Product Details

• Actors: Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote
• Directors: Robert Moore
• Writers: Neil Simon
• Producers: Ray Stark, Roger M. Rothstein
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: Cantonese, Chinese, English, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
  PLEASE NOTE: Some Region 1 DVDs may contain Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE). Some, but not all, of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on what are called "region-free" DVD players. For more information on RCE, click here.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• DVD Release Date: December 18, 2001
• Run Time: 94 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (143 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005RDRO
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,243 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #3 in	Movies & TV > Comedy > Comedy Stars > Peter Sellers
  #10 in	Movies & TV > Mystery & Suspense > Detectives
  #25 in	Movies & TV > Mystery & Suspense > Suspense

• For more information about "Murder by Death" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Neil Simon wrote this 1976 spoof in which virtually every famous fictional detective of the 1930s and 1940s congregate at the home of a mysterious fellow (Truman Capote) to try and solve the mystery of who's trying to kill them all. Simon's jokes are mostly obvious, and the film's real appeal is the clever concept matched with fine--sometimes legendary--actors. Peter Falk plays a very Bogart-like Sam Spade equivalent, James Coco is a Hercule Poirot wannabe, Peter Sellers does a Charlie Chan bit, David Niven and Maggie Smith are reflections of Nick and Nora.... You get the picture. Lighthearted and silly, this is cotton-candy comedy for the cast as well as viewers. --Tom Keogh

Product Description

Movie DVD

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

83 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You are cordially invited to dinner... and a murder!, January 19, 2004

By	cookieman108 "cookieman108®" (Inside the jar...) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

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 Guinness, playing the blind butler, Truman Capote as the eccentric host Lionel Twain, and Nancy Walker as the deaf and mute maid, Yetta.

Peter Sellers has always been one of my favorite comedic actors, and he certainly shines here, but, in my opinion, Peter Falk edges him out here. His comic imitation of Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade is dead on. All the actors perform wonderfully, but watch for Alec Guinness as Jamesir Bensonmum, Lionel Twain's blind Butler. Alec Guinness is best know for his serious roles, but he did a number of very funny comedies earlier in his career, including such films as The Lavender Hill Mob, The Man in the White Suit, and Kind Hearts and Coronets.

As the clues present themselves, the speculation flies. The pacing of the film is kept brisk throughout, with snappy dialogue and excellent characterizations as Simon truly keeps the viewer engaged with a great script. The direction by Robert Moore is wonderful, keeping things from getting confusing and allowing all members of this ensemble cast to enjoy enough screen time for us to appreciate the characters. Credit must also be given to the creators of the sets, as they add so much to the overall feel of the movie.

Not a lot in the way of extras, but the picture looks great and is available in both wide screen and full screen formats. I am going to end this review with one of my favorite lines from the movie, spoken by Peter Falk playing Sam Diamond "My hat's off to the man with the shiv in his back. Except for the fact that he's dead, he was no dope."

Cookieman108

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Movie- excellent- DVD release- lacking, think about VHS, September 25, 2005

By	laptopuser (Ann Arbor, Michigan) - See all my reviews

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.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Neil Simon's Best!, May 7, 2000

By	"loungelizard7" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Murder By Death [VHS] (VHS Tape)

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 proverbs than all the fortune cookies in Chinatown: "Treacherous road like-a fresh mushroom..." Peter Falk is insane as really-not-quite-there Sam Diamond, and Truman Capote gets in a fun cameo appearance as their puckish host, Lionel Twain. Smith, Coco, Sellers, and Falk shine. But two of the best performances are in rather small roles played by a pre-"Star Wars" Sir Alec Guiness (so don't expect to hear the Force theme on his entrance) showing his comedic talent as the blind butler, Bensonmum, and "Rhoda" alum, the great Nancy Walker, as the deaf-and-dumb cook, Yetta. These two have some of the funniest scenes in film history, each playing marvelously off the other's shortcomings. (Watch for when Bensonmun "fires" her--even holding the door open and pointing out--while she looks on, bewildered!)

The classic lines are everywhere. Falk: "I gotta go to da can. Sometimes I talk so much, I forget ta go." Lanchester: "Pardon my language, but it scared the ca-ca out of me!" Smith: (in response) "You know, Dicky, I like her. I really like her." Capote: (chastising Sellers' broken English) "IT! IT! Use your damn pronouns!" Perrier's driver: (About a chocolate bar with almonds instead of nuts) "The man at the store had no nuts." Coco: (responding) "He was short?" Sellers: "Look! Voice come from cow on wall!" But the best line in the whole movie is when the butler has been gone for quite some time and not returned with their meal, and starving Coco, in detective mode, says, "The most important question is: Where is the butler? And why has he not returned...(Screaming dramatically)...WITH OUR DINNER! "

I was in a murder-mystery play last year in which one character was a sendup of Truman Capote; I loaned this video to the actor who had that part. And this week, I'm playing a role in Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians," in which Estelle Winwood (Ms. Marbles' nurse in this film) originated the stage role of Emily Brent in 1944.

This is a really fun movie to watch on a Friday night with lots of friends--for even more fun, watch it back-to-back with "Clue!"