OneBodytooMany

One Body too Many (1944)

I do love these old movies that combine horror, mystery, and comedy. This time around actor Jack Haley (best known as the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz) is playing an insurance salesman named Albert Tuttle. Thinking he has a chance to sell an eccentric millionaire a juicy policy he heads off for an appointment with the man in the middle of the night. But what he doesn’t realize is that the man has died already and his family has gathered for the reading of the will. Being an eccentric the deceased man instructs that the will can’t be read until he is interred in a special mausoleum. If forever reason he isn’t then the beneficiaries of the will change around so those that would get the most get the least and vice versa. With all the money on the line murder becomes an option (thus the title). Albert is thrust into the middle of this situation and since he is smitten with one of the women from the family feels obligated to help, in spite of being a coward.

While One Body too Many doesn’t break any new ground and uses the same old tricks it is a decent old movie. The story has everything you would expect a movie like this to have. There are sliding panels with murderous hands emerging from them, thunder and lightning, secret passages, the creepy butler, and of course a bumbling hero that manages to save the day in spite of himself. There is also a funny gag that runs throughout the movie involving the creepy butler trying to serve the family and guests coffee. The butler is played by Bela Lugosi, who gets top billing on the DVD cover but isn’t in the movie that much. Some fans might be disappointed by his lack of screen time, but I rather enjoyed his unexpected comedic turn. He is surprisingly good in his supporting role. The headliner of the movie is the previously mentioned Jack Haley. He is pretty good as the bumbling hero and while he isn’t a Lou Costello (who I personally think was the master at these kind of roles as one half of the Abbott and Costello comedy team) he is more than acceptable.

There aren’t really any special effects in this movie. The sets are nicely done, though I think they might have been recycled from another movie (they look awfully familiar). The sliding walls and secret passages make for quite a bit of the fun, so the sets are almost as important as the cast in a movie like this. The outdoor scenes are obviously all shot on soundstages, but that gives the movie a certain cheesy feel that works well for it. This isn’t meant to be a serious mystery or horror movie. Camera work and sound are okay, but nothing special.

A movie like One Body too Many isn’t’ meant to be anything other than some light entertainment. The entire cast is made up of B list actors, including Lugosi who spent most of the late 30s and 40s working in low budget movies of dubious quality. But I can appreciate this movie for what it is and had some fun with it. This movie is available from Mill Creek Entertainment on several of their budget DVD sets. For more information check them out at http://www.millcreekent.com/

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer