One Body Too Many (1944) User Reviews (48)

Wacky Will

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 2 March 2012]

One Body Too Many is a production from Pine-Thomas Paramount B picture unit and after seeing it I'm convinced it was a script and story that was meant for Bob Hope. But old ski nose either rejected this one or was out entertaining the troops during the second World War. So Paramount gave the project to its B unit and got Jack Haley to play the lead.

Pine-Thomas assembled a nice cast in a project that was unusual for them, normally they did economical action/adventure stories. This is a comedy involving a late millionaire who was a firm believer in astrology, so much so that he requested to be buried in a glass covered mausoleum like Lenin at the Kremlin so that he would be always under the stars at night. After that the living relatives of whom he didn't have too good an opinion of would split up the estate. Until then they had to live at his house until the burial was done.

Poor Haley plays the Bob Hope like schnook who is an insurance salesman and keeps an appointment that he made with the old guy before he passed away. Haley arrives just in time for the reading of the will and the lawyer for the estate thinks he's a bodyguard he hired. Never mind Jack takes the job and the fun starts. If you think a couple of murders that follow is fun.

Also in the cast are Bela Lugosi and Blanche Yurka who are the butler and maid. I wish the film had a lot more of them. They look and act so sinister with some lovely eye twinkles. Lugosi had a nice gift for comedy that was too rarely seen on film.

The lovely cast of relatives of whom one is a murderer include Lyle Talbot, Jean Parker, Maxine Fife, Lucien Littlefield, Douglas Fowley and Dorothy Granger. Now who do you think is our killer in the cast?

One Body Too Many has some funny moments, but a lot of it is a rehash of material from better films.

So do you think Hope was busy with the USO or did he pass on this one?

unexceptional spooky house comedy

[cherold · 5/10 · 8 July 2005]

I've always liked those 1940s comedies where a bunch of people are stuck in a house on a stormy night. I don't consider this an especially good example of this sub-genre. Part of that is just personal preferences; I prefer the snappy wise guy to the jittery nebbish, the role played by Haley. Part of it is probably that I've seen so many of this that I'm pickier than I used to be. But mainly I just don't find this movie that funny. There is a cute running joke involving coffee, but outside of that this struggles just to be mildly amusing.

The film is also just poorly filmed. It may in part be a bad print, but much of it is so dark that you can't really tell what's going on. The movie also has the most convoluted premise of any of these movies, although that didn't really affect my enjoyment of it.

More Enjoyable Than Another Viewing of Wizard of Oz

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 11 June 2006]

Jack Haley (Wizard of Oz's Tin Man) and Bela Lugosi star in this horror-suspense-comedy. Although calling it horror is like calling Pauly Shore comedy.

A man dies and leaves a very strange will: if his body is buried underground, the order of the inheritances will be reversed so the person with the smallest share receives the largest and so on. Jack Haley shows up as an insurance salesman, but ends up becoming a detective to see who is trying to steal the body and bury it prematurely. Since no one knows what inheritance they're getting, it could be anyone.

Highlight of the movie is by far Bela Lugosi as the butler. He tries numerous times to serve the guests coffee which may or may not be laced with rat poison. (The ambiguity is seemingly cleared up at the end of the film, though I cannot say even I know for sure.) Other commentators have said the film was shot in poor lighting. They're right, but I didn't really have a problem with it. I never was confused about what was happening or where anyone was on the screen. And filming this movie in color probably (though who can say for sure?) would have detracted from its character.

A problem I did have - not related to the lighting - was trying to figure out who everyone was. Maybe I was not paying attention or maybe the plot is weak, but many characters don't have memorable names or associations with each other. This left me confused about who was who at certain key moments. I'm still not clear on who the actual villain is (although a second viewing would probably clear this up).

I laughed, I was suspended, and I laughed some more. Really great film by the standards of the time and worth watching today.

Would You Like a Cup of Coffee?

