Peter Falk I Have to Go to the Can Again I Dont Want to Miss
| Murder by Death | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release affiche | |
| 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 |
| Production | Rastar |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date |
|
| Running time | 94 minutes[i] |
| State | United States |
| Language | English language |
| Box office | $32,511,047[ii] |
Murder by Death is a 1976 American comedy mystery film directed by Robert Moore and written by Neil Simon. The film stars Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote, James Coco, Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, Elsa Lanchester, David Niven, Peter Sellers, Maggie Smith, Nancy Walker, and Estelle Winwood.[3] [4]
The plot is a broad parody or spoof of the traditional country-house whodunit, familiar to mystery fiction fans of classics such equally Agatha Christie's And And then There Were None. The cast is an ensemble of British and American actors playing ship-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 interim performance by author Truman Capote.
The film was presented at the Venice International Moving picture Festival on September 5, 1976.
Plot [edit]
A group of five renowned 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 managed by a blind butler named Jamessir Bensonmum, who is later joined by a deaf, mute, and illiterate cook named Yetta, Twain joins his guests at dinner. He presses a button which seals off the house. Twain announces that he is the greatest criminologist in the world. To prove his claim, he challenges the guests to solve a murder that volition occur at midnight; a advantage of $1 meg volition exist presented to the winner.
Before midnight, the butler is found dead. Twain disappears, only to re-announced immediately later on midnight, stabbed twelve times in the back with a butcher knife. The cook is also discovered to take been an animated mannequin, at present packed in a storage crate. The political party spends the balance of the night investigating and bickering. They are manipulated by a mysterious backside-the-scenes strength, confused past red herrings, and baffled by the "mechanical marvel" that is Twain'southward business firm. They ultimately notice their own lives threatened. Each sleuth presents his or her theory on the case, pointing out the others' past connections to Twain and their possible motives for murdering him.
When they retire to their guest rooms for the night, the guests are each confronted by things that threaten to kill them: a deadly snake, a venomous scorpion, a descending ceiling, poison gas, and a bomb. They all survive, and in the morning, they assemble in the part, where they detect the butler waiting, very much live and not blind. Each detective presents a different slice of evidence with which they each independently solved the mystery, and in each example, they accuse the butler of existence 1 of Twain's former associates.
At first, the butler plays the part of each person with whom he is identified, but then he pulls off a mask to reveal Lionel Twain himself, live. Twain disparages the detectives—and metafictionally, the authors who created them—for the way their adventures accept been handled. He points out such authorial misdeeds equally 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 to brand it impossible for the reader to solve the mystery. Each of the detectives departs the house empty-handed, none of them having won the $1 meg. When asked whether there had been a murder, Wang replies, "Aye: killed good weekend."
Solitary, Twain pulls off yet another mask to reveal Yetta, who lights a cigarette and laughs maniacally while rings of tobacco smoke fill the screen.
Bandage and characters [edit]
The story takes place in and around the isolated country home populated by eccentric multi-millionaire Lionel Twain (Truman Capote), his blind butler Jamessir Bensonmum (Alec Guinness), and a deaf-mute cook named Yetta (Nancy Walker). "Lionel Twain" is a pun on "Lionel Train".[v] The participants are all pastiches of famous fictional detectives:
- Inspector Sidney Wang (Peter Sellers) is based on Earl Derr Biggers' Chinese police detective Charlie Chan and is appropriately accompanied by his adopted Japanese son Willie (Richard Narita). Wang wears elaborate Chinese costumes, and his comically broken English is criticized by Twain and others.
- Dick and Dora Charleston (David Niven and Maggie Smith) are polished, sophisticated society types modeled on Dashiell Hammett'due south characters Nick and Nora Charles from the Thin Man picture show series. The Charles' wire-haired terrier "Asta" is also lampooned, actualization here named "Myron".
- Milo Perrier (James Coco) is a have on Agatha Christie'south Hercule Poirot and arrives at the business firm with his heavily French-accented chauffeur Marcel Cassette (James Cromwell in his get-go characteristic motion-picture show role). The enervating, portly Perrier is overly fond of nutrient and appears annoyed that he must share a room with the lowly Marcel, although the two are later on seen sharing not only a room simply a bed, quibbling like a married couple. Perrier is repeatedly bellyaching by being mistaken for a Frenchman as he is Belgian, proverb, "I am not a 'Frenchie'...I am a 'Belgie'."
- Sam Diamond (Peter Falk) parodies another Dashiell Hammett character, The Maltese Falcon's hardboiled Sam Spade, and is a caricature of Humphrey Bogart in his Casablanca character. He is accompanied by his long-suffering, hard-boiled, sexy only needy secretary Tess Skeffington (Eileen Brennan), whom he continually denigrates and mistreats. Tess Skeffington'south name is a riff on Spade's secretary Effie Perine.
- Jessica Marbles (Elsa Lanchester) parodies Christie's Miss Marple. In the motion-picture show, Marbles appears as hearty, robust and tweed-clad, wheeling a frail, ancient-looking, seemingly senile companion—her ancient "nurse" Miss Withers (Estelle Winwood), for whom she is now caring—whom everyone initially assumes is Miss Marbles.
