Clue

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Cluedo Chaos. Clue is directed by Jonathan Lynn and he co-writes with John Landis and Anthony E. Pratt. It stars Eileen Brennan, Tim Curry, Christopher Lloyd, Madeline Kahn, Michael McKean, Martin Mull, Lesley Ann Warren, Colleen Camp and Lee Ving. Music is by John Morris and cinematography by Victor J. Kemper. Based on the board game Cluedo, plot finds six guests anonymously invited to a large mansion for dinner. All of them have something in common and when their host is killed, they must work with the household staff to identify the murderer because the bodies are starting to pile up. A sort of madcap "And Then There Were None", Clue has ebullience in spades and a cast revelling in the nutty play. The mystery element is actually secondary to the interactions of this splendid array of characters, where physical and vocal humour is the twin driving force. The shifts between pure mania and deadpannery ensure the pace, even during close quarter chattings in the group, never sags. It's on the surface silly but taking a closer look it's rejoicing in its own humility, the class distinctions shredded for comedic worth. It's definitely a mood piece, I mean you have to be in a good move to go with its flow. For to be down and blue it's more likely to irritate than to cheer one up. The makers are on form, in front of and behind the camera, while Morris' musical score is proper perky. A flop on release, and mauled in serious critic circles, Clue has garnered a cult fanbase over the decades. So much so it sits with a healthy rating on the main movie data base. It's hard to recommend with great confidence, for it is an acquired taste. But it's a one of a kind from the 1980s, a pic that you should try just in case you do become a fan for life. 7/10

Tim Curry and Eileen Brennan are great in this dramatised game of "Cleudo". The former is butler "Wadsworth" who is to welcome a select gathering of guests to his employer's stately pile for a dinner with a difference. Once assembled, we discover that these ostensibly upstanding folks are all really miscreants and that they were all being blackmailed! Unbeknown to them, their nemesis is in their midst - but not for long, and what now ensues is a cleverly written and staged murder mystery that pits each of them against the other in an entertaining and funny ninety minutes complete with a rope and some lead piping. There are loads of quips in the pithily delivered script - some more subtle than others, and as the deductive element of the plot heats up, the characters - especially Brennan's "Mrs. Peacock" and Christopher Lloyd's eccentric, slightly sleazy, "Prof Plum" - each start to exude their own sense of chaotic, slapstick, mini-menace. By the end I wasn't quite sure who was dead, if anyone was dead, should anyone have been dead, should they all have been dead, should I have been dead? It races along just like it does on the stage, and as screen adaptations from that medium go - well, it's amongst the best. Looks great too and is really worth sitting in from of the telly with some Malbec with, and enjoying Tim Curry doing what he does best.

**_An amusing take on “And Then There Were None” and “Murder by Death”_** RELEASED IN 1985 and directed by Jonathan Lynn, "Clue" is a comedic murder mystery based on the board game featuring an “all-star” cast (Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Eileen Brennan, Lesley Ann Warren, etc.). This is a good movie if you’re in the mood for an amusing mystery that takes place during the McCarthy era (1954) almost entirely within a vast gothic mansion on a stormy night. It combines movies like “Ten Little Indians” (1965) and “The Beast Must Die” (1974) with the goofiness of “The Private Eyes” (1980). I was skeptical at how Lynn & the cast could pull off the challenge of making such a confined story entertaining, but I have to admit that I busted out laughing several times (e.g. the scenes of making out with corpses). And the cast is a pleasure to behold with Colleen Camp a highlight as the stereotypical (hot) French maid. The climax with its several murder scenarios is kinda tedious, however. THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour 34 minutes and was shot in Paramount Studios, Hollywood, and Max Busch House, Pasadena, California. WRITERS: Jonathan Lynn and John Landis. GRADE: B-/C+