[BaronBl00d · 30 November 2003]

One Body Too Many is just quirky enough to be humourous and something a little different than the typical monster/mystery movie fare of the 1940s. Great? No way, but surprisingly very pleasant. Jack Haley plays an insurance man named Tuttle who comes upon a household seething with greed for the remains of the recently deceased Uncle Cyrus. What follows is the standard Haunted House genre stuff: creaky doors, numerous red herrings, endless secret passages, and a heroine in love with the newcomer. Okay, we saw this in The Cat and the Canary and The Bat and a whole slew of like films. One Body Too Many has some very clever moments though that make it enjoyable. Jack Haley is a funny man. He is just too off-key as a comedian to be very funny without seeming desperate for laughs. The scene with him in the coffin submerged in the pool was just one of his very clever efforts(as well as a nicely filmed sequence). Most people even attempting to see this film - myself included - will do so because Bela Lugosi is in it. The Lugosi completist will watch it, and I think appreciate it far more than some other Bela efforts(Scared to Death comes to mind rather quickly!). Lugosi doesn't have a large part, but he is in the picture throughout and has some very subtle comedic moments. He plays a butler along with maid Blanche Yurka(who could forget her Madame Defarge in A Tale of Two Cities?)who are always trying to get the sequestered suspects some coffee...maybe it is poisoned, maybe not. Some other inventive sequences include the finale with a telescope and Jack Haley with a hamper. A nice film done in a way that unfortunately is long gone.

One Body Too Many

[Scarecrow-88 · 5/10 · 14 November 2010]

"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.

Very pleasant surprise!

[Coventry · 7/10 · 28 November 2005]

You might not think so from the looks of it, but "One Body Too Many" actually is a hilarious spoof / comedy instead of an eerie horror film! Sure, it involves a creepy old mansion and Bela Lugosi as a suspicious butler, which both are elements that featured in nearly every typical horror movie made in the 1940's, but the screenplay is very comical and actually a lot better than all those poverty row horror movies that tried to be genuinely horrific...but failed. This totally unexpected surprise in tone feels very original and really forced me to love this little movie! The story opens with one of the greatest cliché in the genre, when a family of greedy bastards gathers in the old mansion to hear the will of deceased uncle Cyrus. The rich but eccentric uncle insisted on peculiar burial accommodations and, before they can be completed, the heirs & heiresses reluctantly have to spend a couple of days together. In case anyone leaves, or in case uncle Cyres doesn't get buried like he wanted to, the will is altered. Insurance agent Albert Tuttle is mistaken for a private detective but, at the request of lovely niece Carol, he stays to watch over the corpse. This film is FUNNY! The Albert Tuttle character is FUNNY! He's the perfect anti-hero; cowardly and always the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time. He has some of the most hilarious lines and his facial expressions more than once evoke spontaneous chuckles. "One Body Too Many" makes great use of the typical haunted-house setting with the endless network of secret passages and dark towers. The actual search for the mysterious saboteur is also quite interesting and full of neat twists and red herrings. Horror veteran Bela Lugosi is downright marvelous in his supporting role of butler. He constantly walks around the house offering people cups of coffee which, I think, is a homage/spoof toward the butler-character Boris Karloff played in "The Old Dark House" (always supplying the guests with more potatoes). I had very low expectations on this film but I really ended up loving it! Highly recommended!

Draggy horror comedy

[gridoon2024 · 5/10 · 22 March 2012]

The idea behind this movie is clever: an eccentric millionaire's will that distributes wealth very unevenly among the heirs, but nobody knows who gets how much; if the dead man's conditions are not met, the will will be reversed - but what happens if the heirs don't know if trying to reverse the will is in their best interest or not? The film, however, drags, especially during a long section where we get to see the flabby Jack Haley snooping around the house's secret passageways half-naked....why? It's a poverty-row production, and apart from the appealing (though a little bland compared to her turn in the same year's "Detective Kitty O'Day") Jean Parker and the creepily amusing Bela Lugosi ("I assure you this coffee will NOT keep you awake"), the rest of the supporting characters kind of blend together. Nice gag with the ladder at the end, though. ** out of 4.

"There are too many rats in this house, they should be done away with."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 4 April 2005]

I couldn't help thinking about half way through this film - Charlie Chan could have used one adventure like this one! Played very lighthearted, the film is a hoot that maybe suffers from being a tad too lengthy.

