Perhaps inspired by the documentary, these two guys are walking through the Clue movie and add commentary as they go. It’s definitely not a definitive or official source, but an interesting .
The movie Clue wasn’t a great hit when it came out – in fact it was pretty well panned by the critics. It wasn’t until much later that it became popular with a cult following. This initial flop had unfortunate side effects on the other items that came out with the movie – especially the books. The lackluster movie performance meant that the books were quickly discontinued and forgotten.
Two books that came out with the movie were Clue by Michael McDowell, and Clue: The Storybook. I got a copy of the storybook via inter-library loan a few years back and uploaded a copy here. It’s a fairly short picture book, but does reveal a much-hinted at secret 4th ending that was never filmed. The Clue novelization by Michael McDowell, however, is much more of a standard length paperback.
While I have a lot of nostalgia for the movie, watching and quoting it endlessly, the McDowell book …. well…. leaves a lot to be desired. The writing isn’t good and it certainly doesn’t capture the fun of the movie. You won’t learn anything new and it pretty much follows the movie shot-for-shot. Still, for a fan, it’s worth a casual read.
I have a copy of the novelization, but prices have been getting stratospheric lately. Running as much as $200-$400. I have considered scanning my book for posterity, just like I did for Clue: The Storybook.
But until I get to that stage, you can actually listen to an amature reading of the un-abridged version via the above YouTube video. Read by Austin Curry (sp?), he does mispronounce words on occasion, but it’s more than good enough to give a listen. You can also download a mirrored copy of the audiobook version here if the YouTube link breaks (again).
If you’d like to download McDowell’s Clue book, I also put a PDF copy locally here for posterity.
Title : Clue Author : Michael McDowell ISBN : 9780449130490 ISBN10: 0449130495 LCCN : 85091213 Publisher: New York : Fawcett Gold Medal Publication date: November 12, 1985 by Fawcett 188 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Pushing Up Roses makes a lot of content that speaks to late 80’s kids. This video does a great job of capturing the experience many Clue movie fans had when they first saw the movie – likely as a afternoon movie on TV.
Who Did It? The Story Behind the Clue VCR Mystery Game
Seven suspects. Six weapons. Five bodies. Three endings. One amazing ensemble cast and one extremely talented director. That is the formula for one of the greatest cult classics of all time: Clue: The Movie. One of my favorite movies.
It’s no secret that I love the movie Clue. Besides the movie, there were also some books written by the screenwriters. Unfortunately, the movie wasn’t a big commercial success so the books were quickly discontinued and forgotten. Getting your hands on one of them is rather difficult – and expensive.
Thanks to an inter-library loan, however, I recently acquired a copy of Clue: The Storybook and did a page by page scan. I then combined the scans into a convenient PDF. The book provides a very abbreviated and thin read of the movie proper. The in-book pictures weren’t particularly good quality (very grainy prints), but there were some pictures I had not seen in any other sources nor in the movie itself.
The most interesting part of the book is that it reveals a secret 4th ending that had been rumored at, but supposedly never filmed.
Where can you get your hands on a copy? How about downloading the scanned copy I made right here so you don’t have to pay hundreds of dollars. Enjoy!
Clue: The Storybook by Ann Matthews (Storybook Adaptor), Johnathan Lynn (Screenplay), John Landis (Story) Published Dec 1, 1985 ISBN: 0671618679 ISBN13: 9780671618674
ISBN-10: 0671618679
ISBN-13: 978-0671618674
Oct 2023 Update:
It looks like someone took my scans and then put them together up on the Internet Archive!
They are going through an interviewing most of the original cast and crew – and it’s starting to look really promising. While development seems to be going very slowly, I’m excited to see what they come up with.