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Title: Murder by Death (1976)
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| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Eileen Brennan | ... | Tess Skeffington | |
| Truman Capote | ... | Lionel Twain | |
| James Coco | ... | Milo Perrier | |
| Peter Falk | ... | Sam Diamond | |
| Alec Guinness | ... | Bensonmum | |
| Elsa Lanchester | ... | Jessica Marbles | |
| David Niven | ... | Dick Charleston | |
| Peter Sellers | ... | Sidney Wang | |
| Maggie Smith | ... | Dora Charleston | |
| Nancy Walker | ... | Maid | |
| Estelle Winwood | ... | Nurse | |
| James Cromwell | ... | Marcel | |
| Richard Narita | ... | Willie Wang | |
Despite not knowing him, the world's most famous detectives can't pass up the offer of a "dinner and murder" invitation from wealthy Lionel Twain (Truman Capote). Each has no idea until their arrival at Two Two Twain who else will be in attendance. Those detectives are: amateur sleuths and New York City socialites Dick (David Niven) and Dora Charleston (Dame Maggie Smith), accompanied by their pet terrier, Myron; Belgian detective Monsieur Milo Perrier (James Coco), accompanied by his chauffeur, Marcel (James Cromwell); Shanghainese Inspector Sidney Wang (Peter Sellers), accompanied by his Japanese adopted son, Willie Wang (Richard Narita); frumpish Brit Miss Jessica Marbles (Elsa Lanchester), accompanied by her invalid nurse, Miss Withers (Estelle Winwood); and San Francisco gumshoe Sam Diamond (Peter Falk), accompanied by his femme fatale sidekick, Tess Skeffington (Eileen Brennan). The dinner part of the invitation runs into problems due to the non-communication between Twain's ... Written by Huggo
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 .