Murder by Death vs. Clue: The Movie

I love murder mysteries! You could call them my guilty pleasure if you wanted to. There's nothing I'd rather do than to watch Midsomer Murders and point out all of it's plot points! And I'd rank Agatha Christie as one of my favourite authors, with both Death on the Nile and And Then There Were None as two of the most entertaining and excellent books I have ever read. On and off over the years I have watched various BBC TV detective shows, like Foyle's War and The Gil Mayo Mysteries (which is probably one of the most underrated shows ever to be produced) but there are fairly few movies, especially nowadays, that give a serious mystery any more. These two aren't serious mysteries, both gloriously parodying the murder mystery genre.

So, if you hadn't guessed, I will be talking and comparing two movies that are both very similar, in their general plot and yet quite different in their execution. And they also have become cult movies and have all but been forgotten by modern audiences. I am of course talking about the 1976 film Murder by Death, and the 1985 film Clue, based on the popular board game. The main plots for both are almost identical. A group of strangers/aquaintances find themselves summoned to a remote country house by a mysterious host for an unkown reason. The main difference in the plot is that the guests in Clue don't know each other, but are all being blackmailed by the same person. The guests in Murder by Death are all parodies of famous literary detectives, like Poirot, Miss Marple and Charlie Chan, and they are brought together to determine which one of them is the best. Tim Curry, Leslie Ann Warren, Madeline Kahn and Christopher Lloyd star in Clue, while Maggie Smith, Peter Sellers, Peter Falk and Truman Capote star in Murder by Death. Eileen Brennan amazingly stars in both.

So, I'll be honest, the only reason I bought Murder by Death was because Truman Capote was in it. I mean, IT'S GOT TRUMAN FUCKING CAPOTE!! What more can I say? He's bloddy brilliant! Why wouldn't I want to see a movie with him in. Why wouldn't anyone not want to see a movie with Truman Capote. With Clue, it was more a matter of needing one final DVD to borrow and thinking "Why not?" So, this will be a a versus type thing, mainly because it's easier to write it that way, but also because it would be interesting to see which one is the better mystery. Which I won't spoil. Cause you should see both films. Right now. 

Let's start by looking at the characters. All of them, in both films are completely insane and over the top. What is really good, especially in Clue, is that given the massive ensembles, there manages to be distinct characters, though there are some actors that steal every scene they are in. Capote one of them (and you thought I'd stopped going on about him!), and he has the least scenes out of anyone in both films. Others include Madeline Kahn from Clue, who ad-libs hilariously throughout, and Maggie Smith from Murder by Death, who has the best line in the film. Individually, Clue is less of an ensemble movie and more like Tim Curry and friends. Curry gets the best gags and the most exposition, the others never really get out of being guests. What I do like about Clue though, is that none of the characters are what you are expected from playing the board game, and each of them stay within their character. Which is kind of bad, because they become cliches of themselves.

With Murder by Death, the interesting thing is that each of the characters are based on famous detectives, or detective-y tropes. Like, there is a Poirot, Milos Perrier (James Coco) who is very childish, eats too much and obssesses over his appearance. Peter Falk plays Sam Diamond, who is based on those film noir detectives in old American movies, and he speaks out of the corner of his mouth and never speaks in anything but depressing, cryptic sentences. The others are similarly exaggerated fictional detectives. But I'd say that Clue has the better characters, because it is easier to establish their character tropes and identify with them. Also, in order to fully appreciate the humour in Murder by Death, you need to know who is being parodied. Otherwise, Peter Sellers' Charlie Chan will leave you feeling very uncomfortable. It's worse than Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Well, what about the setting? What I like about both movies is that they are set in old, beautiful, kinda creepy mansions, and (especially in Murder by Death) the houses become characters in their own right. You might be thinking that they are quite similar, but you'd be wrong! The setting for Clue is fairly well-known, and so the creators had to try and remain faithful to the board game when they were writing and designing the film. But there are times when I couldn't tell the difference between the lounge and the study (a nitpick, I know, but oh well), and some of the rooms, like the ballroom, conservatory and billiard room, had to be shoe horned in since they didn't really have anything to do with what was going on. The mansion in Murder by Death, on the other hand, is pretty incredible. Capote's Lionel Twain is a mad inventor, with a machine to make it look like it's raining whilst it's not, and a room that collapses in on itself. It's geniusly insane! So, for this round, Murder by Death gets the point.

I suppose there's nothing left to talk about except the most important part, the mystery. I will say, if you're open to silliness both films should have satisfying endings. I'll say first up that Clue has the more accessible ending, and is probably the one that more people will like. Murder by Death is a lot more complicated and your enjoyment of depends on whether or not you liked the ending to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, since they are quite similar in not fully resolving anything. But I'll go into a bit more detail after I talk some more about Clue.

Clue starts like an Agatha Christie-esque mystery, where someone is killed in the middle of a room full of people, causing all the guests to be suspicious and hysterical. Then it just gets silly. I don't think I'm spoiling anything when I say that anyone who isn't a playable character or Tim Curry is killed in some form or another, handily using all of the weapons that are readily available because the host was rather stupid. And right at the end, four people die in such a quick succession that the film ascends to a ridiculous level of silliness. However, to fit in with the board game there are 3 possible endings, that were distributed between different cinemas on it's original release (and if you get the DVD, you can choose whether or not you want to watch a random ending, or all 3). But for a couple of the endings,  when they try and fit the deaths to the murderers, it becomes extrememly convoluted. If you go get the DVD, then watch the VHS ending, which is a lot more satisfying and shows all 3 endings one after the other. In the end though, this is meant to be a comedy so the energetic ridiculousness of it all fits in nicely with the rest of the slapstick that fills the film.

So, now we get to the more complicated and insane ending of Murder by Death. In all honesty, by the time you finish this, you don't know whether or not a murder was even committed. The big problem with this film is that the plot is fairly non-existence, but the dialogue is very witty and is what saves the movie from being terrible. I will say this though, if you hate murder mysteries or detective novels, then you may like this. It parodies and satires the genres so well, and points out all the flaws of the most famous literary detectives and shamelessly humiliates them. It is brilliant, even more so if you know who the characters are. But what about the mystery itself? I've seen this about 3 times and I'm still not sure exactly what happened, but I think that's the point. You aren't meant to understand, and in the end this was just meant to be a glorious parody and hopefully provide a few laughs along the way. It is a little frustrating when you reach the end though, but as I said, if you can stand the ending to Holy Grail, then it may not annoy you as much.

So, which one wins? Does one have to win? Well, the one I prefer is going to be winner, cause I'm selfish like that. But I wouldn't put either above the other, they're too similar for that. And yet, the differences that they have each make them enjoyable. Clue is probably the one that the majority of people will enjoy, since it is more 'mainstream' (whatever the fuck that means) and more accessible for people. Murder by Death is more surreal, and while both end up spoofing the genre in very different ways, I like Murder by Death better. Clue is a lot more of a traditional parody, but you will never see anything like Murder by Death, and so it's my personal winner. If I've sparked your interest at all, find these two and check them out! I'm sorry this took so long to get out, but I was sick... and lazy. Next time, hopefully it will Monsieur Lazhar, and hopefully it won't take so long to get out. Until next time readers, don't be tacky.