''One Body Too Many'' is a 1944 American

comedy-mystery film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with black comedy, dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is o ...

directed by Frank McDonald, starring

Bela Lugosi Blaskó Béla Ferenc Dezső (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), better known by the stage name Bela Lugosi ( ; ), was a Hungarian–American actor. He was best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the horror film classic Dracula (19 ...

Jack Haley John Joseph Haley Jr. (August 10, 1898 – June 6, 1979) was an American actor, comedian, dancer, radio host, singer, drummer and vaudevillian. He was best known for his portrayal of the Tin Man and his farmhand counterpart Hickory in the 193 ...

and

Lyle Talbot Lyle Talbot (born Lisle Henderson, also credited Lysle Talbot; February 8, 1902 – March 2, 1996) was an American stage, screen and television actor. His career in films spanned three decades, from 1931 to 1960, and he performed on a wide ...

. The film was the second comedy featuring Haley to be produced by

Pine-Thomas Productions Pine-Thomas Productions was a prolific B-picture unit of Paramount Pictures from 1940–1957, producing 81 films. Co-producers William H. Pine (February 15, 1896 – April 29, 1955) and William C. Thomas (August 11, 1903 – April 2, 1984) were kno ...

, part of the studio's new direction towards comedy films. The original intention was to hire

Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), known professionally as Boris Karloff () and occasionally billed as Karloff the Uncanny, was a British actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstei ...

for the film's key horror role, but Lugosi was hired instead. The film is set in the

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word ''manse'' originally defined a property l ...

of a recently deceased millionaire. An insurance

salesman Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. A period during which goods are sold for a reduced price may also be referred ...

arrives by coincidence, and he is mistaken for the

private detective A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI; also known as a private detective, an inquiry agent or informally a private eye) is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigat ...

supposed to guard the corpse. The terms of the millionaire's will depend on whether he is buried according to his wishes or not. One of the potential heirs has decided to steal the corpse, and they are willing to kill the new guard.

Plot

Mild-mannered insurance salesman Albert L. Tuttle (

) visits eccentric millionaire Cyrus J. Rutherford, intent on selling him a $200,000 insurance deal. Instead he finds that Rutherford has recently died and his mansion is now full of relatives who are, according to the will, all bound to remain in the mansion until a glass-domed vault is constructed on the roof to house the deceased millionaire, who was an ardent follower of the stars. Tuttle is mistaken for a private detective sent to guard the body, and once the confusion is cleared up and the real detective fails to show, he is persuaded by Rutherford's niece Carol Dunlap to remain and ensure that the body is not stolen. If the body should be buried any place other than the vault, the will states that the beneficiaries who should receive the largest bequests would receive the smallest, and vice versa. One of the recipients plans to reverse the will in their favor, hide the body and kill anyone who gets in their way. Unfortunately for Tuttle, he is directly in the way of the killer, and the rest of the conniving family.

Cast

as Albert L. Tuttle *

Jean Parker Jean Parker (born Lois May Green; August 11, 1915 – November 30, 2005) was an American film and stage actress. A native of Montana, indigent during the Great Depression, she was adopted by a family in Pasadena, California, at age ten. She ini ...

as Carol Dunlap *

as Merkil, the butler *

Blanche Yurka Blanche Yurka (born Blanch Jurka; June 19, 1887 – June 6, 1974) was an American stage and film actress and director. She was an opera singer with minor roles at the Metropolitan Opera and later became a stage actress, making her Broadway deb ...

as Matthews *

as Jim Davis *

Douglas Fowley Douglas Fowley (born Daniel Vincent Fowley, May 30, 1911 – May 21, 1998) was an American movie and television actor in more than 240 films and dozens of television programs. He is probably best remembered for his role as the frustrated m ...

as Henry Rutherford *

Fay Helm Fay Helm (April 9, 1909 – September 27, 2003) was an American film actress. Born in Bakersfield, California, she appeared in about 65 films between 1936 and 1946. She is perhaps better known for films like '' A Child is Born'' (1939), '' The ...

as Estelle Hopkins *

Bernard Nedell Bernard Jay Nedell (October 14, 1898 – November 23, 1972) was an American film actor. He appeared in 50 films between 1916 and 1972. He was born in New York, New York and died in Hollywood, California. He was married to actress Olive Bla ...

as Attorney Morton Gellman *

Lucien Littlefield Lucien Littlefield (August 16, 1895 – June 4, 1960) was an American actor who achieved a long career from silent films to the television era. He was noted for his versatility, playing a wide range of roles and already portraying old men befor ...

as Kenneth Hopkins *

Dorothy Granger Dorothy Karolyn Granger (November 21, 1911 – January 4, 1995) was an American actress best known for her roles in short subject comedy, comedies in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. Career Granger, with her parents, two brothers, ...

as Mona Rutherford * William Edmunds as Prof. Hilton *Maxine Fife as Margaret Hopkins

Production

originally specialized in action films but decided to move into comedy and signed Jack Haley to star in movies for the company. This was his second comedy for Pine-Thomas. Pine and Thomas originally wanted

for the key horror role. Frank McDonald signed to direct in December 1943, when it was known as ''Too Many Bodies''. Eventually Bela Lugosi was signed.Drama and Film Los Angeles Times 18 Dec 1943: 7.

References

External links

*
Review
at ''Variety'' * {{Pine-Thomas 1944 films 1944 comedy horror films 1940s comedy mystery films 1940s parody films American comedy horror films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films American independent films Paramount Pictures films American parody films Films directed by Frank McDonald Films set in country houses American comedy mystery films 1940s American films Films about salespeople Films about inheritances English-language comedy horror films Films scored by Alexander László English-language comedy mystery films