Meeting Miss Scarlet

My favorite movie of all-time is the 1985 classic Clue. I’ve seen it more times than I can count, and it’s been my favorite movie since I was a kid. Watching and re-watching it on VHS was a core childhood memory. When the opportunity came to see the movie and meet Lesley Ann Warren, aka Miss Scarlet, I jumped at the chance.  

My wife and I met Lesley Ann Warren before the show. With meet and greet things, I feel like you never quite know what it’s going to be like. Do I get 30 seconds with the person, or 3 minutes? But this turned out to be quite a lovely experience. Lesley Ann Warren was just delightful, very nice and sweet. She’s still gorgeous, as you can imagine, with sparkling green eyes, set off by her sparkly green jacket and pants. We each got one item signed by her: I found a very cute 8x10 on eBay of Warren from her terrific role in Victor/Victoria. As she was signing it, I realized that I needed to say something to her, so she knew what a fan of the movie I am. I said what a fan of hers we both are, and especially of her performance as Miss Scarlet. 

I brought along my copy of the 1985 book Clue: The Storybook, which was a large hardcover that was meant for younger readers. As I opened the book for Warren to sign it, she said “What is this?” She had never seen the storybook before! As a devoted Clue nerd, I was very proud of myself. I explained that it was a version of the movie for younger readers, but without most of the jokes. Instead of Mr. Green being gay, he’s having “a sort of an affair.” Warren flipped through it, looking at some of the photos. When she came across a photo of Martin Mull, she said “Oh, there’s my dear sweet Martin.” And on seeing one photo of herself she said, “There’s the dress that looks like it’s always about to fall down but never did.” When we shook hands she said, “Your hands are so warm!”  

Warren was interviewed on stage before the movie. She said she’s working on a one-woman show, which sounds like it would be amazing. Warren really got along well with Martin Mull, and they had a marvelous time cracking each other up on the set. Because her costume was so tight, and because she was wearing a period-appropriate corset, it was difficult if not impossible for Warren to sit down, so she spent a lot of her off-camera time on a leaning board so she could relax but still keep her dress pristine. The costume designer also made a second dress that had a hidden zipper, so Warren could run from room to room with the rest of the cast.  

At the time Clue was released, it was not a box-office smash, and it seemed like it would be just another project that would fade away. But the growing VHS and home rental market, as well as frequent airings on cable TV, gave Clue a remarkable afterlife. Clue was famously released with three different endings—newspaper ads would indicate which theater was showing which ending. It was a gutsy choice for Paramount, and while they were no doubt hoping that audiences would come back and see all three endings, it’s a lot to ask of people to sit through the same 85 minutes of a movie before the last 5 minutes are different. The different endings were a wonderful homage to the board game, as there are 324 possible solutions to the game. That’s 9 times 6 times 6. Or 6 times 6 times 9. But while the multiple endings might have confused audiences in the theaters, on VHS the 3 endings were combined, so we saw them one after the other. This was the perfect way to experience Clue. Warren told the audience that years after Clue had been released, she asked Martin Mull, “Are you getting, like a LOT of fan mail about Clue?” Mull replied, “You too?”  

When I was a little kid watching Clue, obviously a standout performance was Tim Curry as Wadsworth the butler. (“I buttle, sir.”) But watching the movie so many times over the years has given me reasons to appreciate the entire cast’s performances. As Warren said, “We were not comedians, we were all comic actors.” Bingo. And that’s why it worked so well. No one was trying to steal laughs, and they were all good enough actors to make their roles believable. (Well, except for Lee Ving, who is terrible as Mr. Boddy.)  

As a little kid, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of Miss Scarlet. I knew we were supposed to find her attractive—she’s a beautiful woman in a stunning dress, after all. But I wasn’t sure what to make of her brash, bold personality. So, I shied away from Miss Scarlet and instead developed a crush on Mrs. White, so exquisitely played by the wonderful Madeline Kahn. The fact that Mrs. White had perhaps killed several of her husbands seemed to have escaped me. (“Husbands should be like Kleenex: soft, strong, and disposable.”)  

