Great Movies You've Probably Never Seen: Murder by Death

Murder by Death

It's that time again. Time for me to try to convince you to watch movies I love but no one else has seen. I got googlereader shared a link to Leonard Maltin's 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen, and I was pleased to see that I had already seen quite a few of the films. (I checked out the table of content via Amazon's 'look inside this book' function.) I'm not saying I'm an expert, or a professional, but I am telling you that I spend an exorbitant amount of watching movies, so you can trust me as far as you can trust anyone who is an obsessive geek type about something they are into.

So! Murder By Death. First off, here's the IMDB synopsis (the wiki page gives the ENTIRE FILM PLOT, so spoiler alert):

Millionnaire Lionel Twain invites the five most brilliant private eyes to a dinner - and a murder. So, Sidney Wang from China, Dick Charleston from New York, Jessica Marbles from England, Milo Perrier from Belgium and Sam Diamond from San Francisco arrive at the remote castle. They are welcomed by Jamesir Bemsonmam, the blind butler. At nine, a dinner is supposed to be served. The five private eyes and their companionships are in the dining room, wondering what everything is about. Suddenly, Lionel Twain appears and lets the private eyes in on his plan: Exactly at midnight, a murder is going to take place. And he offers a million dollars to the one who can solve the murder. Then he disappears. Before long, a problem arises: The butler is found dead - and it's long before midnight! Will the five most brilliant minds of our time be able to see through the elaborate set-up staged by a criminal mastermind?

Written by Neil Simon, Murder by Death is a comedy masterpiece for mystery novel lovers. Sidney Wang (aka Charlie Chan),  Dick and Dora Charleston (aka Nick and Nora Charles of the Thin Man series), Milo Perrier (aka Hercule Poirot of the Agatha Christie novels), Sam Diamond (aka Sam Spade), and Jessica Marbles (aka Miss Marple of the Agatha Christie novels) are all send ups of famous literary mystery figures, and they are amazingly cast.  I'll watch almost anything with Peter Falk in it as a detective because I loved Columbo growing up, but there are so many good people in this: David Niven of Pink Panther fame; Maggie Smith, who you may remember from Gosford Park, but has been in just everything; Elsa Lanchester, who gained widespread recognition in the Bride of Frankenstein, but most will recognize as the head maid from Mary Poppin; Eileen Brennan, from The Last Picture Show, Texasville, and the '80s Goldie Hawn comedy vehicle Private Benjamin; Nancy Walker, who was a regular on Rhoda, but whose best work was on stage and as director for the Mary Tyler Moore Show.  The best, by far though, is Truman Capote as the devious and frustrated mystery fan Lionel Twain.  He's only in a few scenes, but he totally steals them. 

If you like mysteries and comedies, if you've ever had any appreciation for the board game or film version of Clue, then you're going to love this. Everyone I've ever shown it to both thought it was funny and couldn't believe they'd never seen it before. 

Great Movies You've Probably Never Seen: Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

I'm starting a new series, which I am entitling "Great Movies You've Never Seen," because, well, title self-explanatory. Now that I have Netflix both in disc and instant format, my combination of "supposed to be studying" and "no job" and "flu that will not die" created the craziest on-going film watching schedule of my life. (A few weeks ago? Hannah Montana: The Movie, OT: Our Town, and Helvetica on the same day.) So much have I watched...that apparently I'm starting to structure my sentences like Yoda. Anyway, in an effort to pretend that this whole obsessive film watching has a purpose, I'm going to make recommendations to you all, with the hopes that someone may benefit from my insane couch potatoing. So! To kick off, I offer you....

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

"You're a smart man."
"So was Abraham Lincoln. Look what happened to him. Smart can get you killed."

First off, I'll give you the wikipedia synopsis:

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is a 1982 comedy film directed by Carl Reiner and starring Steve Martin and Rachel Ward. It is both a parody of, and homage to, film noir and the pulp detective movies of the 1940s and 1950s.

The film is a collage effect of old black and white movie clips from films of the 1940s and 1950s, with more recent footage of Martin and other actors similarly shot in black and white. When everything is put together, the original dialogue and acting becomes part of a completely different (and ridiculous) story. This was the last film for both costume designer Edith Head and composer Miklós Rózsa.

This is a great film. It's really funny in its own right, but if you have any appreciation at all for classic film or noir or both, you will love this. I also think it demonstrates some of Steve Martin's incredible talent. I like so many of his early films -- The Jerk, All of Me, Roxanne, etc. etc. -- but this one is something truly special. Also, the costuming is great because -- HELLO, EDITH HEAD! For those of you who don't realize who that is, if you've seen The Incredibles, she's the inspiration for Edna Mode. She's an amazing costumer, and actually still holds the record for the woman who has won the most Academy Awards -- eight, in total.

The concept is brilliant, the dialogue is funny, the acting is great, and the costuming and set design is seamless. Best of all, it's currently on Netflix list of instant streaming movies, so you can catch it on your computer any time if you've got a Netflix account (or get it on DVD if you perfer). I highly recommend it for some dark and stormy afternoon when you have nothing to do.