The Comedy of Terrors

This film is the comic version of "The Bodysnatcher" or "Mania". It's Burke and Hare with a sense of humor.

Vincent Price actually made quite a number of film comedies, such as "Champagne for Caesar". He is actually quite good in using his normal menace and meanness for comic affect. He is Mr. Trumbull, the junior partner (but actually the active partner) of a decaying firm of undertakers. Trumbull has no single redeemable characteristic - he's bossy to his father-in-law partner (Karloff), he's bossy to his wife, he mistreats and bullies Lorre (his employee), and he kills his subjects. Still some of his problems are sympathetic ones - his wife Amarylis sings at the funerals (listen to her warble "He is but sleeping" at Rathbone's funeral service - Price looks beatific as she sings, and when asked why he explains he hopes her vocal chords will snap). The number of good one liners in this film (spread among the leads) is nice. Karloff being unable to deliver a coherent funeral address, because he can't recall who is being buried. Rathbone dying, again and again, reciting Macbeth. Joe E. Brown wishing the corpses in his cemetery a pleasant night's sleep. And Lorre constantly making comments regarding his unpleasant boss. One of the best is when, at Rathbone's funeral, Price is enjoying the sight of the large amount of money he's being paid for the funeral of Rathbone (whom he hated as a tightwad and landlord). Lorre, noting the arrival of most of the mourners, goes inside to tell Price, who basically tells him they can just wait. Lorre turns around and leaves, stating quite audibly, "Ungrateful employer." The line is delivered like it comes from some left wing play of the turn of the 20th Century.

It is a funny little movie, and well worth watching.

I just couldn't resist a film that boasts Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre all together, all in one film! Their chemistry is amazing, and they all come off as seasoned actors who are just having a really good time. Price and Lorre are the perfect duo of undertakers in search of their next job. Price consistently insults, threatens and demeans Lorre (and everyone else-he is so delightfully despicable!)

Peter Lorre, who I consider to be a neglected comic genius in his own right, plays the perfect bumbling and lovable assistant. The scenes between him and Joyce Jameson (an argument for hearing protectors if ever there was one) are beautiful and absurd in their ingenuousness, as if the 60 year old Peter Lorre was but a smitten schoolboy mooning over a damsel.

The scenes at the dinner table are perfect in their comic timing, the decrepit Boris Karloff sitting peacefully unaware of Vincent Price's palpable loathing of him and his daughter, occasionally coming out with gems like "The Egyptians used to pull the brains out through the nose with a hook!" before returning to drinking his milk in a charming and doddering manner.

Basil Rathbone, however, is the hammy fist of the production, so to speak. He plays the inflexible and imperious landlord who owns the establishment out of which the funeral home of Hinchley and Trumbull operates, and he plays it up to the hilt, using every ounce of overacting he saved up from his Shakespearian stage days to render Macbeth like it has never been heard before! This is perhaps Basil Rathbone's finest hour, and you must watch the film to see why. Trust me on this one!

What a great movie! Much despised for years, this film has only recently been acknowledged for the hilarious classic that it is. The film is very handsome, with great color work by Floyd Crosby, and the script is very, very amusing -- perfectly executed by the perfect cast. Les Baxter's maniacal score is a real delight, accentuating every mad moment.

I have just seen the film - It's good to see again Price, Karloff, Big Mouth Joe E. Brown, Rathbone,Lorre. etc.. The plot may not be exceedingly good but a guy like me who saw them in my early youth cannot help but feel refreshed seeing them again. Just to see them is ample reward. Peter Lorre of all people made me remember the striking beauty of Joan Fontaine in the Constant Nymph which I saw back in 1951! And Casablanca -- ah! I am perhaps too romantic to spend time detecting evident errors in stunts as has my British predecessor in commenting. I just love cinema for the emotions a movie elicits, or the memories it brings back, no matter the technical aspects in it. Certainly, a cast as this had to be in a film that revolved around cemeteries, buried alive people (remember Price in the Fall of the House of Usher..?) I could just continue writing a lot...

French born Jacques Tourneur, is the director behind stylish horror-classics like "Cat People", "I walked with a zombie" and "Night of the demon"! He made "The comedy of terrors" 20 years after "Cat People", and shows a director with great sense of comedic timing! The cast is wonderful, with a devilishly funny Vincent Price, in maybe a career best, as the drunken scrupulous undertaker! Boris Karlof is great fun as his aging father in law, and Peter Lorre equally funny as Prices partner! Also starring is the wonderful Basil Rathbone as the rich landlord who never dies, and Joyce Jameson as the undertakers neglected wife.

This is maybe the greatest gothic comedy ever! Perfect casting, directing, cinematogrophy and editing! A great classic, and a must see!!!