An eccentric millionaire with a penchant for astrology has died, specifying in his will that he be entombed in a glass vault and placed atop his mansion which houses an observatory. The will also stipulates that the prospective heirs must stay on site until the vault is completed or their share of the inheritance is forfeit.

Enter insurance salesman Albert Tuttle (Jack Haley) with an appointment to sell the dead man a policy. Mistaken for a detective, the antics begin when he's assigned to guard the casket. Along the way, he develops an eye for one of the heirs, Carol Dunlap (Jean Parker). Tuttle manages to find himself in a number of humorous if contrived situations, but they are funny enough to earn a chuckle or two.

I'll admit, my motivation for viewing the film was Bela Lugosi's name on the credits, but his screen time is sporadic and quite minor, even though third billed. His running gag consists of a tray of coffee purportedly laced with rat poison, which he and maid Matthews (Blanche Yurka) are unsuccessful in serving throughout the proceedings. Lugosi actually does appear to be having fun in the role, perhaps allowing himself time to relax while the top billed Haley goes through his paces.

Seen this plot a hundred times.....

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 19 March 2010]

It's the usual reading of the will old dark house movie, done during the silent era ("The Cat and the Canary"), the golden age of movie horror ("The Old Dark House"), and remade many times. (In fact, both titles were remakes). The story is always the same---an elderly person either is dying, or has died, and the greedy relatives await the reading of the will. Some die, some are red herrings, and always, the killer is never a surprise. Of course, with the 1927 "Cat and the Canary" and 1932's "The Old Dark House", the atmosphere was so chilling that the repetition of the plot didn't matter.

Here, for this Pine-Thomas quickie, Jack Haley is the insurance salesman sent for by the deceased to sell him insurance, and he arrives to find out it is too late. But the usual assortment of relatives are present, including one who is genuinely good (heroine Jean Parker). With Bela Lugosi and Blanche Yurke as the spooky servants, coffee is always ready to be served, and the question is, is it laced with rat poison? That's a standing joke that unfortunately doesn't come off as very funny.

Poor Blanche Yurka, excellent as Madame De Farge in "A Tale of Two Cities", and equally as nefarious as any of Lugosi's villains in "Lady For a Night", doesn't get anything resembling an acting scene. Her fabulous voice is ill-used. It's a role we've seen hundreds of times-Gale Sondergaard in 1939's "Cat and the Canary", Judith Anderson in "Rebecca", Margaret Hamilton in "The Invisible Ghost", Rafaela Ottiano in "Topper Returns", and years later, Elizabeth Lawrence as Palmer Cortlandt's spooky housekeeper on "All My Children", and Beaulah Garrick as Quentin Chamberlain's equally spooky HK on "Guiding Light". But Ms. Yurka is the most ill-used of them all, a crime considering her tremendous stage career.

Lugosi plays another red-herring butler, which he did opposite the Ritz Brothers in "The Gorilla", but at least he gets more screen time than poor Ms. Yurka. The assorted relatives aren't really worth mentioning by actor's name as they run the typical assorted of greedy heirs drooling at the thought of the others demise and their inclusion as the main heir. A lawyer and "scientist of the stars" are also present, but they too, aren't very memorable. The long scene of Haley alone in the room where the coffin is makes one long for Lugosi's coffee (even if it is laced with rat poison), and an extended gag of a towel cladding Haley hiding once that towel is snagged off by a bolted door is rather unfunny.

Haley underwater in the glass covered coffin, viewing the fish in the dead man's pond, is only slightly amusing. There are no real laughs to be found, but with that cast, it's at least a curiosity. Just don't expect any nice moments like Eva Moore in "The Old Dark House" telling the young women how their skin will someday rot, all the while reminding her brother, "No beds! They can't have beds!"

Wonderfully silly old dark house comedy

[csteidler · 7/10 · 18 January 2012]

Insurance man Jack Haley keeps an evening appointment at a rich client's mansion to make a sales pitch—and is instantly mistaken for a detective. The client is lately deceased, all of his relatives are there for the reading of the will, and funny business has already commenced.

Bela Lugosi is tops as the butler: "Perhaps you would all like some coffee," he suggests early on, and then spends the entire rest of the picture trying to persuade the guests to accept a cup of his coffee, which may or may not be poisoned.

