The Scapegoat (1959)

Daphne du Maurier can carry off an unlikely plot like that of The Scapegoat (a man finds himself thrust into the family life of his doppelgänger) but this 1959 movie can't, especially with Alec Guinness playing so wet a lead character that the film's entirety is infected with his dreariness; rather than a suspense thriller that ratchets up tension, this plodding movie is a cartoony melodrama sans the complexities of du Maurier's plot, full of holes and unanswered questions.

★★☆☆☆

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Murder By Death (1976)

Mystery buffs will love the tangle of traditional mystery elements woven into this 1976 Neil Simon comedy thriller which sees the famous detectives of the world gather in a remote mansion to compete in a sinister challenge put to them by a sinister Truman Capote!

★★★★☆

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