It has no interest in the Holmesian or Christie-an dazzle of truth
February 12, 2021 5:54 AM Subscribe
"[D]espite having the conventions and plot structures of a detective story, the pleasures that Clue offers aren't the pleasures of a successful detective story." In Clue or Red Herring? How Clue Shreds the Detective Rulebook, Milan Terlunen explores the 1985 film's delights of excess and redundancy, specifically in the reversibility of clues and red herrings. (Spoilers for all three endings.)
There is one constant red herring however: communism.
posted by Hactar at 6:33 AM on February 12, 2021 [12 favorites]
posted by Hactar at 6:33 AM on February 12, 2021 [12 favorites]
To make a long story short...
posted by Earthtopus at 6:34 AM on February 12, 2021
posted by Earthtopus at 6:34 AM on February 12, 2021
And now I see the folly in commenting as soon as the article gives me a clever idea instead of trading it in full.
I appreciate this because it kind of deflates some of the more pompous fictional detectives, especially Poirot (Marple, who just sits and knits and observes seems much more real these days, except for the way that she is able to get men to listen to her). The trick with a Christie murder is finding the third or so least likely suspect (the last likely would be too obvious and the second least is usually a support for the survivor). It's about treading the majority of the clues as red herrings and looking for the one that is intentional obscured to make the case. As much as the point of the quote is to prove this isn't the case, this tends to be a bit more realistic:
"To a cop the explanation is never that complicated. It's always simple. There's no mystery to the street, no arch criminal behind it all. If you got a dead body and you think his brother did it, you're gonna find out you're right."
posted by Hactar at 6:49 AM on February 12, 2021
I appreciate this because it kind of deflates some of the more pompous fictional detectives, especially Poirot (Marple, who just sits and knits and observes seems much more real these days, except for the way that she is able to get men to listen to her). The trick with a Christie murder is finding the third or so least likely suspect (the last likely would be too obvious and the second least is usually a support for the survivor). It's about treading the majority of the clues as red herrings and looking for the one that is intentional obscured to make the case. As much as the point of the quote is to prove this isn't the case, this tends to be a bit more realistic:
"To a cop the explanation is never that complicated. It's always simple. There's no mystery to the street, no arch criminal behind it all. If you got a dead body and you think his brother did it, you're gonna find out you're right."
posted by Hactar at 6:49 AM on February 12, 2021
The more I read about, the more I feel like an oddity because I did go see it in the theater.
The article, got it slightly wrong because most theaters only got one ending. Massive multiplexes were uncommon so most theaters didn't have more than one copy of a film. You had to see it three times at three different theaters to get all of the endings. The print ads literally told you which theaters had which endings (only as A, B, or C, no spoilers). The ads grouped theaters by the ending they were showing. At least that way you weren't running around blindly, hoping to catch the endings you hadn't seen yet.
I got ending B, which was the one where Mrs. Peacock did it, although I think it is the first ending shown in the collected version.
posted by Badgermann at 6:51 AM on February 12, 2021 [13 favorites]
The article, got it slightly wrong because most theaters only got one ending. Massive multiplexes were uncommon so most theaters didn't have more than one copy of a film. You had to see it three times at three different theaters to get all of the endings. The print ads literally told you which theaters had which endings (only as A, B, or C, no spoilers). The ads grouped theaters by the ending they were showing. At least that way you weren't running around blindly, hoping to catch the endings you hadn't seen yet.
I got ending B, which was the one where Mrs. Peacock did it, although I think it is the first ending shown in the collected version.
posted by Badgermann at 6:51 AM on February 12, 2021 [13 favorites]
To make a long story short...
Too late!
(Something I always interject myself any time I say the preceding phrase.)
posted by Gelatin at 6:54 AM on February 12, 2021 [4 favorites]
Too late!
