What a Carve Up!

When I first saw this film one evening, I only watched it because I had nothing to do. By the time it had finished, I was left raging with myself for not videoing it. Although it's not really a horror movie, the atmosphere is tremendous. Right from the first scene, the viewer is drawn in, and simply cannot stop watching. Although the ending is somewhat predictable, the movie does not really suffer from this, but rather the viewer can look out for all the clues that he/she may have missed the first time.

All in all, a film to be watched over and over again.

Spooky-looking Donald Pleasance visits Kenneth Connor to tell him that his uncle is dead and he must be present for the reading of the will. Out at the castle on the moor, there is the usual assortment of greedy relatives, Shirley Eaton, the cute nurse, and Michael Gough doing a Boris Karloff impression as the butler. Plus of course, Connor's pal Sid James, who figures he's on to a good thing. When Pleasance reads the will, however, only Miss Eaton is left anything: the pill bottles. They all settle in for the night, and then someone starts killing them all in this Old Dark House comedy.

There's long been a tendency of the Old Dark House genre to indulge in comedy, and this looks suspiciously like a feature-length version of THE LAUREL-HARDY MURDER CASE, with James and Connor playing a variation on the Boys. While the mystery aspect of the movie is pretty good, the comedy is fairly standard.... but very well executed.

I often wonder if movies like this had the audiences of the time rolling in the aisles or did folk react in much the same way most people today would, with a certain cynical boredom? Personally, I'm a fan of all sorts of humour, and that includes the light silliness of movies like this. Few people, probably nobody in fact, will get belly-laughs from this film, but my girlfriend and I, and her sister, watched it together smiling and chuckling all the way through. We were entertained and we'd watch it again.

Part of the appeal, of course, for a thirty-something like me is that strange nostalgia for a time you never experienced and certainly never was. Even though it's an unrealistic spooky murder mystery, you'd still quite like to be there with the characters, enjoying this curiously innocent world where people die in a remarkable bloodless fashion.

There's a good cast, full of recognisable faces - there's fun to had from finally realising that you're looking at a very young Michael Gough and playing a butler long before Alfred in the first four Batman movies.

It's ultimately absurd, but it's a well-put-together little film, with a great cast, an atmospheric set and a light but entertaining plot, perfect for lazy Sunday afternoon viewing.

A good film that borrowed on the 'mousetrap' plot, & rather predictable. Acted out at a fast pace with great enthusiasm by all. Sid James was his usual brilliant self & Ken Connor too. Shirley Eaton played her part well. Dressed in a shift over a nylon slip for much of the film, strange how, when running from room to room, she'd continually hold her shift together in an attempt to stop it falling open thus giving us a glimpse of her slip underneath. Naively prudish of her, & ironic in that 2 yrs later she would appear in a Bond film wearing nothing but a coat of paint! At the time Ken Connor was one of the most sought after comedy film actors.

With leads like Sid James and Kenneth Connor No Place Like Homicide could easily be classified as a Carry On film. It really isn't though because Carry On films were strictly comedy and this one does have a bit of a story to it albeit just one to display the characters.

Connor and James are best friends and roommates, Connor a proofreader for a publishing company and James is a bookmaker which a profession of a slightly higher social standing in the UK than on this side of the pond. In any event in that plot gimmick from a Zillion films on both sides of the pond Connor is an heir and he and the other heirs have to spend a long night in a creepy mansion to inherit his late uncle's estate.

Of course a lot of the night is spent by Connor with the lovely Shirley Eaton who's another heir. Another heir is Dennis Price with a rakish Terry-Thomas mustache which makes me think Terry-Thomas had been slated to be in this. Michael Gough is a sinister butler and Donald Pleasance a sinister lawyer.

Nothing sinister about Connor who's wondering if the inheritance is really worth it and James who's wondering how he got into this mess. The usual kind of gags are present here though nothing terribly original.

British pop star Adam Faith shows up at the end without billing and unless you knew the British music scene of 1961 it's not a gag you will get.

The cast looks like the're having fun and I think you will to.