Murder by Death (1976)

What. A. Cast! Let's start with the magic comical talent of Alec Guinness. As a blind butler, he provides mischief and laughs at most turn. Peter Sellers' character would definitely be labelled cultural appropriation today, but is funny as hell. His little quotes of wisdom mostly festive treats of comedy. And please don't forget to notice James Cromwell as a Frenchman. 

This is a silly film, and that means the silliness needs to be accompanied by good acting and some intelligence. As for the former, it's in abundance. The start is very enjoyable as the puns and wit fly across the room, and the parodies materialize themselves. The intelligence is a bit more hit and miss, though mostly hit.

As comedies tend to do, the jokes deplete about halfway through. "Murder by Death" does not quite escape this fate, but Sellers and Falk in particular are still able to provide some giggles and laughs. Director Robert Moore changes emphasis towards the murder story, and forgets to bring the jokes at the same pace. Which would be OK, had someone actually bothered to write a decent ending to that part of the story. 

There are some sloppy mistakes by the director that lead to some tedious glitches in the murder mystery. There are some good options, some silly (and not very funny), and some lazy. But the solution is really none of them. If you need 6 good endings to a murder story, make 6. Not 3. 

As a comedy, this is very much above average. There are plenty of laughs and an almost unbelievable array of comical talent. And such different actors, with different strengths. The film also has you intrigued with the murder mystery for a while, though the ending lets us down in a big way. But quite frankly, it's a comedy. It made me laugh more times than they usually do. And for that, I rate it a success.

8/10