Mini-Countdown: Marvellous Murder Mysteries

I love a good murder mystery. As a teenager, I obsessively read Agatha Christie novels and- even now- my go-to leisure reading is crime fiction. It shouldn't be a surprise to tell you Cluedo is my favourite boardgame. There's something incredibly fun in giving the "little grey cells" some exercise, sifting through the clues, and working out who the killer is. Since the dawn of cinema, whodunits and murder mysteries have been a staple of the artform. So here are six of my favourite murder mysteries - with an added bonus at the end.

Murder On The Orient Express (1974)
Written by Paul Dehn and directed by Sidney Lumet
Starring: Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Vanessa Redgrave, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller

The first of the all-star Agatha Christie adaptations in the 1970s and early 1980s (Death On The Nile [1978] and The Mirror Crack'd [1980] are also worth a watch), it takes Christie's iconic 1934 novel- which has one of the best-known endings in all of fiction- and brings it to life (and death) with style and panache. Ingrid Bergman won her third Oscar for playing the mousy missionary Greta Ohlsson, whilst Albert Finney got his second Oscar nod for playing detective Hercule Poirot. It's a sumptuous-looking film; the production design and costume work is superb. The 2017 version doesn't quite capture the story in the same way, but it's definitely worth a look on its own merits. I'd also recommend the 2010 television adaptation- starring David Suchet- for a very different take on the story.

Murder By Death (1976)

Written by Neil Simon and directed by Robert Moore 

Starring: David Niven, Peter Sellers, Alec Guinness, Maggie Smith, Peter Falk, Elsa Lanchester, Truman Capote

Who says that murder has to be a serious business? Not Neil Simon, that's for sure. This affectionate pastiche of popular crime fiction- gathering five of the world's greatest detectives (all of which are the thinnest parodies of well-known sleuths, from Christie, Dashiell Hammett, and Earl Derr Biggers) to solve a murder- has some wonderful moments, sending up the implausibility and outlandishness of certain plots, but always done with charm. An all-star cast of some of the best actors working at the time let loose to play a whodunit through the filter of a screwball comedy is well worth your time. 

Clue (1985)

Written by and directed by Jonathan Lynn

Starring: Tim Curry, Eileen Brennan, Madeline Kahn, Lesley Ann Warren, Christopher Lloyd, Martin Mull, Michael McKean

Had to be on here. No way it couldn't be. The first film based on a board game, Jonathan Lynn's Clue is a cult classic. Eminently quotable, utterly madcap, and played to the hilt by its immensely capable cast, this is a film I have seen numerous times and will never get bored of. Famed for its three different endings, you'll enjoy seeing the explanations of who did what to whom with which item over and over again. Just superb. 

Gosford Park (2001)

Written by Julian Fellowes and directed by Robert Altman

Starring: Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas, Helen Mirren, Kelly Macdonald, Clive Owen, Emily Watson

A wonderful mix of country-house murder mystery and upstairs-downstairs drama, Julian Fellowes' witty and well-observed script rightly won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar in 2002. Sterling performances throughout the entire cast- including two Oscar nominated turns for Maggie Smith (as a proto-Countess of Grantham [from Downton Abbey]) and Helen Mirren (as the stony-faced housekeeper who is the "perfect servant")- and another visually stunning film. Again, the production design and the costume design are spot-on. 

Identity (2003)

Written by Michael Cooney and directed by James Mangold 

Starring: John Cusack, Rebecca DeMornay, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, John Hawkes, Alfred Molina, Pruitt Taylor Vince

On a rainy night at a remote motel out in the Nevada desert, ten strangers end up coming together under less-than-perfect circumstances. But there's a killer stalking the motel, picking them off one by one... Taking its inspiration from another Agatha Christie classic (discussed below), Identity is a nice and nasty little murder mystery done up like a slasher flick. Some of the kills are shocking and the denouement isn't something you see in every murder mystery. Definitely worth checking out for a twist on the usual formula.  

Knives Out (2019)

Written and directed by Rian Johnson

Starring: Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, Christopher Plummer

Ah, family gatherings. Usually a very ripe situation for there to end up being blood on the carpet. In Rian Johnson's wry and densely-plotted puzzle box of a movie, any one of the Thrombey family could have done the old man in. Motive piles on motive, direction leads to misdirection, and all the clues are there - but sometimes what you see (or more accurately, what you think you see) isn't actually what's going on. A sequel is in the works, with Southern gentleman sleuth Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) taking on a new case. I will definitely be there for that. 

Bonus: Ten Little Indians (1965)

Written by Peter Yeldham & Peter Welbeck and directed by George Pollock

Starring: Shirley Eaton, Hugh O'Brien, Leo Genn, Stanley Holloway, Dennis Price, Wilfred Hyde-White

Originally published in 1939 (under a very different and, by today's standards, unacceptable title), And Then There Were None is the world's best-selling mystery and is one of the best-selling books of all time. The plot is simple: a group of strangers are sent to a large house on a deserted  island and are picked off one by one by an unseen menace. 

The novel has been adapted to film several times, with the setting changed from an island (1945, dir. René Clair), to a hotel in an Iranian desert (1974, dir. Peter Collinson), and an African safari (1989, dir. Alan Birkinshaw), but the 1965 version sets it in a luxurious mountaintop mansion. 

Clair's 1945 version is also definitely well worth a watch, but the reason I highlight the 1965 version of the story is the gimmick of the "Murder Minute". Before the climax of the film, where the killer is unmasked, the action stops and a recap of the deaths is given, to allow the audience a chance to work out the identity of the murderer. In some versions of the film, the "Murder Minute" is taken out, but is retained in others.

So there are several murder mysteries that are worth a watch if you've not seen them before. What would you add to the list? Let us know below!