The first murder is the one most under the control of Wadsworth, aside from the Singing Telegram Girl. The guests have all come to the house and the tension is rising as they start to interact with each other, some recognizing each other, some just nervous to be there. All the while Wadsworth hides the details of the dinners supposed mystery host until after dinner. During that dinner, where everyone realizes that they have much in common, Mr. Boddy finally arrives, suitcase in hand. He is immediately presented as a scumbag and set apart from the other guests. At this point the audience is forced to assume that Wadsworth and the game pieces are the "heroes" of the movie with Mr. Boddy the "villain" whose murder will set off the mystery of the movie.
At this point it is important to remember that Mr. Boddy is actually just a butler, playing a role given to him by Wadsworth. We have no reason to believe that Mr. Boddy is informing on anyone at the gathering or that he is deserving in any way. After watching the movie we can only assume that Wadsworth wants him gone for unstated reasons.
The real question is why does Mr. Boddy continue to participate? Once the group returns to the study, Wadsworth identifies Mr. Boddy as the blackmailer. Mr. Boddy helpfully informs the audience that "This is a hoax!" but sadly for him, the other guests attack him, believing Mr. Boddy to be their blackmailer. Once the commotion has died down, Mr. Boddy produces the various weapons and tries to get the guests to kill Wadsworth for orchestrating the nights events. We can only assume again that these actions by Mr. Boddy were part of the role given to him by Wadsworth. However, Mr. Boddy was just attacked by the guests. Under what logic could Mr. Boddy be operating under where he assumes that giving the people who just attacked him deadly weapons will somehow turn out alright for him? A reasonable person, knowing Wadsworth to be the real villain, should have assumed by now that Wadsworth was setting them up for a fall. Wadsworth even ups the tension by announcing that the police are coming yet Mr. Boddy continues playing his part, hands out the weapons and turns off the light. Perhaps Mr. Boddy expected something else to happen with the lights off but its difficult to imagine what Wadsworth could have told him the plan was that would have left Mr. Boddy so outwardly confident.
The Murder:
The murder, or should I say attempted murder, happens when the lights go out. There is some rustling, a deep gasp and a gunshot. When the lights come back on. Mr. Boddy is on the ground. Professor Plum declares him dead from unknown causes as the bullet missed its target.
We know now that Professor Plum did indeed try to shoot Mr. Boddy in an attempt to end the blackmail. Arguably this makes Plum the most scrupulous person in the movie aside from Mr. Green. While the others killed for personal vendettas, Plum tried to kill the villain. I guess that makes him the hero?
At this point though we have to wonder why Prof. Plum declared him dead. Was it simply so that he could ensure that he could have another shot at him later? Seems unlikely to assume that could occur. The shot was fired in the dark, Prof. Plum could have announced that Mr. Boddy was faking death (I assume the gasp was a deep breath by Mr. Boddy so he could hold his breath to fake death) and feigned ignorance of the shot. Pure incompetence is the reason given as to why Prof. Plum mistakenly thought him dead but that doesn't make any sense.
At this point Wadsworth has actually lost control of the narrative. When the lights go off, Wadsworth himself apparently does nothing. In that situation someone could easily have killed Wadsworth for knowing too many secrets. They could also kill Mr. Boddy for blackmailing them, or, like sensible people, nobody could have done anything since most people don't murder. The only thing I can think of that explains both Wadsworth's inaction and Mr. Boddy's continuing willingness to play the role of the target/villain, is that the plan from the start was for Mr. Boddy to fake his death and then try to sneak out when Yvette starts screaming, presumably in on the plan. This would get the murder ball rolling for the night and allow Mr. Boddy to escape into the night, or into some dark corner of the mansion. Otherwise, Mr. Boddy would have to know he was marked for death and would have schemed like hell to escape. There is no evidence to suggest he did though and as we will see in Murder #3, Yvette's future actions cast doubt on this possibility.
Conclusion:
The first murder of the movie was ultimately a failure. Wadsworth's plan is fairly sound. Misidentify the blackmailer, raise tension with the threat of police intervention, provide ample weapons and then provide the opportunity. The whole plan falls apart though when you try and identify one compelling reason the butler acting as Mr. Boddy would continue to play along in the role when it was becoming crystal clear that he would ultimately be the victim. Knowing he was being groomed as the target, and after surviving an attack by the guests already, Mr. Boddy injects the idea of murder into the guests minds by trying to get them to kill Wadsworth for no reason, provides them with numerous weapons and then himself turns the lights off to give everyone a nice blanket of deniability for the impending murder. While entertaining, this scenario makes no sense upon further review.
Up Next:
This murder scene ends when Yvette begins screaming in the lounge. The guests leave Mr. Boddy on the floor and leave the study. The conversation with Yvette leads into Murder #2, The Cook.
Recap:
Wadsworth: 0 murders
Peacock: 0 murder
Green: 0 murders
White: 0 murders
Mustard: 0 murders
Scarlett: 0 murders
Plum: 1 attempted murder
Mr. Boddy: dead
The Cook: alive
Yvette: alive
Stranded Motorist: not arrived
Off Duty Cop: not arrived
Singing Telegram Girl: not arrived
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