Jean Parker is fine as the appealing young relative who may be in line to inherit via the will, once it's finally read; she and Haley work nicely together, naturally falling into a romantic subplot that is cute and lively if predictable.

The other plot elements are the standard items no dark house can be without—a phone that's mysteriously disconnected, switched bodies in the closet, secret passages all over the place, a thunderstorm.

Favorite scene: Haley, having thrown himself into the role of amateur detective, tries to catch Lugosi off guard regarding the mud on his shoes. Lugosi replies that he opened the door for the cat and there was mud from the rain. Haley springs: "What rain?" To which Bela Lu responds with a sort of quiet incredulity, "What rain?"—walks to the door and opens it, displaying thunder and lightning and pouring rain—"The rain that's falling down, sir."

It's a lot of fun if not exactly a workout for the brain.

Too Much Jack Haley; Too Little Lugosi

[dcole-2 · 5/10 · 24 December 2004]

One wonders at the producers who OK'd the script that centers on a will that could be 'reversed' if certain things aren't done properly. That's only the first of many things that stretch credibility to the breaking point. I know, I know: it's a comedy. But in order for good comedy to work, it has to take place in a realistic setting. And why would the villain, after dispatching two people already in a straightforward fashion, decide he has to take the heroine and climb up on the roof with her 'to make it look an accident'? Surely the writers could come up with something better than that, no? Anyway, it's a mildly amusing film in which the usual heirs to a fortune have to spend a night in a spooky mansion (this one with an observatory on top). Jack Haley is an insurance salesman who is mistaken for a private detective. Bela Lugosi is the butler (so many times he's cast in these useless roles -- producers didn't seem to know how to use his talents properly)who is supposedly offering everyone poisoned coffee (the one gag that works in the film). Lugosi seems to be having a good time. You will have one, too. But I found that Haley's antics wore thin after too long.

Comedy/Thriller thats 15 minutes too long

[dbborroughs · 8/10 · 30 October 2004]

On the night of the reading of a will an insurance salesman arrives to sell a policy to the dead man. Confused for a detective he's hired to watch the body of his "client"...and then the gathered family members begin to die...

An okay comedy thriller that rises up a couple of notches by the use of occasional witty dialog, some good twists, and Bela Lugosi being wonderfully funny as a sinister butler and heir.(He should have done many more comedies)

The real problem with this film is the pacing which slackens about half way in. The problem is that in order to make the required running time bits, the wandering through the secret passages goes on way too long. Its a serious wound to what was a nicely paced movie. Its not fatal but it does diminish he enjoyment.

That said its worth a look. A good rainy night film for a double feature with a stronger movie.

"Bodies in the way of me,Bodies in the cemetery,And that's the way it's gonna be."

[morrison-dylan-fan · 7/10 · 4 October 2014]

Taking a look at a box set that a very kind IMDber had sent me,I was happy to spot a title which had Bela Lugosi in a Horror/Comedy crossover,which led to me getting ready to find the one body too many.

The plot:

Attending the reading of Cyrus J. Rutherford's will,Rutherford's relatives are disguised at the rather harsh 'final words' that Cyrus has written for them.Correctly predicting that they are only interested in his cash,Cyrus places an 2 orders in his will,with the first being that his body must be placed in a glass case at the top of the house,rather then buried underground,and second;that if they don't won't to see their cash go down the drain,each of the relatives must stay at his mansion until his demand is completed.

Desperate to keep the body safe, (partly due to Cyrus saying that he will get a % of the will)Cyrus's former lawyer decides to phone up for a cop,so that none of the family members try to change the burial plans.Arriving at the mansion,the officer is knocked out by a mysterious stranger before he's able to knock on the door.Having made an appointment with Cyrus to help him sort out a new insurance plan, Albert L. Tuttle decides to go to the mansion,so that he can finally meet Cyrus.Due to being completely unaware about Cyrus's arranged meeting with Albert,the family instantly think that Albert is the cop who has been sent down,whilst Albert soon discovers that a member of the family will do everything possible,to be the only 1 alive to get Cyrus's cash.

