I love the old board game, Clue, a lot. So when I was a kid, I jumped at the chance to see the movie, although I never really appreciated it much till I was a bit older.
Clue is based on the background story to the board game. The evasive Mr. Body (Lee Ving) invites six guests to his mansion for dinner and blackmail. His six guests, Mr. Green (Michael McKeon), Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn), Mrs. Peacock (Eileen Brennan), Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd), Col. Mustard (Martin Mull), and Mrs. Scarlet (Leslie Ann Warren) all have something in common, although they don't initially know this, some dark secret in their background that they'd rather not have out in the open. But if Mr. Body doesn't expose them, they'll have to spill the beans anyways in order to clear themselves. Although, this is really inconsequential to the story in the end, anyway. That is, when Mr. Body suddenly drops dead before his guests, followed by the cook and the butler. Before anymore wind up dead, and in order to catch the culprit and solve the whodunnit, the six guests lock themselves inside the mansion to figure out who killed them, in what room, and with what weapon. Hence, the connection to the board game.
You have a great comedic cast, even if there is not much of a story and the entire film is focused on the characters really doing nothing more than running all around the creepy mansion, engaging in a few amusing miscalculations. I suppose because they weren't sure how to end such a simple story (and given all of the possibilities you're offered in the game), they have this is a movie with three different endings, each starting with..."if it happened that way." But, this comedy is particularly saved by a tremendous cast, especially Madeline Kahn (I love the "flames" routine she does) as the scheming Mrs. White.
The story is quite similar to the 1945 mystery drama, "...And Then There Were None," based on the Agatha Christie novel. If you like Clue, I would highly recommend this older version of the novel adaptation (I have not yet seen any of the remakes). There, ten guests are invited to an isolated mansion and, one by one, each is killed off according to the old poem, Ten Little Indians. A much funnier version of this latter film, and one closer to Clue (but still funnier yet) is the Neil Simon comedy, "Murder By Death," which involves a highly eccentric mansion resident who invites famous private detectives to his mansion for a game. He informs them that each will be killed off and the person who figures out who the culprit is wins the game. So if you like Clue, you might enjoy those two movies, too.
Clue is based on the background story to the board game. The evasive Mr. Body (Lee Ving) invites six guests to his mansion for dinner and blackmail. His six guests, Mr. Green (Michael McKeon), Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn), Mrs. Peacock (Eileen Brennan), Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd), Col. Mustard (Martin Mull), and Mrs. Scarlet (Leslie Ann Warren) all have something in common, although they don't initially know this, some dark secret in their background that they'd rather not have out in the open. But if Mr. Body doesn't expose them, they'll have to spill the beans anyways in order to clear themselves. Although, this is really inconsequential to the story in the end, anyway. That is, when Mr. Body suddenly drops dead before his guests, followed by the cook and the butler. Before anymore wind up dead, and in order to catch the culprit and solve the whodunnit, the six guests lock themselves inside the mansion to figure out who killed them, in what room, and with what weapon. Hence, the connection to the board game.
You have a great comedic cast, even if there is not much of a story and the entire film is focused on the characters really doing nothing more than running all around the creepy mansion, engaging in a few amusing miscalculations. I suppose because they weren't sure how to end such a simple story (and given all of the possibilities you're offered in the game), they have this is a movie with three different endings, each starting with..."if it happened that way." But, this comedy is particularly saved by a tremendous cast, especially Madeline Kahn (I love the "flames" routine she does) as the scheming Mrs. White.
The story is quite similar to the 1945 mystery drama, "...And Then There Were None," based on the Agatha Christie novel. If you like Clue, I would highly recommend this older version of the novel adaptation (I have not yet seen any of the remakes). There, ten guests are invited to an isolated mansion and, one by one, each is killed off according to the old poem, Ten Little Indians. A much funnier version of this latter film, and one closer to Clue (but still funnier yet) is the Neil Simon comedy, "Murder By Death," which involves a highly eccentric mansion resident who invites famous private detectives to his mansion for a game. He informs them that each will be killed off and the person who figures out who the culprit is wins the game. So if you like Clue, you might enjoy those two movies, too.