(Something I always interject myself any time I say the preceding phrase.)
posted by Gelatin at 6:54 AM on February 12, 2021 [4 favorites]
It’s an especially cute gimmick because the movie is based on the Alternate Reality Game of the same name (known as Qdo outside North America)
posted by otherchaz at 7:35 AM on February 12, 2021
posted by otherchaz at 7:35 AM on February 12, 2021
Thanks for posting this article! As an English major and a mystery novel fan, I feel like good media criticism scratches the same itch that the detective's unveiling of the solution at the end of a classic mystery novel does - putting all the disparate elements into a logical framework (though not necessarily the only possible framework, as this piece aptly points out).
This seems as good a post as any to mention that, according to this Deadline article an animated Clue series is in the works. Interesting to think about how they'd do a series based on the boardgame. Same characters in a series of different locked room mysteries? Or draw one mystery out over a season?
posted by the primroses were over at 9:12 AM on February 12, 2021
This seems as good a post as any to mention that, according to this Deadline article an animated Clue series is in the works. Interesting to think about how they'd do a series based on the boardgame. Same characters in a series of different locked room mysteries? Or draw one mystery out over a season?
posted by the primroses were over at 9:12 AM on February 12, 2021
If you like this, you'll love Pierre Bayard's "Who Killed Roger Ackroyd", which is a closer look at the Agatha Christie novel of the same name.
Be careful, the review linked above SPOILS THE ORIGINAL NOVEL IN THE MOST EGREGIOUS WAY.
posted by chavenet at 9:44 AM on February 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
Be careful, the review linked above SPOILS THE ORIGINAL NOVEL IN THE MOST EGREGIOUS WAY.
posted by chavenet at 9:44 AM on February 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
I never knew that Madeline Kahn improvised her "flames on the side of my face" speech
Another Kahn improv: Young Frankenstein's "Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life" number
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:49 PM on February 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
Another Kahn improv: Young Frankenstein's "Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life" number
posted by Iris Gambol at 3:49 PM on February 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
Having grown up with the VHS versions containing all three endings (and going so far as to declare C the "true" ending) I always felt A and B were pretty sparse by comparison. I can't imagine how perfunctory getting just one of those endings would feel in theaters.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go home and sleep with my wife.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 4:35 PM on February 12, 2021 [5 favorites]
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go home and sleep with my wife.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 4:35 PM on February 12, 2021 [5 favorites]
Umberto Eco's take on mysteries, detectives, and clues, "The Name of the Rose," is different enough that I don't think mentioning it here is a spoiler, but shares enough in common that you might enjoy it if you liked the ideas in this essay.
(I speak of the book; I haven't seen the movie.)
posted by straight at 7:13 PM on February 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
(I speak of the book; I haven't seen the movie.)
posted by straight at 7:13 PM on February 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
Also mostly delightful: Murder by Death, a direct parody of Golden Age detective fiction. It's an all-star mid 70s cast, from Maggie Smith and David Niven as the Charlestons to Alec Guiness as deadpan butler Jamesir Bensonmum. And randomly features Truman Capote!
It would have been better without Peter Sellars' broad Charlie Chan impression, but I hear it's that bad in the originals, too.
posted by basalganglia at 7:30 PM on February 12, 2021 [5 favorites]
It would have been better without Peter Sellars' broad Charlie Chan impression, but I hear it's that bad in the originals, too.
posted by basalganglia at 7:30 PM on February 12, 2021 [5 favorites]
Clue is on the short list of Movies I Never Get Sick Of.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:16 PM on February 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:16 PM on February 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
I think the best description I’ve ever read of Clue is (and I’m paraphrasing liberally here) “a pastiche of a genre that never actually existed, but seems like it should have”
posted by panama joe at 9:49 PM on February 12, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by panama joe at 9:49 PM on February 12, 2021 [3 favorites]
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It is so true that there is so much information and so many details going on throughout the film designed to confuse and distract in the best ways.
I found this great piece the other day. I never knew that Madeline Kahn improvised her "flames on the side of my face" speech. Genious.
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 6:15 AM on February 12, 2021 [2 favorites]