What a Carve Up

What a Carve Up (publicity title: What a Carve Up!) is a 1961 British comedy horror film produced by Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman (Blood of the Vampire, Jack the Ripper, The Flesh and the Fiends) and directed by Pat Jackson. The film was loosely based on the novel The Ghoul by Frank King.

The film was used extensively within Jonathan Coe‘s satirical 1994 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.

Sidney James as Sid Butler who acts as Ernest’s legal advisor
Kenneth Connor as Ernest Broughton. He is Sid’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
Esma Cannon as Emily Broughton, a mad lady who believes World War I 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
Michael Gough as Fisk, a creepy butler
Frederick Piper as the hearse driver
Timothy Bateson as the porter
Adam Faith in an uncredited role as himself

Plot:

The relatives of Uncle Gabriel are summoned to an old country house on the Yorkshire Moors 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…

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Reviews:

“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 humor 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 neighborhood theatres throughout Manhattan demonstrates just how acute the motion picture product shortage really is.” The New York Times, 13 September 1962.

“Fluff and nonsense, of course, but competently acted and directed. With appeal for fans of Carry On Screaming! (and Jonathan Coe’s 1994 novel What a Carve Up!).” Time Out

” … it’s amusing nonsense with more than a few nice touches — amidst a lot of very broad humor that will doubtless be a matter of taste. You wouldn’t want a steady diet of this sort of thing, but it’s fun on occasion.” Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress

“The sequence with James and Connor in bed together (quite innocently) is very funny and makes one realise how much times have changed. A supporting cast of familiar faces, including a pre-Goldfinger Shirley Eaton, also make this worth a look. British pop singer Adam Faith makes a cameo appearance as Eaton’s boyfriend.” Gary A. Smith, Uneasy Dreams: The Golden Age of British Horror Films, 1956 – 1976 (McFarland, 2000)