Murder by Death (1976) coming from Shout

[Mystic]

I think that Peter Sellers in preparation for the role, must have familiarized himself with the source material (both in books and film). The character in the film that he portrays is certainly beyond parody and is a bit over the top to the degree that you can''t take any of it seriously, I suspect that this was intentional and that Sellers was doing this purely for comedic effect. You can certainly see some elements of that approach at work in his portrayal of Inspector Clouseau in the later Pink Panther films.