Product [edit]
The movie was shot entirely at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California, then named "The Burbank Studios".[ citation needed ]
Charles Addams, creator of The Addams Family, drew the art and caricatures displayed at the offset, during the terminate credits, and on the poster.[half-dozen]
Deleted scenes [edit]
An additional scene, not in the theatrical version but shown in some television versions, shows Sherlock Holmes (Keith McConnell) and Doctor Watson (Richard Peel) arriving as the other guests are leaving.[7] Author Ron Haydock states that an early draft of Neil Simon'southward script featured Holmes and Watson actually solving the mystery, but their roles were reduced to a cameo appearance and finally deleted, as the pb actors felt they were existence "upstaged".[8]
At that place were three other scenes deleted from the flick:
- En route to the Twain mansion, the Charlestons nearly run downwards Tess Skeffington, who is returning to Sam Diamond's automobile with gasoline; instead of giving her a lift, they apologize and drive on.
- Upon arriving at the Twain mansion, Jessica Marbles' London cabbie lets her know the fare.
- After Twain'south murder, Willie Wang claims to have found a inkling in the dead human'due south mitt that was disregarded by the great detectives; the clue, a note from "Lionel Twain, deceased", turns out to only be a reminder to the milkman to stop delivery.
Novelization [edit]
A novelization based on Neil Simon's script was written by H.R.F. Keating and published in the United States by Warner Books (ISBN 978-0446881616) and past Star Books in the United Kingdom. The novelization contains the deleted Tess Skeffington and Willie Wang scenes, also as a totally dissimilar ending in which Bensonmum is revealed to be yet alive and Twain admits that although the detectives failed, they failed brilliantly and have made him love them all again.
Reception [edit]
Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that the film had i of Simon's "nicest, breeziest screenplays," with James Coco "very, very funny as the somewhat prissy take-off on Hercule Poirot" and David Niven and Maggie Smith "marvelous as Dick and Dora Charleston, though they haven't enough to do."[nine] Arthur D. Murphy of Variety called information technology "a very good silly-funny Neil Simon satirical one-act, with a super all-star cast," adding, "It's the sort of movie one could see more than than one time and pick up on one-act bits unnoticed at commencement. Dave Grusin'south music is another highlight."[10] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times institute the film "amusing" but added, "Why it is only agreeable, and not hilarious, madcap, riotous, rip-roaring, or richly romping, I don't entirely know. Information technology'due south a short movie (94 minutes) but a wearisome one, surprisingly and so when you'd have said knockabout speed was chosen for."[11] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three stars out of 4 and wrote that "after getting off to a shaky starting time, the picture chop-chop hits a speedball comedy pace information technology doesn't lose until the unsatisfactory unravelling of the mystery."[12] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post stated that "this caricatural whodunit is probably too static and thinly contrived to generate a lasting sense of pleasure, but information technology's the kind of skillfully obvious, mock-innocent spoof that seems proficient fun while it lasts, and the fun is enhanced by the most skillful and bonny one-act cast in recent memory."[xiii] John Simon wrote, "Murder by Death is not a picture show to write or read almost, but to be seen and modestly enjoyed".[14]
On Rotten Tomatoes, Murder by Death holds a rating of 65% from twenty reviews.[fifteen]
Award nominations [edit]
| Year | Honor | Category | Subject | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Golden World Awards | Best Interim Debut in a Motion Picture – Male | Truman Capote | Nominated |
| Writers Order of America Awards | Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen | Neil Simon | Nominated |
See also [edit]
- The Cheap Detective, a 1978 film featuring Falk, Brennan, Coco, and Cromwell, also written past Simon and directed by Moore.
- Clue, a 1985 murder-mystery comedy featuring Brennan
- Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie, a mystery novel with similar setting
- "And Then In that location Were Fewer", Family Guy episode with similar setting
- List of films featuring the deafened and hard of hearing
- Knives Out, 2022 film featuring Christopher Plummer, Daniel Craig and Jamie Lee Curtis.
References [edit]
- ^ "MURDER BY Decease (A)". Columbia-Warner. British Board of Film Classification. June 14, 1976. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
- ^ "Murder past Death, Box Office Information". The Numbers. Retrieved Jan 23, 2012.
- ^ Hal Erickson. "Murder past Death". AllMovie.
- ^ Canby, Vincent (June 24, 1976). "Murder By Expiry (1976) Simon'due south Breezy 'Murder by Death'". The New York Times.
- ^ "Mystery Moving picture Baffles Chief Sleuths". The Indianapolis Star (moving picture review). June 25, 1976. p. 38. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
- ^ Angel Tagudin (Jan 22, 2013). "Murder by Decease (1976)". Art of the Title . Retrieved January 29, 2016.
- ^ De Waal, Ronald B. "The Universal Sherlock Holmes". University of Minnesota. Archived from the original on Jan 22, 2016. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
- ^ Haydock, Ron. Deerstalker! Holmes and Watson on Screen. Scarecrow Press, 1978. ISBN 0-8108-1061-1
- ^ Canby, Vincent (June 24, 1976). "Simon's Breezy 'Murder past Decease'". The New York Times. 26.
- ^ Murphy, Arthur D. (June 23, 1976). "Flick Reviews: Murder By Death". Variety. 16.
- ^ Champlin, Charles (June 23, 1976). "A Potshot at Mystery Genre". Los Angeles Times. Part IV, p. i, 14.
- ^ Siskel, Gene (June 25, 1976). "'Murder' is a one-act—and why it works is no mystery". Chicago Tribune. Department iii, p. i.
- ^ Arnold, Gary (June 23, 1976). "'Murder by Death' or, the Example of the Super-sleuth Spoof". The Washington Post. B1.
- ^ Simon, John (1982). Reverse Bending: A Decade of American Film. Crown Publishers Inc. p. 257.
- ^ "Murder past Death".
External links [edit]
- Murder by Death at IMDb
- Murder by Death at the TCM Motion-picture show Database
- Murder by Expiry at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Murder by Death at Box Function Mojo
- Murder by Death at Rotten Tomatoes
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_by_Death
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