Murder by Death

1976

Action / Comedy / Crime / Mystery / Thriller

36
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 63% · 24 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 82% · 10K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.2/10 10 45242 45.2K

blind butler charlie chan sam spade dark and stormy night detective butler

Director

Robert Moore Photo
Robert Moore

Top cast

Truman Capote Photo
Truman Capote as Lionel Twain
Nancy Walker Photo
Nancy Walker as Maid
Estelle Winwood Photo
Estelle Winwood as Nurse
Maggie Smith Photo
Maggie Smith as Dora Charleston
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
785.94 MB
1280*694
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 35 min
Seeds 12
1.49 GB
1920*1040
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles
23.976 fps
1 hr 35 min
Seeds 61

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by BigG-2 7 / 10

One half of a very funny movie.

The first half of this is laugh-aloud funny. Assuming you have seen the originals, the spoofs of these beloved fictional detectives are a joy. Peter Falk deservedly gets most screen time as a Bogart-like Sam Spade type. David Niven and Maggie Smith are never without a cocktail as the urbane Dick and Dora Charleston. Peter Sellers' costuming is a bit over the top, and not Chanlike at all, but Sellers cannot help but be funny in any part he plays. James Coco hams up the Poirot character, apparently unsure whether he is French or Belgian. Elsa Lanchester could have been left out of the cast with small loss. Truman Capote is embarrassing in a part that calls for Vincent Price. The second half of the movie where they all do their "detecting" and "solve" the murder falls down badly.
Reviewed by ma-cortes 7 / 10

Five known private eyes undertake an investigation and a millionaire offers a million dollars to the one who can solve the murder

This popular charade deals with a fistful of famed stars incarnating notorious detectives . By the time the world's greatest detectives work out whodunit, you could die laughing! Five famous literary detective characters and their sidekicks are invited to a bizarre mansion full of secret passages and spinning rooms to solve an even stranger mystery , as James Coco as Milo Perrier who looks like Hercules Poirot (by Agatha Christie), as Peter Falk as Sam Diamond who looks like Sam Spade , Elsa Lanchester as Jessica Marbles similarly to Mistress Marple , David Niven as Dick Charleston as Nick Charles (created by Dashiell Hammett, whose Nick Charles and Sam Spade were the basis), Peter Sellers as Sidney Wang or Charlie Chan (written by Earl Derr Biggers). They are received by a blind butler played by Alec Guinness as Bensonmum and the eccentric millionaire Lionel Twain performed by Truman Capote invites them to dinner , offering one million to the one who can resolve the night's killing . As the popular characters must unravel a night of murder at a spooky country house , including a blind butler, a deaf-mute maid (Nancy Walker) . Exactly at midnight, a killing is going to take place. This rendition of a Neal Simon's novel in an entertaining and fun spoof of Agatha Christie , specially from books titled ¨Ten little Indians¨and ¨And then there were none¨ . Neil Simon remained on the set to take care of re-writes, as he did with this picture's sequel, The Cheap Detective. Simon took such a shine to Alec Guinness during the picture's production that he told him if he did not like anything in the film, he'd immediately rewrite it for him, but Guinness assured him it was great fun for him. The screenplay is funny and high quality in which it's not difficult to work out on which murder-solvers each of them is modeled ; furthermore , stands up Alec Guinnes as a botcher and hyperactive blind butler and a suitable eccentric James Coco as Poirot lookalike and Nancy Walker's last movie , ironic in that she does not utter a single word throughout the entire film. In the opening credits, each character's eyes move except for Peter Falk's (which may be an in-joke reference to his glass eye), and Alec Guinness's blind butler . It is in fact an amusing imitation of Crime Story including enjoyable and sympathetic performances by the entire cast . Well-known actors have the famous sleuths at large in a sinister country mansion , then appears amusement and entertainment , as all of them running around and taking place murders , who's the killer? . The entire cast seems to be subsisting on sugar with wild eyes and frenetic movements the order of the day . You'll enjoy enormously the impersonations of legendary detectives of cinema and fictions . Lively and fun musical score by Dave Grusin . Evocative and colorful cinematography by David Walsh. The motion picture was well directed by Robert Moore . Rating : Better than average . Followed by another hammy spoof titled ¨Clue¨(1985) a pale imitation of the earlier parody , being directed by Jonathan Lynn with Tim Curry , Christopher Lloyd , Lesley Ann Warren and Madeline Khan .
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