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Poster (c) Columbia/Tristar
I usually don’t read murder mysteries, but watching murder mysteries is my idea of a good time. Neil Simon’s Murder by Death is a perfect example of that genre. Not only does it have the required twists and turns for a murder mystery, it also is hilarious (which is good, because it’s a parody of the genre as well as being one of it). Although the plot was used again in Clue about 10 years later, this has less of a plot and has a more frenzied feel to it, not unlike some British comedy from thirty years ago that you’d find on PBS.
As I said earlier, I don’t read mysteries, but I did recognize who the parodies were. For example, Peter Sellers plays Sidney Wang, a parody of late 30’s, early 40’s detective Charlie Chan. He’s arriving at Lionel Twain’s castle for a weekend with his Number Three Son (another spoof of the Chan movies). Other guests include Dick and Dora Charleston (as in Nick and Nora Charles from The Thin Man movies), Milo Perrier (as in Hercule Peroit from Agatha Christie books), Jessica Marbles (as in Marples), and Sam Diamond (Sam Spade from The Maltese Falcon).
When I first popped this movie into my DVD player, I expected a snooty British comedy, not unlike a movie such as Gosford Park. I was surprised. Not only does it have famous actors, it has a quick pace, some slapstick, and lots of one-liners. It was never boring, and not only was I laughing out loud a lot, I was also enthralled in the mystery that Twain puts upon us: one person is going to die, and whoever solves it will get one million dollars. I had no idea who was the murderer, and when we found out who actually did it, that was the weakest part of the whole movie, although, yet again, it spoofs the genre.
The cast is very big, too. Sellers, as Wang, is hilarious, he is a versatile actor. Peter Falk plays Diamond with stunning accuracy. He’s also very funny, especially when he’s with his secretary Tess Skeffington (Eileen Brennan, who is funny by herself, also). Dick and Dora are played by David Niven and Maggie Smith. Although I’ve only seen part of a Thin Man movie, they looked just like them, also, and acted like them. I think that’s what makes this movie so good, is how closely they parody the genre without totally divulging into it.
Rated PG for some language, violence, and suggestive themes.
Review Date: June 18, 2003