Murder by Death

Director: Robert Moore
Starring: Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, David Niven, Peter Falk, Eileen Brennan, Maggie Smith, Elsa Lanchester, Truman Capote, James Coco, Nancy Walker
Runtime: 95’
Year of Production: 1976
Language: English
Subtitles: Greek

It takes a special strike of cinematic luck and favorable creative circumstances to have these leading names and an (almost always) in-shape Neil Simon in a recital of cheerful parody of the murder mystery films that (also) at that time were in full swing. Of course, luck is not enough. There are plenty of failed films with great leading actors. You need a script, you need the big names to be coordinated (Simon never missed a shooting, and he said that the first time the actors read the parts was so comic that it should have been recorded), you need a director to provide rhythm and pacing to the engine.

And indeed everything works like clockwork. Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, Charlie Chan, Sam Spade and Nick and Nora Charles (from Dashiell Hammett's excellent "Thin Man" of the 1930s-40s) arrive at a mysterious mansion, they are called upon to solve an outrageous riddle posed for them by an eccentric host (cult favorite Truman Capote in the role) in order to expose their incompetence, and they all become hilariously reticent. What more can one really ask for? Ilias Dimopoulos