No Place Like Homicide!

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.

What a great movie, laugh, jump with terror (ish) a classic story with a obvious ending but still funny. Sid James and Kenneth Connor are a great comedy pair.See how young Shirley Eaton is WOW. Nice film in the middle of the carry on's.

"What a Carve Up" is about the only time that Sid James appeared in a horror comedy. The tone of the film is a bit creepy and ghoulish but also very good in the laughter department. Kenneth Connor is summoned to this large Yorkshire mansion for the reading of his late Uncle's will. Our Sid tags along for the journey, which is just as well, considering the events that unfold. Some of the dialogue doesn't quite work on occasion but the pace, the acting, the sets, the direction and photography are all great. The second half of "What a Carve Up" has a lot going on to keep the viewers glued to their seats. Donald Pleasence is suitably sinister and right at home. The supporting cast is a marvellous one. Dennis Price, George Woodbridge, Michael Gough, Michael Gwynn, Esma Cannon and Shirley Eaton. This is a low key film in that there are no extras employed, just the essential cast and the film is based over a period of about two days. With comedies from this period, I sometimes expect the likes of Peter Sellers, Tony Hancock, Terry Thomas or Eric Sykes to appear. A minor classic of comedy with horror elements blended in.

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.

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.