The Missing Corpse

Wealthy newspaper publisher Henry Kruger (J. Edward Bromberg) can't get served breakfast—he sits at his morning table but the servants just carry the trays right on past. His wife Alice takes breakfast in bed and sends down a note asking him to check her overdrawn bank account; son James takes only tomato juice due to today's hangover; daughter Phylis is "indisposed" but her photo is featured in the rival newspaper's story about last night's nightclub brawl. Mr. Kruger is understandably fed up with his family.

He also does not get along at all with that rival paper's publisher: a crook and blackmailer named McDonald (Paul Guilfoyle). McDonald has plenty of enemies—there's Kruger himself; his chauffeur Hogan (Frank Jenks) who claims to have a score to settle; and even McDonald's muscle man Joe, who discovers his own motive for murder.

Yes, we can see it coming…but the murder is not the surprise here: rather, it's the way the dead body keeps jumping around, from car trunk to wood box to numerous other locations. Who moved it now? and who will stumble on it next? Rapid dialog and one silly situation after another add up to a pretty funny picture.

Bromberg and Jenks lead the cast well; their boss-and-chauffeur act clicks nicely as each assumes that the other did the murder and eventually has to be enlightened.

Momentum builds as the rest of the family and numerous others gradually congregate at the vacation lodge where Kruger and Hogan (and the corpse) are holed up. "Why, Henry, we'll have a family reunion," says the wife on her arrival; "Won't that be nice," is Kruger's quietly bitter reply.

It's a good natured if not particularly inspired murder comedy. Totally ridiculous—but fast moving and unpretentious.

PRC produces an enjoyable item here with little funding, a comedic melodrama that successfully incorporates both verbal and visual humour, along with a dollop of suspense, in creating a picture notable for its rare featured performance by veteran supporting actor J. Edward Bromberg, skillful direction, and especially effective scoring, in addition to a clever scenario that benefits from perfect pacing to smoothly advance the action. A whimsical plot requires that scripting, acting, and editing combine equally to avoid mere giddiness, and that is the case here, with Bromberg cast as Henry Kruger, an ethical newspaper publisher who threatens Andy McDonald, his counterpart upon a rival big city (Los Angeles) tabloid, with physical harm after McDonald splashes a nightclub escapade involving Kruger's daughter upon his journal's front page. After the blackmailing McDonald is murdered by one of his victims, his corpse is chased from the unsuspecting Kruger's automobile trunk to a series of makeshift hiding places, with humorous perplexity resulting from Kruger's attempts to avoid being implicated in the homicide. Director Albert Herman, for his final feature film commission, ably leads his actors in the briskly gaited affair, and manages in fine fashion to balance comedy with sequences of suspense, aided throughout by a splendid score contributed by classically trained Karl Hajos, who adds pages to his prior work from studio stock, seamlessly blending the total into the narrative. Acting is of variable merit, with Frank Jenks winning the Thespic laurels in the role of Kruger's chauffeur and companion, a typically sharply defined performance from him, capitalizing upon his impeccable sense of timing.

This is an Alpha Home Entertainment DVD. It looks worse than a VHS copy, if you remember or herd of VHS, with that Blair Witch steady hand. Everything is really scratchy. You will recognize most of the actors such as J. Edward Bromberg from "Charlie Chan on Broadway" (1937). The story at least the presentation had those holes that you can drive a truck through. It gets slapstick at all the weirdest times.

A newspaper owner, Henry Kruger, threatens to dispatch a rival newspaper owner over an article. The one mistake making this threat was right in front of his chauffeur/friend, Andy McDonald, and the other newspaper owner's assistant/patsy 'Slippery Joe' Clary.

And you guessed it a corpse turns up in Henry's car trunk. Then it is not there. Then it is here and there and not here and there. Now each person sees it and is kind enough not to tell everyone. We know he did it, but no one listens to us.

Mack Hogan (Frank Jenks) as the cabin caretaker is the comic relief as if we needed relief.

The story sorts of works around Egbert (Charles Coleman), a snickering butler that seems to know something but never tells.

Anyway, the film is worth a quick look. If you miss this one you will not be missing much.

If you love bodies being moved, then two better movies are: Arsenic et vieilles dentelles (1944).

And Mais qui a tué Harry? (1955).

PRC was a tiny studio that rented space at larger studios and made their films on a shoestring budget. Generally, when I see a film was made by PRC, I either avoid it or expect it to be, at best, a time-passer. Imagine my surprise when I found I not only liked "The Missing Corpse" but would highly recommend it. It's hard to believe...especially since there are no big name actors and the film is clearly a B-movie, clocking in at only 62 minutes in length!

Henry Kruger owns a newspaper and his greatest nemesis is a rival newspaper owner who takes delight in slandering Kruger. Because of this, Kruger has been known to threaten the guy if he didn't stop harassing him. Imagine Kruger's surprise, then, when he discovers the guy in his trunk...dead! Who did it and how is Kruger going to get rid of the body? Watch this clever film and find out for yourself.

As I said, I really liked this one. This was helped by having Frank Jenks in a supporting role. While few would remember his name, he was very adept at this sort of film and helped make it fun.

For a PRC film with limited production values The Missing Corpse isn't too bad of a film. It also stars the tragic J. Edward Bromberg in one of the films you'll find this character player top billed.

Bromberg and Paul Guilfoyle are rival tabloid publishers and Guilfoyle has printed some nasty stuff about Bromberg's daughter. Reacting like an outraged father, Bromberg promises to do him harm if any more should be printed.

Then Guilfoyle winds up dead and in Bromberg's car trunk. They discover it when Bromberg goes up to his hunting cabin for a short vacation. They being Bromberg and chauffeur Frank Jenks.

Not much suspense here since we know who killed Guilfoyle. Still a few laughs from the cast especially Bromberg and Jenks.

Not bad considering it's a PRC cheapie.