Watching Clue as an adult, I’m more drawn to Miss Scarlet. And a large part of that is Warren’s outstanding performance. Miss Scarlet is never scared by the events of the evening; she takes it all in stride and keeps making snappy wisecracks throughout the proceedings. (“It’s my defense mechanism.”) Miss Scarlet is probably the character I’d most want to hang out with. It’s a great performance that just grows with multiple viewings. 

Book Review: Clue a graphic novel written by Paul Allor, art by Nelson Daniel (2018)

Cover of the 2018 graphic novel Clue, based on the board game. The cover art is by George Caltsoudas, the art inside is by Nelson Daniel, and the graphic novel was written by Paul Allor.

Full disclosure: I love the board game Clue and the classic 1985 movie based on the board game. I’ve written about the movie here, as well as written reviews of the novel based on the screenplay, and the “storybook,” released as a movie tie-in. Chances are, if you fire a line from the movie at me, I’ll be able to respond with the next one.  

I didn’t hear about the 2018 graphic novel version of Clue when it was released. It was originally published as a 6-issue comic, and later as a book collecting all 6 issues. The graphic novel was written by Paul Allor, with art by Nelson Daniel. Looking at the sample of the graphic novel online, I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, I really love Clue. On the other hand, I knew nothing in this graphic novel was going to top Madeline Kahn’s “flames on the side of my face” speech. I knew the graphic novel was not based on the film, so I wasn’t expecting it to be faithful to the film, but I was hoping that the graphic novel would have captured more of the film’s wacky charm. 

Like the film, the graphic novel features a chatty butler. Sadly, Upton, the butler in the novel, is not as entertaining as Tim Curry’s Wadsworth. Upton fussily insists on constantly breaking the fourth wall, eventually even dragging the editor of the graphic novel into it. Upton intruding on the narrative wasn’t a device I found effective. Just get on with the story. It also would have been nice if some of the “And here’s where our issue stops, find out what happens in our next issue” stuff could have been edited out for the book, since it doesn’t apply.  

Visually, the exterior design of the mansion is good, but the rooms and interiors are lacking the kind of little visual details that a house like that would have. The character design is fine, if a bit blocky for my taste. One of the smartest things the graphic novel of Clue does is to update and diversify the cast. It’s not just a bunch of white people anymore. (Although in the 1970’s version of the board game, Miss Scarlet was Asian.) There are a few new characters in the graphic novel, Dr. Orchid, and detectives Ochre and Amarillo.  

There are a few callbacks to the movie, such as Senator White saying, “Capitalism is never just a red herring,” a slight changing of the movie’s line “Communism is/was just a red herring.” For me, the funniest movie callback was Detective Amarillo quoting the final line of the movie. The graphic novel loses points for not including Yvette, the sexy French maid played by the stunning Colleen Camp. Oh well.  

A major difference from the movie is that in the graphic novel, a lot of the main characters die during the course of the evening, whereas in the movie it’s the supporting characters who get killed. I’m not sure how successful this is in the graphic novel. I’m sure part of the reason was to increase suspense throughout the six issues, but when all of the issues are combined into one, the deaths perhaps lose some of their impact, because you’re like, “Oh, that character is interesting. Well, now they’re dead.” I wonder how much of the plotting arc of the graphic novel was influenced by having six issues, and wanting to have six climaxes, whereas if the novel was written as a standalone project, perhaps it would have one climax.  

Most of the characters in the graphic novel are connected in some way, but the one exception is Miss Scarlett. (The graphic novel gives her two t’s at the end of her name.) In the graphic novel, Miss Scarlett is a pop singer who has been brought to the mansion to entertain after dinner. She hasn’t met any of the other guests before that evening, so her storyline feels pretty low stakes compared to the other characters.  

I found Clue the graphic novel to be moderately interesting, but it also feels like an opportunity lost.