View on the film:

Setting the entire movie in an old dark house,the screenplay by Winston Miller and Maxwell Shane offers a refreshing mixture of Old Dark House murder-mystery and frantic slap-stick,as Miller and Shane isolate the house with harsh rain,creaky corridors,and a proto- Giallo black glove wearing killer,being joined by frantic chases and dry 'black coffee' Comedy.Building upon the mood in the screenplay,director Frank McDonald wraps the mansion in a sinister Gothic Horror atmosphere,as Tuttle discovers family members hiding in secret corridors and pitch-black corners who have their devilish eyes on the prize.

Given a supporting role,Bela Lugosi gives a terrific performance as loyal butler Merkil,with Lugosi delivering each of the dark comedic lines with a real curl of the lips,whilst a great Jack Haley stays away from the metallic paint,to show the out of his depths Albert L.Tuttle accidentally find out that one dead body really is one dead body too many.

Potential Denied

[Hitchcoc · 4/10 · 24 February 2006]

You know, this had some potential. There were some great character actors, including Bela Lugosi and Jack Haley (the Tin Man). He mugs for the camera and plays the star struck cowardly insurance salesman. The sad thing is that they set up all these relatively interesting characters and then didn't know what to do with them. The pacing is terrible. There are actually pauses in the film where nothing at all happens. I don't mean action; I mean nothing at all. At times there is a fade to black and we hear sounds and voices, and then nothing. A few close-ups would have helped. Sometimes in the drear of the black and white, it takes a few seconds to realize who is in the scene, especially during the frantic running around that takes place the second half.

There is also the silliness of the conditions of the will which is to give the opposite share to everyone if the deceased were buried in the ground. Since we don't know what the specifics of the will are, it makes it hard to figure out who the potential murderer is. I agree with a previous reviewer. When Bela Lugosi is on the screen, I can't take my eyes off him. The business with the rat poison and the coffee is quite funny. He is so put off when people refuse to have a cup of coffee. His best line, "There are too many rats in this house."

I love these old movies and relish the atmosphere. Maybe a better print or better sound would have helped, but this got pretty stale so I couldn't recommend it.

A Poor Man's Cat & The Canary - Yet Still Hilarious

[j-mcelhatton · 22 June 2004]

The other reviewers here weren't too impressed by this, but I must admit to laughing practically all the way through. This film is very much a second-rate retread of the classic Cat & The Canary, with Jack Haley doing the Bob Hope schtick, yet it is far more entertaining than it has any right to be. Haley is a very entertaining & likable 'hero' and is well served by the witty script, which is brimming with snappy one-liners. Lugosi, whose performance will undoubtedly be the biggest draw for modern audiences, proves surprisingly adept at comedy; as the suspicious butler, he has a lot of fun sending up his image. I particularly liked the running joke involving the coffee that may or may not be laced with rat poison; by the end of the film, Lugosi's catchphrase line 'Anybody Want A Cup Of Coffee?' has become hilarious through repetition, especially since the dubious-looking coffee is always refused by everyone. I particularly enjoyed the following exchange (my wording) :

LUGOSI: "Would you like a cup of coffee?" HALEY: "Depends. There are two types of coffee, percolated or drip. What type have you got?" LUGOSI: "It is the percolated kind." HALEY: "No thanks, I'm a drip."

OK, maybe you had to be there.

Although the mystery & the comedy elements are not up to the standard of the 1939 Cat & The Canary, this is still a superior spooky-house thriller. The ne'er do well relatives waiting for their piece of the estate are a splendidly hateful bunch; the sequence in which Lyle Talbot's lawyer reads out the late millionaires' comments about each of his relatives sets up their characters beautifully. Talbot, of course, stops short of reading out the old man's comments about him ("I would trust him as far as I could throw...an elephant").

In short, I would recommend this to fans of old-fashioned spooky house thrillers & fans of Lugosi who'd like to see him trying his hand at playing for (intentional) laughs. It's streets ahead of most of his poverty row 1940s output, which is for the most part utterly dire, and I was surprised at how often I laughed out loud. I'm going to be very generous with this, as it made me laugh more than any other film I've seen recently, including a lot of modern comedies.

