In honour of my first play back at the Westovian Theatre, I decided to watch the film that the play was adapted from, Clue.

This gem of a film came out in 1985 but didn’t do that well at the box office. It was written and directed by Jonathan Lynn, the man who bought us such films as Nuns on the Run and The Whole Nine Yards.

It was made for a budget of $15 million and only grossed $14.3 million, not a flop but still a failure. Now, why is that? Let’s see.

There’s no story to adapt from Cluedo apart from a create your own one from the envelope you get at the end, so Jonathan had to get creative.

The film’s starts off on a shot of Boddy Manor, home of Mr Boddy, who we won’t get to see for a while. Wadsworth, the butler played by Tim Curry, talks to the cook, played by Kelley Nakahara, and Yvette, the maid, played by Colleen Camp.

Soon after, the first lot of guests arrive, first by Colonel Mustard, played by Martin Mull, where we learn that’s not his actual name as they all have fake names for the evening. Each character’s entrance, we also learn a lot about each chat after based on their behaviour or attire.

We learn Colonel Mustard is a bit hard of hearing and a bit dumb, Mrs Peacock (Eileen Brennan) is a bit up herself, Mrs White (Madeline Kahn) is a grieving widow, Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd) is a sex-crazed doctor, Mr Green (Michael McKean) is anxious and awkward, and Miss Scarlett (Lesley Ann Warren) is a flirt.

They have dinner, which leads to the conversation about what all of them do without exposing who they are. After things get heated between them, they are shown to a lounge area where the truth comes out.

All of the guests are being blackmailed, and that’s when the truth comes out about them: Mustard is a war profiteer, Green is gay, as was illegal back in the 50s, Scarlett is an escort, Plum slept with a patient, White is a murderer, and Peacock was selling her husband’s votes in the government.

It is revealed that Mr Boddy (Lee Ving) is the man blackmailing all of them. Before they can attack him, he gives them an option to clear the debt, kill Wadsworth, as he knows all the secrets. The lights go out, there’s a gunshot, and Mr Boddy seems to be dead. Who did it?

I won’t spoil it, but let’s say more people die, and it is murder, and everyone is a suspect. All of them have a motive to commit a murder for all of their benefits.

Here’s the issue: how does it end, you may ask? You have heard of alternative endings, well, this one takes that idea and laughs and says, why not have all alternative endings in our film?

There are three different endings to this film. And in each one, a different person committed the murders, and a different person is the undercover police officer.

I recommend you check this one out, if not for a good film, then for Tim Curry, who is always a legend.