Murder by Death is a 1976 comedy movie with a star-studded cast, 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 actors playing send-ups of well-known fictional sleuths, including Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Charlie Chan, Nick and Nora Charles, and Sam Spade.
It also features a rare acting 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 "dinner and a murder" by the mysterious Lionel Twain. Having lured his guests to his mansion (the address of which is shown early on as "22 Lola Lane" and spoken later as "Two-Two Twain") managed by a blind butler and a deaf-mute cook, Twain announces that it is in fact he who is the greatest detective in the world. In order to prove his claim, he challenges the guests to solve a murder which will take place in the house at midnight that very night; a reward of $1 million will be presented to the winner.
Before midnight, the butler is found dead, and at midnight, Twain himself appears, also killed. The cook is discovered to have been an animated manikin, now packed in a storage crate.
The party spends the rest of the evening investigating, dining, and bickering. They are manipulated by a mysterious behind-the-scenes force, confused by red herrings, baffled by the "mechanical marvel" that is Twain's house, and ultimately they find 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 during which 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 or 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 himself, very much alive.
Twain then disparages each of the detectives (and effectively the authors who created them) for the way in which the plots in their adventures have been handled, including: introducing crucial characters at the last minute for the traditional "twist in the tale" — something the assembled detectives had been doing a few minutes earlier — and withholding clues and information that made it impossible for the reader to find out who had done it. None of the detectives walks 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 had been 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-mute cook.
Cast and characters
The plot takes place in and around the isolated country home populated by eccentric multi-millionaire Lionel Twain (Capote), his blind butler, Jamesir Bensonmum (Alec Guinness), and a deaf and mute cook 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 annoyed host.
- 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.
- Jessica Marbles, played by Elsa Lanchester, parodies Christie's other great creation, Miss Marple. She appears here as as a hearty, tweed-clad Englishwoman, with a frail, seemingly senile companion, her ancient "nurse" Miss Withers (played by Estelle Winwood, 93 years old at the time), for whom she is now caring. 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
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 (played by Peter Sellers).
In the second, Dick and Dora Charleston narrowly avoid running over Tess Skeffington, who has 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, 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 is a clue, makes a speech about how he will solve the case and win the prize. However, the "clue" is a worthless note.
In the fourth, another detective (again, Peter Sellers) 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.
Notes
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