8/10

Forget a heart, Tin Man, and get a script

[Laughing_Gravy · 3/10 · 15 March 2005]

William Pine and William Thomas were two Paramount executives who joined together to produce some cheap little pictures with Paramount backing and distribution. They became known as the "dollar Bills" for churning out inexpensive pictures that always made money. At first, they specialized in aviation pictures (their first three films were POWER DIVE, FORCED LANDING, and FLYING BLIND, all released in 1941), but when the war began they broadened their screens to include military adventures, mysteries, and even musicals. Like many B outfits they had a stock company of directors (Frank McDonald, William Berke) and players (Richard Arlen, Chester Morris, Roger Pryor and others).

Late in the war, Pine-Thomas signed Jack Haley to star in musical-comedies, but the first one, TAKE IT BIG (with Ozzie and Harriet) was a disappointment, so they cast Haley in a mystery-comedy called ONE BODY TOO MANY.

Cyrus Wentworth, a crazy multi-millionaire, has died, leaving a will that insults his heirs and promises that half of them will get a lot of money and the other half will get piddle, unless the exact terms of his will aren't carried out, in which case the piddlers will become the piddlees and vice versa. And the terms of his will? He was an astrology nut (who built an observatory atop his decrepit old mansion) and he wants to be entombed with a skylight so he can look up at the stars. Also, everybody named as an heir has to stay in the house for three days until he's safely in his moon-roofed vault. Okay, so you can guess what happens: somebody has read the will, knows he (or she) is a piddlee, and decides to steal the old man's corpse so he can't be entombed, thereby making himself a piddler. Got that? And if anybody gets in his (or her) way, well, then, said anybody is gonna end up vault-shopping with Uncle Cyrus.

Okay, you'd think that would be enough plot, but NO! An eager insurance salesman named Tuttle (Jack Haley) shows up; it seems that he had an appointment with the recently deceased to sell him some life insurance (a little late, there, Tuttle). Haley immediately falls in love with one of the old boy's relatives, the delicious Jean Parker, and decides to stay and protect her. The problem is, he spends the rest of the film cowering, running, hiding, and in general doing everything he can to not impress her. Bob Hope he ain't. Funny he ain't, either. Neither?

Okay, lastly I will mention that there is a creepy butler and housekeeper (naturally), the former of whom is Bela Lugosi in a throw-away part. We see him getting a bottle of rat poison off the shelf ("Dere are too many rats in dis houssssse… dey should be done avay vith!") and then spending the rest of the film offering coffee to the assembled, with a look of chagrin when they all refuse (or what passes for chagrin on Lugosi's mug; it could've also been anger, humor, annoyance, horniness, or impatience that his giant bats hadn't arrived yet).

ONE BODY TOO MANY is one Jack Haley scare comedy too many.

Better than expected

[Panamint · 6/10 · 22 February 2015]

Well paced and well plotted with an eccentric rich man's will and corpse as the focus. Jack Haley and Jean Parker were quite talented and just a pleasure to watch- they wear well and they work well together. Lugosi is great in one of his best creepy butler roles. He has a long running humorous gag involving, believe it or not, coffee.

It all holds together, is not overly padded, the direction and editing are fine. If you think all of those dirt-cheap little 1940's b-movies are dull or poorly made, you could view "One Body Too Many" and might change your opinion at least as far as this one is concerned.

Yes it is cheap but is a solidly made movie and not haphazard at all. "One Body Too Many" can be recommended. It is definitely in need of a good restoration, but at least one fairly good viewable copy is available out there.

No laughs here

[wbhickok · 3/10 · 27 November 2001]

I must admit, the only reason I watched this movie was for the casting of Jack Haley and Bela Lugosi together in a movie, boy was I disappointed. Lugosi, who receives top billing on the cover of the tape is on screen less than five minutes, and isn't given any material to work with. Jack Haley is okay as the nervous salesman mistaken for a private eye in a spooky mansion, but I think it would have been funnier if Bert Lahr had been cast for the role.

"Would you like some coffee?"

