Clue (1985): Who? Where? and with What??
1985 • Jonathan Lynn • 1.85:1 • Jump to Gallery ↓
Directed by Jonathan Lynn and based on the board game of the same name, Clue follows a group of strangers who are invited to a secluded mansion. Each of them is connected to a shared secret. When their host is murdered, the guests find themselves both suspects and participants in a rapidly escalating series of deaths. As the night progresses, alliances shift, and identities are revealed through a chain of misunderstandings and discoveries.
Like an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, the film is a closed-circle mystery, using a mansion full of secret passages as a deadly maze that allows for many possibilities within a restricted space. The idea was for the characters to move between rooms in a way that resembles a live-action board game.
Blending farce, mystery, and ensemble comedy, Clue relies heavily on timing, rapid dialogue, and exaggerated performances. Its theatrical construction, combined with a self-aware approach to genre conventions, establishes it as an eccentric reinterpretation of the classic whodunit format. However, its defining feature is clearly its use of multiple endings, each presenting a different resolution to the mystery.
Technical Specs:
- The Story: Six strangers are invited to a mysterious mansion, where murder and mayhem unfold in a whodunit that parodies classic mystery tropes with rapid-fire wit and multiple endings. Read my review of Clue.
- Actors: Eileen Brennan, Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean, Martin Mull, Lesley Ann Warren.
- Director: Jonathan Lynn
- Year: 1985
- Cinematographer: Victor J. Kemper
- Origin: American Cinema
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- Genre: Crime Comedy
