can feel it in my buns.

Inspector Milo Perrier: Your what?

Marcel: My buns.

Inspector Milo Perrier: Buns? Your buns? You bought buns and you didn't tell me?

Where are they? Where are the buns?

Marcel: Oh! No, monsieur. The bones in my body.

Inspector Milo Perrier: You should not speak with an accent when you know I am so hungry.

Perhaps the funniest lines involve Sellers’ Inspector Wang, whether it be with his long-suffering son Willie;

Willie Wang: I don't hear nothin'. What do you hear?

Sidney Wang: Double negative, and dog.

Or with Truman Capote’s pompous, short-tempered millionaire;

Sidney Wang: Is confusing.

Lionel Twain: [from moose head] IT! IT is confusing! Say your goddamn pronouns!

You can’t go wrong with grammatical humour, folks. There’s few things funnier to me than humour that is both clever and stupid at the same time, something usually seen in British comedies like “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”, wherein dopey visual gags are combined with smart political jabs. Guinness (a comedic genius) has some ‘stupid fun’ interacting with a deaf mute maid, played rather thanklessly by Walker. Given he’s playing a blind butler, you can see the comic miscommunications there, I’m sure.

Obviously the more you know your famous detectives the more enjoyment you’ll get out of the film (especially when you look at the casting of the very Marple-esque Winwood as opposed to Lanchester who gets to spoof Miss Marple), but with this cast and Simon’s script, a fun time can still be had, so long as you don’t mind a lot of silliness. I had an awful lot of fun with this one, as will anyone who enjoyed the similar (and though quite amusing, much lesser) “Clue”.

Rating: B+