Busy Body (1967) UK Quad Poster

Although he had previously tried two comedies with Tom Poston, Zotz! (1962) and an unsuccessful colour remake of The Old Dark House (1963), William Castle returned to the thriller genre with Strait-Jacket (1964) and The Night Walker (1964) in the meantime. Working from a Donald E. Westlake story - who wrote the screenplay for The Stepfather (1987) and was Oscar nominated for The Grifters (1991) - Castle had the best cast of his entire career at his disposal – a sure sign that this maverick independent had finally hit the mainstream.

Rather than edge towards Hitchcock’s The Trouble with Harry (1955) style of black comedy, The Busy Body went for a It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) all out, anything goes madcap chase affair. Perhaps inevitable, in that both films starred Sid Caesar, although here, he played it far straighter for Castle. He’s an up and coming mobster, who, through a catalogue of errors, loses a corpse wearing a suit with a million dollars sewn into the lining. The hunt is on, and it’s the quality of the supporting roles that enliven the proceedings, turbo-charged by Vic Mizzy’s music, (the man responsible for The Addams Family theme).

Aka: Un millón en un cadaver

Artist: Frank Frazetta

Condition: FINE / VERY FINE - edge dinks / folds

Cast: Sid Caesar, Robert Ryan, Anne Baxter, Kay Medford, Charles McGraw, Arlene Golonka, Richard Pryor (debut), Dom DeLuise, Godfrey Cambridge