I’m the kind of person who loves a good comedy just as much as a good scary film—and when the two happen to mix, all the better and the 1961 British film What a Carve Up! (released in the U.S. as No Place Like Homicide) blends those elements beautifully.
In this “hearse opera”, we are introduced to Ernest Broughton (Kenneth Connor), a mild-mannered proofreader of horror books for a publishing company. He shares a flat with his friend Sid Butler (Sid James), a bookmaker with far more confidence than Ernest. His quiet life gets an injection of excitement, when solicitor Everett Sloane (Donald Pleasence) informs him that he’s named in the will of his uncle, Gabriel Broughton (Philip O’Flynn ). To learn the details, he must travel to Black Towers—Gabriel’s isolated, ominous mansion in the Yorkshire Moors.
Being the timid sort, Ernest persuades Sid to come along for moral support. Upon arrival, they’re greeted by a decidedly odd assortment of relatives: Guy Broughton (Denis Price), Ernest’s scheming cousin; Malcolm Broughton (Michael Gwynn), an eccentric pianist convinced everyone around him is “quite mad”; Janet Broughton (Valerie Taylor) and her father Dr. Edward Broughton (George Woodbridge); Emily Broughton (Esma Cannon), the elderly aunt who still lives as though the First World War never ended; and Linda Dixon (Shirley Eaton), Gabriel’s attentive nurse and Fisk, the family butler (Michael Gough).
When the will is finally read, the results are shocking: no one inherits a thing. The sole exception is Linda, who—much to her amusement—is left Gabriel’s medicines and syringe.
Then a storm knocks out the power and phone lines, plunging the house into darkness—and into a series of baffling, locked-room murders involving secret passages, ingenious traps, and even a poison dart. I won’t go any further and spoil the fun, in case you decide to watch it for yourself.
The film is well cast, Sid and Kenneth seem to be having the time of their lives playing things strictly for laughs and there are plenty of them. Of course, you might remember both of these gents working together in various Carry On films, too.
Loosely based on the 1928 novel The Ghoul by Frank King which was the inspiration for the 1933 Boris Karloff film of the same name.
Writer Jonathan Coe used the film as inspiration for his 1994 novel What a Carve Up!
grapleslife.org 