What a Carve Up! (film)
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| What a Carve Up! | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Pat Jackson |
| Written by | Ray Cooney Tony Hilton |
| Produced by | Robert S. Baker Monty Berman |
| Starring | Sid James Kenneth Connor |
| Cinematography | Monty Berman |
| Edited by | Gordon Pilkington |
| Music by | Muir Mathieson |
Production company | New World Films Ltd. |
| Distributed by | Regal Films International (UK) Embassy Pictures (US) |
Release date | 15 September 1961 (UK) |
Running time | 87 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
What a Carve Up! is a 1961 British comedy horror film directed by Pat Jackson. It was released in the United States in 1962 as No Place Like Homicide. The film was loosely based on the novel The Ghoul by Frank King. A previous version titled The Ghoul was filmed in 1933 by Gaumont-British Pictures.
Plot
The relatives of Uncle Gabriel are summoned to an old country house in the middle of moorlands in Yorkshire to hear the reading of his will. They all stay in the mansion overnight, and one by one the guests are murdered. The remaining guests must solve the mystery as to who is committing these murders before they too are killed.
Characters
- Sid James as Syd Butler who acts as Ernest's legal advisor
- Kenneth Connor as Ernest Broughton. He is Syd's best friend and is attracted to Miss Dixon
- Shirley Eaton as Linda Dixon, a pretty nurse who likes Ernie
- Dennis Price as Guy Broughton. He is Ernie's cousin and a heavy drinker
- Donald Pleasence as Everett Sloane, the zombie-like solicitor
- Michael Gough as Fisk, a creepy butler
- Esma Cannon as Emily Broughton, a mad lady who believes the First World War is still on
- Valerie Taylor as Janet Broughton, Guy's grasping and hated sister
- Michael Gwynn as Malcolm Broughton, a piano player who says everyone is "Quite mad"
- George Woodbridge as Dr Edward Broughton who is the father of Janet and Guy
- Philip O'Flynn as Gabriel Broughton, the deceased owner of Blackshaw Towers
- Arkwright, a police inspector who arrives after most of the household have been murdered
- Frederick Piper as the hearse driver
- Timothy Bateson as the porter
- Adam Faith in an uncredited role as himself
Reception
"At one point in No Place Like Homicide, a giggling maniac threatens to feed the rest of the cast to a pack of starving mongrels. 'Oh, blimey', smirks one of the victims, 'we're going to the dogs'. The rest of the humour in this ostensible British farce is on a similar level. The fact that a film of this degree of vulgarity and ineptitude should have managed a week's booking at neighbourhood theatres throughout Manhattan demonstrates just how acute the motion picture product shortage really is." - New York Times, 13 September 1962.
The film was used extensively within Jonathan Coe's satirical novel What a Carve Up!. The book's protagonist, Michael Owen, becomes obsessed with the film after first watching it as a young boy. Additionally, the last part of the book follows the plot of the film.
DVD release
What a Carve Up! was released on DVD in the UK on 11 August 2008.
