Murder by DeathThe best thing to bring with you to a murder mystery dinner is a rock-solid alibi.Regrettably, the guests in this comedy have only brought motives.Determined to prove himself the master sleuth, eccentric millionaire Lionel Twain (Truman Capote) invites the world's most renowned detectives - Inspector Wang (Peter Sellers), Sam Diamond (Peter Falk), Dick and Dora Charleston (David Niven, Maggie Smith), Jessica Marbles (Elsa Lanchester), Milo Perrier (James Coco) - to dinner at his secluded manor estate. Later, the masterminds must solve Twain's murder before morning if they hope to claim the million-dollar prize money.Playwright turned screenwriter Neil Simon's sardonic send-up of murder mystery authors, like Agatha Christie, their penchant for swanky locales, like a millionaire's mansion, and their virtuoso detectives, like Hercule Poirot, Murder by Death's wonderful lampooning is marred only by Sellers' racist Charlie Chan impersonation.Incidentally, when entertaining detectives be sure to lock the liquor cabinet. Yellow Light

Amazingly funny, witty and intriguing throughout. I loved Miss Marbles and the Maid provided the funniest moment in the entire film. I loved the ending, it didn't make sense but it was still awesome!!!The characters were amazing, especially Milo Perrier and Jessica Marbles but I can't stop laughing about how amazing the character of Inspector Wang was. If you ever see this on TV, WATCH IT because it will leave you feeling so good about everything. This is probably one of the best movies of the '70s and needs more recognition, because everything about it was funny and clever.Lionel Twain was good but evil but confusing.....Aggh I don't know what to say about his character, but the butler creeped me out and cracked me up from the moment I saw him.

I hated the movie. The movie is about the worlds greatest detectives who get invited to a mansion where they are challenged to solve a murder which hasn't been committed yet. The plot has some holes, they are quite annoying, but it isn't the plot that made me hate the movie. The core concept is actually not that bad.The biggest problem I have with this movie is the dialogue, the acting, the depiction of the characters and that it is not at all funny.Lets start with the funny part. The key to a good joke is timing. Some of the jokes could have been funny but there is no timing. The jokes go on and on and sometimes the joke is even explained by the detectives. There are many possibilities to make jokes around the blind servant and the deaf housekeeper but they are making more or less the same jokes over and over again. Many of the jokes are outright offensive to the Chinese and women.Every single character is a stereotype. Which isn't so unusual in this genre but they are all played so over the top that you can't connect to any of them at all. The Chinese detective (Mr Wang) is insulting. He speaks this stereotypical Chinese accent and is an insult because he mocks the culture of the Chinese people. He frequently says offensive things. He even says he bought his sidekick. Slavery wasn't a real thing in china at that time. I know racism wasn't such a big deal back then, but even at that time this was considered downright offensive.The writer tried to make fun of the cliché characters in detective literature and movies but didn't know where to stop. None of the main characters are likable. I hated every single one of them.Sam Diamond, an American detective, (I believe he was from Chicago) has this silly accent. I didn't really understand how this character fits in the movie. He is kind of a distraction from the general style of the movie. He is kind of a mockery of film Noir detectives. That doesn't really fit into this kind of detective story. He is extremely offensive towards women. Well I know it was most likely intended as humor because the film noir movies of the 40s and 50s are often considered sexist. But what is funny about a man mistreating women.I could go on about the characters but I just wanted to give you an example.Most of the movie the characters do nothing at all they are just annoyingly talking to each other in silly accents. When I watched 20 minutes of the movie I lost all interest and was suffering through it. I really don't understand why so many people like it.Not a single one of the jokes is funny every single character is so over the top idiotic. It is racist sexist. It was just insulting.

On a dark and potentially stormy night, the world's five greatest living detectives are summoned to an old mansion, where they are asked to solve a "Murder by Death" that is about to happen. The five super-sleuths are: hard-boiled Peter Falk (as Sam Diamond as Sam Spade), buck-toothed Peter Sellers (as Sidney Wang as Charlie Chan), portly James Coco (as Milo Perrier as Hercule Poirot), dapper David Niven (as Dick Charleston as Nick Charles) and elderly Elsa Lanchester (as Jessica Marbles as Jane Marple). Their companions include chic Maggie Smith (as Dora), sexy Eileen Brennan (as Tess) and senile Estelle Winwood (as Withers)...Blind butler Alec Guinness (as Bensonmum) and deaf mute Nancy Walker (as Yetta) attend to the guests. Butterball criminologist Truman Capote (as Lionel Twain) offers one million dollars to the winning detective. There are fewer funny moments than there should be when this Neil Simon story works, mainly during the early running time. Those figuring out the ending should receive the million dollar prize money - probably, it has something to do with confusing and unsatisfactory endings.***** Murder by Death (6/23/76) Robert Moore ~ Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Nancy Walker