Murder By Death [HD]

You are cordially invited to dinner... and a murder!
Murder By Death is one of those comedies I watch about once a year, as it always makes me laugh. Five famous detectives from the literary world are spoofed when they and their partners are invited to a mysterious mansion to witness a murder and a million dollars is offered to whomever can solve the case.

Written by Neil Simon (The Odd Couple, California Suite), this film has tons of great lines and truly wonderful performances by all the actors. There's Dick and Dora Charleston played by David Niven and Maggie Smith, Inspector Milo Perrier (I'm not a Frenchie! I'm a Belgie!) played by James Coco and his secretary/chauffeur Marcel (James Cromwell), Miss Jessica Marbles (Elsa Manchester, probably most famous for her role as the Bride of Frankenstein) and her nurse, Inspector Sidney Wang (Peter Sellers) and his number 3 adopted Japanese son Willie, and finally Sam Diamond (Peter Falk) and his secretary Tess Skeffington (Eileen Brennan). Rounding out the cast is Alec...

Movie- excellent- DVD release- lacking, think about VHS
The movie is an excellent spoof of all the mystery detectives that hold out vital bits of information until the final pages....I'm not a huge Neil Simon fan but this one is just plain fun. It helps that I grew up reading Christie, watching the Thin Man movies, etc.

Potential purchasers should be aware, though, that the DVD release isn't remastered that well, and in fact scenes are cut that are present in the video! Scenes that, in my opinion, are among the funniest in the movie.

Buy the DVD for an archival copy of a great movie if you like; but you may want to find a used VHS copy for the full movie experience.

One of Neil Simon's Best!
Hilarious beyond compare. That describes "Murder by Death." Spoofing everyone from Miss Marple to Sam Spade, Charlie Chan to The Thin Man, and everyone in between, Neil Simon's script (outdoing such Simon classics as "The Odd Couple") is so far out there that one can only fall in love with this movie.

Being a big fan of mysteries, parodies, and all-star casts, this was the movie for me. The whole cast has a ball and hams it up to High Heaven. I love David Niven and Maggie Smith as Dick and Dora Charleston. Smith especially soars, giving an offhanded, almost nonchalant performance that leaves you rolling in the aisles. Elsa Lanchester is great as Jessica Marbles, and Estelle Winwood, in a very small role, gets a few good lines as her senile nurse. (Watch for their entrance!) James Coco is a comic riot as the always-hungry Monsieur Perrier. Peter Sellers is classic again as Inspector Wang (with every line funnier than the last). He has more...

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