Rating: 
Summary: Big house like man married to fat woman...hard to get around
Review: My hat is off to Neil Simon for this incredible movie. I grew up watching this movie and by the age of 15 I realized...nobody done it! It's seldom that a movie comes along this hillarious that makes one really think about who done it. The premise, an eccentric millionaire (Truman Capote)with a bone to pick, invites the worlds five greatest living detectives to dinner and a murder. Wang (Peter Sellers),Marbles (Elsa Lanchester),Pierre (James Coco), Charleston (David Niven) and Diamond (Peter Falk) are locked in Twain's (Capote) mansion, filled with mysteriously moving rooms, a blind butler (Alec Guiness) and a deaf and mute maid (Nancy Walker). A "murder" is committed and the detectives each render a who done it. But who really did what?
Eileen Brennan, Maggie Smith and James Cromwell also appear and together with the detectives, deliver the most hillarious lines and observations. The plot defintely deserves a nod and I couldn't be happier with the DVD presentation. An interview with Neil Simon sheds some insight into the casting and ideas brought out in this hysterical comedy.
Rating: 
Summary: entertaining
Review: like many people here I bought this DVD because I loved Clue and wanted more similar whodunit movies. although this movie isnt quite clue and as i'm young i'm pretty sure i missed lots of references in the movie, i still enjoyed it... admittedly i bought this last year and only got around to watching it last friday just because the first time i popped it on the DVD i really couldnt stand it for some reason... hence the 4 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Two Two Twain
Review: Ew, what a gross looking cover to the DVD! But an awesome movie. I highly recommend you check this out, especially if you're a fan of one of the greatest films of all time -- Clue. They make great companion pieces. And both have Eileen Brennan.
I used to watch this a lot as a kid. It's a little dated now, but still a lot of fun. And it brings together a solid story with great characters, and a genius cast that include the princes of Ealing Studios: Peter Sellers, David Niven and Alec Guiness.
What more do you want, people?
Rating:
Summary: Clever Spoof
Review: Noted playwright Neil Simon wrote this amusing spoof of 30s and 40s detective films. Truman Capote stars as Lionel Twain, an eccentric millionaire who assembles five top sleuths, which includes send-ups of Nick and Nora Charles, Sam Spade, and Miss Marple. He tells the group that a murder will occur at midnight with a million dollars going to the first person to identify the culprit. "Murder by Death" gently pokes fun at seemingly every mystery movie convention - the eccentric butler, a mansion engulfed in fog and rain, a cut phone wire, and an appropriately convoluted, silly ending. Because the humor is so good-spirited, even fans of the originals are likely to laugh. The fast pace also helps keep things on track. In addition, the acting talent is top-notch, with a who's who of 70s film: Alec Guinness, David Niven, Peter Sellers, Maggie Smith, Peter Falk, and Eileen Brennan. Recommended for fans of detective films and 70s comedies.
Rating: 
Summary: An Amusing Gathering of Sleuths
Review: The last time I saw this movie during it's original theatrical run back in 1976 (3 or 4 times actually) when I was a kid. I thought it was the funniest movie I had ever seen. I revisited it on DVD recently for the first time since then and my enthusiasm for it has waned some. It's still a very funny picture. Most of the jokes are hit or miss, but there's enough there to justify a recommendation. Peter Falk and Peter Sellers are the standouts in a uniformly good comic cast. I certainly like this infinitely better than the more "serious" comedies Neil Simon wrote for Marsha Mason ("Goodbye Girl", please!).
Rating:
Summary: Grade B+ Neil Simon
Review: Despite the (mostly) excellent cast this movie production of Neil Simon's play leaves a little to be desired. In particular I think that director Robert Moore needed to work harder toward getting the timing of his players down pat and focusing the jokes. I also think it was a mistake to cast Truman Capote in the role of Lionel Twain, the eccentric millionaire who invites the five world famous detectives to his estate with the idea of matching murderous wits with them and fooling them. Although he looks the part, Capote stands out like a sore thumb amidst the much more experienced and talented cast, so much so that I almost felt sorry for him. He pronounces his lines competently but with neither flair nor finesse. The premise of the play reveals Neil Simon's satirical intent: the characters are all caricatures of famous fictional detectives: Inspector Sidney Wang (Peter Sellers ) as a Charlie Chan type; Sam Diamond (Peter Falk) as a Sam Spade type; Inspector Milo Perrier (James Coco) as a famous Belgique detective of similar name (Agatha Christie's Poirot) who could also be Georges Simenon's famous French detective (except that he cries out, "Not Frenchie--Belgie!"). The absurd plot begins as the detectives motor toward Twain's haunted, fog-shrouded castle in northern California for a dinner that is never served. Everything is played as a farce ("farce --n. 1. a comedy based on unlikely situations and exaggerated effects." --Random House College Dictionary) and everybody tries to ham it up. I particularly liked Peter Sellers as the Chinese Wang with his #3 adopted Japanese son in tow. Alec Guinness plays the blind butler ("The butler did it!") while Nancy Walker has a small part as the blind and deaf cook. David Niven is mildly amusing as the debonaire Dick Charleston who, unbeknownst to his wife (Maggie Smith), has only a buck-seventy-some in his tuxedo pocket (and some stamps) after going through some of her millions. Representative joke: When asked by his #3 adopted Japanese son why HE has to clean up the dead body, Inspector Wang tells him, "Because your mother isn't here." By the way, the makeup on Peter Sellers ("Inspector Slanty," according to Sam Diamond) is especially well done. As usual Peter Sellers manages to look more like the character he playing than himself, so much so that one needs to do a double take to realize it is Peter Sellers at work. One of the problems with a movie like this is that all the actors are trying to upstage one another and every line and pratfall is played as MY moment in the spotlight so there is little contrast around which to frame the best bits. Still, afficionados, especially those viewing this repeatedly, will find plenty to crack up about. See this for Neil Simon, one of America's most popular playwrights, whose semi-sophisticated, upbeat comedies delighted theater and movie audiences for several decades beginning in the Sixties. I particularly loved The Out-of-Towners (1970) with Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis; The Good-bye Girl (1977) with Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason; and the unforgettable The Odd Couple (1968) starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. Simon and Peter Falk followed this up with The Cheap Detective (1978). Incidentally, Falk's work here and in The Cheap Detective and in a couple of earlier Columbo movies served as a proving ground for his long-running TV hit Columbo.
Rating:
Summary: I love this movie!!
Review: This movie has you guessing the whole time! The jokes are very funny, I would reccomend this to anyone who likes stupid humor defenetly worthit.
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