The Comedy of Terrors

1963
Approved
1h 24m

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

7.2K

YOUR RATING

Peter Lorre, Vincent Price, Basil Rathbone, and Joyce Jameson in The Comedy of Terrors (1963)

Dishonest undertaker Waldo Trumbull and his sidekick Felix Gillie are creating their own customers when they cannot find willing ones.

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Dark Comedy Screwball Comedy Comedy Horror

Dishonest undertaker Waldo Trumbull and his sidekick Felix Gillie are creating their own customers when they cannot find willing ones.Dishonest undertaker Waldo Trumbull and his sidekick Felix Gillie are creating their own customers when they cannot find willing ones.Dishonest undertaker Waldo Trumbull and his sidekick Felix Gillie are creating their own customers when they cannot find willing ones.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.5/10

7.2K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Mrs. Phipps
(as Beverly Hills)

Basil Rathbone

Mr. Black

Orangey

Cleopatra
(as Rhubarb)

Alan DeWitt

Riggs
(as Alan De Witt)

Buddy Mason

Mr. Phipps

Douglas Williams

Doctor

Linda Rogers

Phipps' Maid

Luree Holmes

Black's Servant

Paul Barselou

Riggs
(uncredited)

Lovyss Bradley

Mourner
(uncredited)

Harvey Parry

Man Knocked Down on Street
(uncredited)

Charles Soldani

Mourner
(uncredited)

Fred Walton

Mourner
(uncredited)

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Boris Karloff was originally hired to play John F. Black, but it soon became clear that his severe arthritis would not permit him to undertake such a strenuous role. As such Karloff was switched to the part of Mr. Hinchley and Basil Rathbone was brought in to play Black.

Goofs
After his murder of Mr. Phipps, Trumbull waits inside the horse-drawn hearse. He is shown lying width-wise with his knees drawn up, with black or purple draperies completely covering the inside, while the top half of Gillie can be seen sitting in the driver's seat through a large square opening in the front of the hearse. However, in all other shots of the hearse, no draperies can be, seen through the frosted glass, the hearse itself is not wide enough to accommodate a person lying that way, and there is no window in the front behind the driver; the roof of the hearse reaches up only to the middle of the driver's back.

Quotes
Felix Gillie: And what if I tell them the truth and say it was all your idea in the first place?
Trumbull: Mr. Gillie... Felix... friend... I put it to you, who in your discerning estimation are the police most likely to believe, hm? Mr. W. Trumble, respected local citizen and entrepreneur of death, or Mr. Felix Gillie... wanted fugitive and confessed bank robber?
Felix Gillie: I never confessed!
[pause, then]
Felix Gillie: They just proved it.

Connections
Featured in Hollywood and the Stars: Monsters We've Known and Loved (1964)

User reviews94

Review

Featured review

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.