The Comedy of Terrors (1963)

Director:

Jacques Tourneur

Writer:

Richard Matheson (written by)

Release Date:

22 January 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Horror

Tagline:

Your favorite creeps...together again!

Plot:

An undertaker who hasn't had any 'customers' in a long time is forced the pay one year's back-rent....

Plot Keywords:

Undertaker | Poison | Carpenter | Crypt | Sword

Cast

Vincent Price	...	Trumbull
Peter Lorre	...	Felix Gillie
Boris Karloff	...	Hinchley
Joyce Jameson	...	Amaryllis
Joe E. Brown	...	Cemetery Keeper
Beverly Powers	...	Mrs. Phipps (as Beverly Hills)
Basil Rathbone	...	Mr. Black
Orangey	...	Cleopatra (as Rhubarb)
Alan DeWitt	...	Black's Servant
Buddy Mason	...	Mr. Phipps
Douglas Williams	...	Doctor
Linda Rogers	...	Phipps' Maid
Luree Holmes	...	Girl

Also Known As:

The Graveside Story

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | UK:12 (new rating) | Australia:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated | UK:15 | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Producers Studios - 5330 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

American International Pictures (AIP)

Trivia:

The final film of Joe E. Brown.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: 'Peter Lorre''s stunt double is quite obvious - he's clearly a younger man (with longer, darker hair), wearing a Lorre mask.

Quotes:

Felix Gillie: It's better in the dark.
Waldo Trumbull: For decapitation?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Elvira's Haunted Hills (2001)

One of my favorites

This film really shouldn't be taken seriously. It's a spoof of itself, through and through, and it looks like the cast had a good time with it.

My three favorites are here: Vincent Price plays the unscrupulous mortician, whose impatience brings his floundering business some new customers. Peter Lorre is his unwilling partner and Boris Karloff is the bumbling father in law. Pretty Joyce Jameson is here too, with a singing voice that could shatter nerve endings but which nonetheless weaves a siren spell over lovesick Lorre. Basil Rathbone is here too, playing his part of The Rich Jerk with an unrivaled prissy elegance. Vincent Price has never played a better slimy villain; his performance is truly hysterical. This is a very satisfying film; it's funny, it's spooky when it needs to be and it has a great happy ending where everyone who deserves comeuppance gets it and everyone else goes away happily ever after. I actually prefer this film to "The Raven" and would only name "The Masque of the Red Death" as my absolute favorite out of all the Corman/Price vehicles.