"Murder by Death" is a comic murder-mystery done in absolute lunacy. I mean this is one screwball comedy that made me laugh out loud quite often. And yet, there are so many confusing moments that I didn't know what on earth was going on. It seems that writer Neil Simon was trying to complicate moviegoers with his screenplay to this movie which pays homage to detectives of old classic movies such as Charlie Chan, Miss Marple, Sam Spade, and Hercule Poirot. In "Murder by Death", a mysterious man invites the 5 greatest detectives to his home for "dinner and a murder" as he describes it. An all-star cast is featured here and all of them are very funny. The best: Peter Sellers in the Charlie Chan take-off. Sellers is of course best known for playing the inept Inspector Clouseau in the "Pink Panther" movies, but his role here as Chinese detective Sidney Wang is a hoot. He made me laugh the hardest. Just looking at him made me laugh. The way he talked made me laugh. He's naturally funny everytime he's on screen. Also funny: the great Sir Alec Guinness as a blind butler. I thought he was supposed to be a serious actor! I don't think I've ever seen Guinness in a movie comedy, but he makes the most of his character here. He comes second behind Sellers in the laugh department in "Murder by Death". Two other funny performances are turned in by James Coco and James Cromwell ("Babe" and "L.A. Confidential") as the Hercule Poirot sendoff and his chauffeur. It's funny to watch a younger Cromwell here speaking with a bad European accent. David Niven, Maggie Smith, Peter Falk, Eileen Brennan, Elsa Lanchester, and Nancy Walker also register laughs too. But the most downright goofiest character in "Murder by Death" is the host orchestrating this crazy game, played by Truman Capote. He's very funny too. Another major factor in the film are the sets of the old mansion the movie takes place in. They're marvelous. But at times the story gets real complicated and seems to get parts dislocated. It bothered me a little the first time I saw this. Now I just sit back and let the movie play on. Neil Simon intended on this to be a crazy comedy and in that way he succeeded. "Murder by Death" is all-in-all a very enjoyable movie.

*** (out of four)

This is an utterly hilarious parody, spoofing detective stories. Much of the humor is verbal, some of it relies on stereotypes and such related (mainly) to the crime story genre. Some of the humor is a tad dirty, and a bit of it is quite dark. Personally, I loved it, but if you have anything against such humor, you may want to skip this one. It doesn't try too hard to make you laugh. The laughs roll in quite naturally, as it parodies a few of the most well-known fictional detectives; Agatha Christie's Mrs. Marble, among others. The setting is one typical to detective stories, and the atmosphere is simply perfect. The plot is very good, and develops nicely while still remaining interesting. The pacing is mostly flawless, but it seemed to lose momentum some, around the last third. The acting is all good, especially from Alec Guinness, Peter Falk and Peter Sellers. One wouldn't expect particularly good performances in a comedy, but this manages. The film is well thought out and equally well-executed. The only thing I didn't like, was that the ending, or maybe the entire third half of the film seemed a bit anticlimactic. At this point, all the action is done, and we're just waiting to find out who's behind it all. The very end is quite good though, a very funny and entertaining twist to say the least. And everything leading up to it is incredibly funny. The characters, while admittedly based somewhat on stereotypes, are all entertaining and each have their own shtick; among them are Milo Perrier, the perpetually hungry and ridiculously sensitive Frenchman, and the *very* British Dick Charleston, played to perfection by David Niven, and last but most definitely not least, Sam Diamond(Peter Falk, doing his Columbo thing), borrowing from noir and Bogart, complete with nonsensical, lengthy rants. I recommend this to anyone into detective movies and/or spoofs. Do keep the humor I mentioned early in the review in mind when considering whether or not to watch. 8/10

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 .