Overrated and overhyped

hyped garbage

Best movie of this year hands down!

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

1st watched 8/10/2014 -- 3 out of 10 (Dir-Frank McDonald): Mixed up whodunit comedy starring the Tin Man himself, Jack Haley -- with Bela Lugosi playing a butler who keeps trying to serve coffee laced with rat poisoning throughout the movie and no-one accepts. This isn't what the movie's about, but does bring a little snicker to an otherwise standard movie where we trap all the possible inheritants into a house overnight waiting to see what happens. The deceased wants to be buried in a to-be constructed glass coffin under the stars, and wants his heirs to squabble until it's done when the final will is revealed. If he's buried underground or anyone leaves the premises-- the will is going to be handled in reverse order making for an interesting situation since no one really knows who's getting what. Tuttle, Haley's character, gets involved when he comes by the place to sell insurance and gets dragged into staying by a comely young woman. This movie tries to be a comedy in the vein of an Abbott and Costello comedy with horror -- but Haley doesn't pull off what could have been funny scenes. Also -- the confusion in the plot just makes the viewer stop caring. There are a couple interesting gags with Tuttle buried alive under water in a pond full of goldfish, and the much-used good conscience vs. bad conscience scenes are different. I guess the main appeal for me was seeing an adult-comedy with Lugosi and Haley, but beyond that there wasn't much. So as a piece of historia it's interesting but as a movie it has very little appeal really.

"Leave this house at once if you value your life."Insurance agent, Tuttle, is to sit with the body of a wealthy millionaire while his greedy ancestors await their inheritance from his will. The relatives must stay three days in their wealthy benefactor's mansion or else be disinherited. The contents of the will are not to be read until after the three days are concluded. If the corpse of Cyrus Rutherford is moved, put away successfully, the will be reversed and those who were to get much will get little and vice versa. Rutherford was big on astrology, the stars, and his casket was open-faced with glass so "the stars could shine upon him". Bela Lugosi gets top billing, but he's basically a butler always trying to get the guests of the mansion to drink his coffee(the question is whether or not his coffee is poisoned as he too stands to inherit an allowance for his services to his recently deceased employer). It's actually Jack Haley's movie, as he's a comic foil, bumbling around the mansion, getting himself in trouble unintentionally. The mansion has dead bodies turning up(such as Cyrus' lawyer), secret passageways(Tuttle, in a towel as he was about to bathe, gets lost in the house after walking into one of them located in his closet), and trap doors(the killer uses one to send pursuers after him into the kitchen). Jean Parker is Carol Dunlap, one who stands to inherit if she can stay alive, also Haley's love interest. Played entirely as a comedy with Haley the center of activity, although his Tuttle just wanted to sell Cyrus some insurance.

One Body Too Many is a fairly enjoyable The Cat and the Canary style film. It's not great, but it's certainly not the worst piece of trash to come down the pike. As I alluded, those familiar with The Cat and the Canary aren't going to find the plot groundbreaking with its originality – an old dark house with secret passages, greedy family members gathered for the reading of the will of an eccentric and rich patriarch, the will includes all sorts of unusual stipulations, and at least one person in the party proves to be a killer and begins bumping off other family members. It's nothing new. This basic plot structure was fairly common in the 40s and One Body Too Many is a typical example.As I've learned to expect from a comedy/horror/mystery/thriller from the 40s, some of the movie will work and some won't. Going in, I always hope that what works is more than what doesn't work. One of the things that worked well for me in One Body Too Many was Bela Lugosi. Playing what is essentially the supporting role of butler, Lugosi steals scene after scene. The running gag involving Lugosi and the coffee is very nearly laugh-out-loud funny. Jack Haley (who generally gets on my nerves) also has his moments that really work. He has at least one scene where he ends up naked in a clothes hamper that I found hysterical. But even with these great moments, overall the good and the bad in One Body Too Many pretty much balanced out, resulting in what I'll call an average way to spend 75 minutes.

The biggest reason I watched this film is because it co-stars Bela Lugosi. Sure, he made a lot of totally wretched films during his long career (there are too many to list, but would include BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA, PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE and BRIDE OF THE MONSTER). However, even his bad films are usually fun to watch--sometimes because they are so bad!! However, I was greatly disappointed to see that Lugosi's part was so small and undeveloped. He played a butler and had NOTHING to do other than to keep offering people coffee! That's really it!! Despite this, the film is pretty good because it doesn't take itself seriously and there are many deliberately funny moments. Now this isn't the most sophisticated humor (as evidenced by its star being Jack Haley), but it has a certain charm that help it to transcend the genre and make it more than just another murder mystery or scary old house film. Not great, but still it's an agreeable time-passer.