[Bezenby · 7/10 · 16 December 2013]

Another winner here from Bela Lugosi, although to be fair he's more of a supporting character here. The film's main protagonist is the who plays hapless life insurance salesman Albert Tuttle, unwittingly drawn into a game of intrigue involving loads of benefactors awaiting the outcome of the will of some rich guy.

This rich guy was well into astronomy, and wants to be buried in a glass casket so the stars can shine on him. However, it's stated in his will somewhere that if he gets buried underground, then his will is reversed, and those due very little will get the most. Tuttle doesn't even know the guy is dead, and at first is mistaken for a private detective hired to guard the body (and both the detective and the corpse have gone walkies).

Tuttle teams up with the innocent granddaughter of the dead guy to find out who keeps moving the body, and killing off the benefactors. So you've got this Tuttle guy being bopped on the head, buried in a coffin, finding secret passageways, and being harassed for coffee by Bela, who plays the mysterious butler.

It's a good laugh all the way as this Tuttle guy gets put through the grinder at every opportunity, having to run around naked to avoid the benefactors, being stalked by someone with a poker, and various other farces. Yep, this film is mainly a comedy with a killer, and who doesn't love a film set in a house with secret passageways. Bela doesn't have too much to do here, but between himself and the guy who played Tuttle (Jack Avery?) One Body Too Many is a good laugh with very few slow spots.

Kind of cute, but also a disappointment for Lugosi-philes!

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 19 February 2007]

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.

Only one body too many?

[catfish-er · 6/10 · 20 August 2009]

I'm working my way through the Horror Classics 50 Movie Pack Collection and ONE BODY TOO MANY is the 7th movie in the set. I am watching them with my soon-to-be seven-year old daughter, which makes these movies a laugh riot.

Luckily for ONE BODY TOO MANY, it is a comedy with horror serving only as the background. It is quirky and humorous.

An insurance man named Tuttle (Jack Haley) has an appointment with astrology-fanatic Cyrus Wentworth. Turns out Cyrus has died (you can't sell life insurance to a dead man); and, the greedy heirs have gathered for the late-night reading of the will. A quirk in the will requires Cyrus to be interred under a glass enclosure, so he can gaze at the stars for eternity, or the heirs receiving the highest share of his estate will instead receive the least; and, those receiving the least will instead receive the most.

Comedy ensues, with creaky doors, false leads, mistaken identities, secret passages, and the heroine, Carol Dunlap (played by Jean Parker) in love with the insurance salesman. The cast is huge; and, it's hard to keep all the characters straight. As such, we just focused on the antics of Tuttle and Dunlap.

Bela Lugosi gets top billing; but, really plays just a small part, mostly trying to get the heirs to drink some coffee –is it poisoned – the ending makes that clear.

Say what you will; but ONE BODY TOO MANY is enjoyable; and, plays like a farce in parts.

Dated mystery comedy with a genuinely funny Bela Lugosi easily garnering most of the laughs

[grainstorms · 4/10 · 24 December 2012]

"One Body Too Many" is the sort of by-the-numbers horror-mystery-comedy that was once cranked out by Hollywood's B-units to fill the ravenous appetite for second features in the '30s and '40s. This particular flick featured the rather engaging, rather bland Jack Haley, best known for his "Wizard of Oz" Tin Man. One of the similar movie "Jacks" in this period (other Jacks in the pack being Jack Carson and Jack Oakie), Haley was a minor comedic talent who was able to hit the mark, ham it up a bit, bug his eyes and do a laborious double-take without displaying any distinctive personality. Like the other Jacks, he would soon be replaced by younger, hungrier, more talented actors returning from military service. The director, Frank McDonald, otherwise known for directing about a zillion Westerns, didn't try to do much with the script he was handed, which involved the usual "Cat and the Canary" story of odd bequests, strange mansion, a dark and stormy night and secret passages. His mostly experienced, middle-aged, over-dressed cast moved sluggishly through the proceedings and in general comported themselves with the somewhat distracted and dyspeptic air of guests at a party that's lasted too long. Alexander Lazlo's discordant avant-garde film score can be annoying. It telegraphs the action and its jangling sounds just don't add to the fun.. As though they were preparing themselves for the era of sitcoms that was soon to overtake Hollywood second feature comedies and kill them off forever, the writers did come up with one or two laugh-out-loud quips that still manage to echo well through the almost three-quarters-of-a- century between this movie's debut and its DVD reincarnation: "There are two classes of coffee... the percolated and there's the drip. Sorry, I'm a drip." The one surprise – a pleasant, though poignant one -- in "One Body Too Many" is the adroit comedy talent of Bela Lugosi. His diction clearer than usual, his personal demons conquered for the while and displaying a distinctly Continental charm, he was a delightful surprise. He was obviously having fun with his part. While not exactly Maurice Chevalier, his timing was immaculate and one could easily see him cast in a Lubitsch comedy; it was a loss for film that this side of him was never exploited. Though there are times when "One Body Too Many" remembers that it's supposed to be a horror movie, it's never really scary. Its silliness, though somewhat fusty, and its conspicuous confusion makes it an ideal family movie for mature children and childish adults.

