Michael_Elliott One Body Too Many (1944) ** (out of 4)An old man dies so his family who he hated comes for the will reading. The old man's request is that no one leaves the house until he is buried in a way that he wishes. If anyone leaves the house they will get no money so with everyone together soon bodies begin to pile up. An insurance salesman (Jack Haley) shows up and soon he's trying to figure out who is doing the killing. Could it be the creepy butler (Bela Lugosi)?The 1930s were full of "old dark house" movies that usually mixed mystery, horror and comedy. Then 1939's THE CATAND THE CANARY pretty much ended the genre because it was simply so good that "B" studios really didn't try to jump back on the bandwagon. That was until ONE BODY TOO MANY came along, which is clearly a thrown back to the previous decade when these types of movies were being released monthly.There are a few interesting ideas scattered around this film and it contains some good performances but there's just too much "been there, done that" to fully enjoy what it has to offer. The biggest problem is that the screenplay has way too many characters and more times than not you lose track of who is who and which one has done this or that. Being so hard to follow doesn't help when you're trying to make sense of the plot. The film has a rather strange and nutty bit of comedy but it has its charm.Healy will always be remembered for his role in THE WIZARD OF OZ but he makes good as the insurance salesman who finds himself at the wrong place at the wrong time. The supporting cast of characters are all good but it's clearly Lugosi who steals the film in his very small role. He really isn't given too much to do but when he's on screen his comic timing and wink to the crowd is certainly enjoyable and helps keep the film moving.ONE BODY TOO MANY is worth watching if you're a fan of the genre but it certainly doesn't add anything new to the genre.

dwpollar 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.

Bezenby 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.

wes-connors *** One Body Too Many (1944) Frank McDonald ~ Jack Haley, Jean Parker, Bela Lugosi "A timid insurance salesman decides to place a call upon an eccentric recluse at his mansion only to find that he has just passed away. What he also finds is a home full of relatives who are, according to the will, all bound to remain in the mansion until the authorities arrive to claim the body. Seeing that the man's niece may be in harm's way, the salesman decides to remain at the mansion to protect her from harm while they discover who killed their uncle," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.A thinly disguised re-make of the relatively recent re-make of silent spoof "The Cat and the Canary". Possibly, the very successful Bob Hope version of 1939 had been removed from circulation; and, movie producers felt the story had more traction. Otherwise, it's difficult to explain this inferior treatment. Star Jack Haley (as Albert Tuttle) is curiously ill-suited in the leading role. Still, it's enjoyable to see Mr. Haley without his "Tin Man" silver. And, leading lady Jean Parker (as Carol Dunlap) is an attractive old dark house inhabitant.The most entertaining of the cast are spooky servants Bela Lugosi (as Murkil) and Blanche Yurka (as Matthews). Dependable Lucien Littlefield (as Kenneth Hopkins) was also in the 1927 version. Writers Winston Miller and Maxwell Shane do add some witty new lines and situations to the formula; but, the resulting product compares very unfavorably with earlier versions.