What a Carve Up!

Ring Madame Tussauds and ask if anyone is missing.

When Uncle Gabriel dies, all his relatives are summoned to an old country mansion in the middle of nowhere to hear the reading of his will. Once there, tho, somebody starts murdering them one by one and the remaining group must solve the mystery or expect not to see the night out.

What a Carve Up! is adapted from Frank King's novel The Ghoul and stars Sid James, Kenneth Connor, Donald Pleasence, Shirley Eaton, Dennis Price, Esma Cannon and Michael Gough. Basically this fine and amusing film is a sort of British version of genre pieces like Scared Stiff, The Cat And The Canary and The Ghostbreakers, or a spoof of its source material if you like. All the elements are in place, a bunch ...

This is one of the few films that cast Kenneth Connor in a leading role, and by and large, he does an half decent job with this rather amusing, if derivative, comedy. When his uncle dies, he is invited to visit his stately pile to discuss an inheritance. He takes his mate, "Syd" (Sidney James) on his trip, but on arrival discovers that there are quite a few potential heirs to the fortune... It develops a little like a comedic "Ten Little Indians" (1965) - which also featured the imposing Shirley Eaton - only it has absolutely no menace at all, just a series of mildly comic slapstick scenarios, some secret passages and a distinctly dodgy chandelier. A good, reliable, cast of British comedy actors help out - Michael Gough is great as butler "...