One Body Too Many (1944)

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

This movie kind of reminds me of the board game Clue when I was a kid. An Insurance salesman goes to this spooky old mansion to sell a millionaire some life insurance,, well to his dismay he's too late, the man is already dead,, so when he gets there , we have a bunch of relatives waiting on the reading of the will, the catch is no one can leave the premises until the complete reading of the will is finished as stipulated by our millionaire, our insurance salesman is drawn into the plot,, a shady niece,, a missing body,, and murder,, Bela Lugosi, is great in this,, I really loved his acting,, he's almost at his spooky best in these old creepy movies, overall not a bad little movie,, above average, a decent watch.

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.

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.