Arnold (1973)

Upon his death, Arnold marries his lover, Karen, in spite of his widow, and leaves deathtraps accompanied by audiotapes and his preserved and articulate corpse for those who cared only for his money.

Director:

Georg Fenady

Writers:

Jameson Brewer, John Fenton Murray

Stars:

Stella Stevens, Roddy McDowall, Elsa Lanchester

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Stella Stevens	...	Karen
Roddy McDowall	...	Robert
Elsa Lanchester	...	Hester
Shani Wallis	...	Lady Jocelyn Dwellyn
Farley Granger	...	Evan Lyons
Victor Buono	...	Minister
John McGiver	...	Governor
Bernard Fox	...	Constable Hooke
Patric Knowles	...	Douglas Whitehead
Jamie Farr	...	Dybbi
Norman Stuart	...	Lord Arnold Dwellyn
Ben Wright	...	Jonesy
Wanda Bailey	...	Flo
Steven Marlo	...	1st Dart Player
Leslie Thompson	...	2nd Dart Player

Storyline

Karen Llewelyn is the new gold-digging bride of a corpse. She marries Arnold at his funeral and continues to get his money as long as she stays by his coffin. Meanwhile, various oddball relatives after Arnold's wealth are being killed in a creative variety of ways.

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Plot Keywords:

corpse | widow | playboy | cult film | golddigger | 

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Taglines:

Arnold is dead. And a newlywed. Don't miss his honeymoon!

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 November 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

Family Plot

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bing Crosby Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Georg Fenady and his producer brother Andrew J. Fenady shot this film back-to-back with "Terror in the Wax Museum," with some of the same actors (Elsa Lanchester, Patric Knowles, Shani Wallis, Steven Marlo, Ben Wright,and Leslie Thompson).

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Connections

Featured in Dusk to Dawn Drive-In Trash-o-Rama Show Vol. 2 (1996)

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Soundtracks

"Arnold"
Sung by Shani Wallis
Lyrics by Andrew J. Fenady
Music by George Duning

User Reviews

Nasty!

This is a pretty black little film, and I actually really like it. It makes you wonder how they got the money to put it together and got all the celebrities to be in it. Roddy McDowell and Stella Stevens were fresh off of "Poseidon Adventure." Was this a good career move? Who cares? They were both actors who were willing to work, even if it meant doing dumb movies.

Stella Stevens plays a woman carrying out the wishes of her lover, that she marry him after he is dead. That's how the movie STARTS, and it keeps going from there! What follows is a combination of campy 70's sitcom humor, a "And Then There Were None"-style "whodunnit" mystery and some grisly, inventive death scenes.

The pace is brisk as it moves to a surprise ending that is both satisfying and pretty disturbing for a "comedy." I respect a film that is willing to pretend to be all light and funny, then end so hatefully! The theme of this film is that everyone is money-grubbing, selfish and weak. Nasty, black-hearted, TRULY WEIRD (the opening song just kills me) and I love it! And Stella Stevens is gorgeous and amazing, as always.