Murder by Death

Murder by Death (1976)

Runtime: 95 minutes

Directed by: Robert Moore

Starring: Many famous faces, including the late Maggie Smith

From: Columbia/Rastar

RIP Maggie Smith

As someone who has never watched any Harry Potter nor Downton Abbey, I haven’t viewed much Maggie Smith in my life, let alone discussed here. After I heard she passed away several weeks ago, a search was done to see if any of her films were on television. Turns out, by happenstance this played on Turner Classic Movies the 1st of October and I finally had the inclination to press “play” on the DVR after recording it that night.

This Neil Simon spoof features caricatures of Sam Spade, Nick and Nora Charles, Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple & Charlie Chan. They’re all invited to the mansion of Truman Capote… no, I mean Truman Capote acts as a fictional character! As an actor, he’s a great writer. He promises a murder and dares the detectives to solve the case.

To address the elephant in the room, many on Letterboxd don’t like the film mainly due to Peter Sellers portraying the Chan spoof. Well, it was designed to be cringe-inducing! Warner Oland then Sidney Toler famously portrayed the literary character on screen as white dudes in yellowface. This movie recreates that aspect along with the stereotypical “Wise Asian” phrases; thus, I will not knock Murder by Death for that role. I can’t speak for Sellers portraying Dr. Fu Manchu in 1980’s The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu but I understand the movie’s terrible and it unfortunately was his last film role. I also wasn’t offended at Not Sam Spade’s racism & homophobia as he was supposed to be a gruff ogre of a character.

Sometimes the film is just plain goofy and silly; after all, Alec Guinness played a blind butler and the house has a deaf-mute cook. Yet, there were plenty of chuckles and what a cast it has. Smith and David Niven are Not Nick & Nora & were quite entertaining. There’s also Peter Falk, Eileen Brennan, James Coco, Elsa Lanchester, and James Cromwell. It is successful in the task of poking fun-without being malicious-at the detective genre & its tropes. Its unique ending also made me realize why they cast Capote in the role.

I don’t agree with everyone’s opinion on the film-although some of its humor is for certain dated-but its similarity to 1985’s Clue going beyond Brennan’s role in both is something I can agree with. If you understand context, are familiar with the characters that are spoofed and can accept the humor of this time, you may enjoy this if you’re a mystery-comedy/Clue fan. As is, it was a nice way to tip my cap to the late Maggie Smith.