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William Castle perhaps wasn't the greatest horror director in history, but he remains - and deservedly so - a favorite of many fans who don't take themselves, nor the genre, too serious. Castle is most legendary for his gimmick-featuring semi-classics, like "The Tingler" and "House on Haunted Hill", but he also made a variety of lesser-known films, like the child-friendly, but certainly not too childish, "Let's Kill Uncle".

When a millionaire (cameo by Castle himself) dies in a vicious car crash, his only son is escorted by a police officer to go and live on the island mansion of his uncle Kevin Harrison; - his only living relative and a former war-hero. The arrogant kid, Barnaby, and the police officer arrive on the island first, and make friends with a woman and her niece. When uncle Kevin finally arrives, he makes it abundantly clear to Barnaby straight away that he intends to kill him, because he's broke and needs to inherit the complete fortune of his brother. Since the adults don't believe him, Barnaby teams up with the little niece and decide it's best to kill the uncle before he kills them.

The goofy but effective premise only kicks in gear when Nigel Green (as uncle) arrives on the island in his plan, and for some strange reason this takes more than half an hour. The start is thus slow, but Green compensates for this tremendously with a fantastically over-the-top performance. The death traps are also very ingenious with a shark in the hotel pool, tarantulas, and a walk towards the edge of cliff while hypnotized. The ending is a bit of a downer, but by then the film already earned a place in your heart.

Orphaned, imaginative youngster (Pat Cardi), living on an isolated (some say haunted!) island with his uncle (Nigel Green), learns that his bug-eyed relative wants him dispatched permanently in order to cash in on the lad's $5M inheritance. The boy then involves his bickering playmate (Mary Badham) in turning the tables on the nefarious grown-up, who seems to take delight in this deadly game of cat-and-mouse. Screenwriter Mark Rodgers, working from a novel by Rohan O'Grady, and Castle appear to be targeting the family audience with this thriller. Much like their goal, the film is curious and intriguing without being truly provocative. The kids plot to poison Uncle with mushrooms but are somehow thwarted, while Uncle--armed with a can of gasoline--attempts to set the two on fire (but how would he explain their deaths to the authorities?). You absolutely cannot look for logic in a Castle screamer, but imagine how good--if not great--his films might have been with a little smarts! *1/2 from ****

Though it starts off somewhat slowly, things instantly pick up when Nigel Green enters the scene. He is a hoot as the coniving uncle, and his various activities (like practicing judo in the house) and dialogue are hilarious (the breakfast conversation with his nephew is the best such scene. I would say the movie gets better as it goes along, getting more twisted with its black comedy. However, the final minute of the movie is a real disappointment. It's as if the screenwriter was running out of time to submit the script to the studio, and wrote in an ending both strange and feeling unfinished.

It's still worth a look - if you can find it. It seems that Universal has withdrawn the movie for some reason, and currently the only way to watch the movie is through bootlegs. Perhaps the current owners of the studio are uncomfortable with the whole uncle-trying-to-kill-nephew/nephew-trying-to-kill-uncle thing, even though all this is never presented in a serious manner. Let's hope they eventually find a sense of humor.

This seems among the hardest of Castle's efforts to come by: there is no legitimate home video release of it and, in fact, I had first acquired a poor-quality copy taken from a 16mm print but have now upgraded to a superior (if still rather soft) one sourced from TCM just in time for its inclusion in my ongoing centenary tribute to the director. The film, then, definitely takes him off the chiller course – opting for a black comedy vein which he would retain for his two subsequent efforts (both awaiting their turn, to be sure, in my current schedule), namely THE BUSY BODY and THE SPIRIT IS WILLING (both 1967). Besides, children are once again put at the forefront of the cast (and murder victim) list – as had been the case with the recently-viewed 13 FRIGHTENED GIRLS (1963) and I SAW WHAT YOU DID (1965).

The movie could well be confused with Nigel Patrick's HOW TO MURDER A RICH UNCLE (1957) but, here, we have a villainous relative trying to dispose of the rightful heir to a fortune – so the latter, a boy, decides to do the older man in himself before he can succeed in his nefarious scheme…hence the title and, by extension, the delightful irony of the central situation! Adding to the amusement is the fact that, though the child is ostensibly protected by a police sergeant, the latter is totally oblivious to the battle-of-wills going on around him! Besides, the kid is a compulsive liar, for which he is constantly berated by his girl companion – played by Mary Badham of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962) fame – and of whose own female guardian the cop soon becomes enamoured. Most important of all, the uncle is a veritable (and published) WWII hero – so that his endeavours to get-rich-quick involve militaristic strategies, and a good deal of cold-bloodedness!

While the film is certainly no lost classic, it receives a definite boost once nominal star Nigel Green (in one of his best screen roles) gets his belated introduction; among the most inventive attempts by the protagonists to outdo each other are a precarious walk near a clifftop while under a hypnotic spell; a fall into a murky pool in which a shark is at large; the 'is it or isn't it?' poisoned mushroom sauce at dinner; a flight in a private plane with a low fuel supply; and a tarantula attack. The ending, then, which puts the deadly game squarely at a draw can be seen as a cop-out – but also that Castle was only pulling our leg throughout or, if you like, having some typically ghoulish fun at our expense…despite not having an accompanying gimmick this time around or, as it turned out, ever again!

The old Castle is gone, and the one that emerges wants to focus on black humor, and a kind of family friendly suspense. This considered, it's not so bad. The star is young Pat Cardi, a rich orphan sent to live with his globe-trotting war hero uncle, Nigel Green. Cardi befriends Mary Badham, who is being sent to live with her aunt Linda Lawson on the same island. The two are warned not to go near the old deserted hotel, so of course, that's where they head first, only to encounter a shark in the murky swimming pool (the same shark stock footage is shown several times throughout the film) and they sense danger all around, but the grownups auntie Lawson and Robert Pickering (a detective hired to safely transport Cardi) don't believe them, and are busily involved with each other.

Nigel Green is amusing, from his judo practice to his hammy meal presentation wearing a big chef's hat, but he's up-front with Cardi. He's out to kill the kid for his fortune, via hypnosis, poison mushrooms, the pool shark, whatever it takes. It becomes 'who can outwit who - the kids versus the uncle, to survive. There's nothing really scary here, and the slight wackiness of Green keeps the viewer from feeling any real suspense, but it is sort of a fun watch.

I prefer Castle's acid pit or blood filled bathtub for memorable gimmicks but I'd give this a solid 6/10.