All things about one of my favorite movies: Clue
The Clue movie documentary seemed to make good headway, then seemed to stalled, only to seemingly pick up again.
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 move – 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 armature 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).
2023 UPDATE!: you can now read and download the McDowell Clue book from the Internet Archive!!
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
Did you have a grandma that caught Murder She Wrote every day without fail? Was your first childhood adventure games one of the King Quest series from Sierra?
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.
Not to be undone by a documentary about how the Clue: The Movie was made, Stand Still Pictures created a documentary about the making of the Clue VCR Mystery Game. Give it a watch – it’s pretty entertaining.
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.
Soon, It looks like So Fake Productions will release the fan doc: Who Done It: The Clue Documentary. Featuring rare photos, fan testimonials, archival interviews and, more importantly, ALL NEW interviews with original cast members.
There is also more info on their Facebook Page
It’s no secret that I love Clue the movie. But there were also some books written from the screenplay. Unfortunately, the movie wasn’t a big commercial success so the books were quickly discontinued and forgotten. This means that 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 them into a convenient PDF. I was actually surprised the in-book pictures weren’t actually the best quality, but the book itself is a fun, albeit abbreviated and simple, read.
Probably the most interesting part of the book is that it reveals a secret 4th ending that had been rumored at, but 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!
Download a PDF copy of Clue: The Storybook here.
Clue: The Storybook
by Ann Matthews (Storybook Adaptor), Johnathan Lynn (Screenplay), John Landis (Story)
Published Dec 1, 1985
ISBN: 0671618679
ISBN13: 9780671618674
Clue is one of my favorite movies of all time. I discovered it when I was younger, and was immediately captivated.
Now, the folks over at It Looks So Fake productions are dong a Clue movie documentary called Who Done It.
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.