Coffee Anyone?

[Rainey-Dawn · 9/10 · 6 June 2015]

It was a dark and comical night... this movie turned out to be a very pleasant surprise! I knew it was a comedy-horror but it was funnier than I expected. This flick is worth watching if you like old school comedy films. I have to say this movie is underrated!!

The movie has all the ingredients for a good old fashioned comedy-horror: we have a dead man, a will, greedy & goofy inheritors, a murderer on the loose, a big spooky mansion, secret passages, a stormy night, Bela Lugosi & COFFEE.

I think the best parts of the film were: the insurance man in a towel in the secret passageway, the wicker basket, the coffin in the water and COFFEE! LOL. You will have to watch the film to get the scenes I am referring to. COFFEE is peppered throughout the entire film!

This is a great afternoon film and would make a great double feature with a film like: The Comedy of Terrors (1963). I highly recommend skipping the COFFEE while watching these films. ;)

9/10

Second string, but still worth watching!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 22 April 2018]

Producers: Bill Pine, Bill Thomas. A Pine-Thomas Production, filmed at Fine Arts Studios, for Paramount release.

Copyright 17 October 1944 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Rialto: 24 November 1944. U.S. release: Not recorded. Australian release: 28 June 1945. 6,840 feet. 75 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: An insurance salesman gets himself waylaid as a bodyguard (literally!) in a spooky old house filled with expectant heirs.

COMMENT: From The Old Dark House to One Body Too Many is neither a great jump in story or characters. Once again the setting is the spooky, many-roomed mansion of an eccentric millionaire type and once again the plot contrives to fill the place with a whole gallery of fascinating people. Where the two films part company lies in the degree to which they command an audience's attention.

Although One Body actually runs only four minutes more than Old Dark House, it still seems about twenty minutes too long. The main problem is that Jack Haley is no Bob Hope. Following Hope's successes in The Cat and the Canary (1939) and The Ghost Breakers (1940), this role was obviously crafted with the ski-nosed comedian firmly in mind, but Haley just can't quite bring it off. Furthermore, Frank Blondie McDonald's direction is somewhat on the slow and heavy-handed side, lacking the skill and polish that a Sidney Lanfield or George Marshall would have brought to the production.

So what we actually have here is an imitation Bob Hope vehicle made by a second-string unit with a second-string cast. Second-string? So what's Lugosi doing in the movie? At this stage of his career, he was already acting along Poverty Row. If anything, One Body Too Many represented a distinct step up the ladder. Mind you, the role is nothing more than window-dressing or, put another way, a red herring. Nonetheless, Bela gives it a good shot. Partnered by Blanche A Tale of Two Cities Yurka of all people, he is certainly mildly amusing. The rest of the players are okay so far as they go. But shrill-voiced Jean Parker is no Dorothy Lamour, nor heavy-on-the-bluster Douglas Fowley a budding Claude Rains. Our chief problem, however, is Jack Haley. He simply tries too hard to impersonate Hope, yet not nearly hard enough to develop his own character. By the humble standards of Pine-Thomas, production values are pretty good with fine moody photography by the junior Jackman and reasonably spooky sets by F. Paul Sylos.

Mixed up whodunit comedy starring the Tin Man himself...

[dwpollar · 3/10 · 13 August 2014]

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.