Few clues of black comedy

Press, 28 July 1986, Page 9

Few clues of black comedy

AT THE CINEMA

Hans Petrovic

CLUE Directed and written by Jonathan Lynn

“Que” (Savoy) contains all the classic elements of the country-house mur-der-mystery, which was virtually invented by Agatha Christie.

This film, however, has the added gimmick of being based on the popular board game, known as “Clue” in the U.S. and as “Cluedo” in England and New Zealand. The six main characters are the same as in the game: Mrs Peacock, Mrs White, Professor Plum, Mr Green, Colonel Mustard and Miss Scarlet. The additional characters in the film are Mr Body, who becomes the first murder victim, the French maid, the cook and the butler (Tim Curry), who becomes the dynamic pivot for all the action.

The six murder weapons are the same: a candlestick, a noose, a lead pipe, a spanner, a gun and a dagger. The action occurs mostly in the rooms charted on the “Clue” game board: the study, the library, the billiard room, the conservatory, the ballroom, the kitchen, the dining room and the lounge. Several other rooms, including upstairs bedrooms and a cellar, have been added.

The main characters are mysteriously invited to dinner at the mansion by an unknown host. They are welcomed and introduced by the butler, and later joined by the supposed host, Mr Body. It soon becomes apparent that all the guests have various things in common, especially the fact that they are all being blackmailed. Bodies start to pile up as the evening goes on, leaving six corpses, and

the six main characters and butler as the suspects. In structure, “Clue” follows the basic rules of a murder-mystery, but as a parody it falls short of being completely satisfying.

This is mainly due to the slow start required to introduce all the characters, and the childish running jokes, which only lower the tone of the proceedings. Once the plot and characters have been established, and the corpses strategically scattered, “Clue” manages to pick up to a rapid pace, with the butler taking us on a farcical tour of the house — and the twists of the plot — to a helter-skelter finale.

Curry has become a little more jowly since earlier films like “Annie" and “The Ploughman’s Lunch,” but can still dominate the scene, as he did as Dr Frank N. Furter in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Coincidentally, this Hill House mansion also is very reminiscent of the one in "Rocky Horror.”

The rest of the cast also is good. In alphabetical order: Eileen Brennan struggles hysterically as Mrs Peacock, a senator’s wife who is trying to hide a dark secret.

Madeline Kahn, as Mrs White, looks great in black as the widow of a long string of husbands. She plays the part in very low key, however, until very near the end. Christopher Lloyd is Professor Plum, a tweedy

psychiatrist who specialises in the libido. He also sticks to a straight performance, far removed from the eccentricities of the mad inventor in “Back to the Future” or the Reverend Jim of TV’s “Taxi.’’ Michael McKean, as Mr Green, stays in the background as an ambitious but nervous civil servant who maintains complete control until everything goes wrong. Martin Mull, the blustering Colonel Mustard, is quick to take charge, but never really accomplishes anything. Lesley Ann Warren, as Miss Scarlet, is sexy, cunning and tough. The original story concept was put together by John Landis, who then chose against directing the film, and passed on that task and writing the final screenplay to an Englishman, Jonathan Lynn, making his first film. Lynn manages to toss in some good, .cynical oneliners: “Husbands should be like Kleenex: soft, strong and disposable,” says the widowed Mrs White; and “Life after death is as improbable as sex after marriage.”

The trouble with “Clue” is that it has too complicated a plot for what is supposed to be light farce. I usually find it difficult to wade through Agatha Christie’s deaths on the Nile or Orient Express, and find six murders in a supposed comedy just too much to handle comfortably. Successful parody of the murder-mystery genre is possible, as proven by “Murder by Death,” with Peter Sellers, Maggie Smith, David Niven and Alec Guinness. It requires a touch of class and deft timing which “Clue” somehow seems to lack.