One Body Too Many (1944)

by Mark Murton and Linda Kay

Directed by: Frank McDonald

Cat Out Of The Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film.

Synopsis: Timid insurance salesman Albert Tuttle (Jack Haley) arrives at the estate of Cyrus J. Rutherford to sell the millionaire some life insurance. Instead he finds that Rutherford is already dead and his heirs have gathered at the mansion to hear the reading of the will. With one of the relatives determined to reverse the will, Tuttle finds himself drawn into a world of secret passages, strange portraits and a vanishing corpse.

Cat Burglars (Scene Stealers): Tuttle, having taken a bath, goes to change and while hanging his clothes in the closet he accidentally discovers a secret passage. Despite being dressed only in a towel he starts to explore and finds hidden entrances to all the guest rooms. Eventually he exits one of the rooms, entering the corridor, but the towel gets trapped in the shut door so he is forced to hide in a closet, climbing into a laundry basket to conceal his nakedness. Still hidden inside the basket he exits the closet and starts to “walk” the basket down the corridor (only possible if the basket has no bottom!) at the same time as Jim Davis (Lyle Talbot) and Kenneth Hopkins (Lucien Littlefield) drunkenly sway down the corridor. During all of this a black cat is sitting on a table at the bottom right of the frame.

One Body Too Many - black cat sitting on table in hallway by laundry basket with Jim Lyle Talbot and Kenneth Lucien Littlefield

As the two men move off, Tuttle lifts the lid of the basket to check if the coast is clear and while the lid is open the black cat jumps inside.

One Body Too Many - black cat jumping into laundry basket

One Body Too Many - black cat jumping into laundry basket with Tuttle Jack Haley animated gif

The butler and the housemaid find the basket in the corridor and move it into the nearest room and lock the door. A scream is soon heard from inside the room and everyone rushes in to find Mona Rutherford (Dorothy Granger) claiming someone is in the basket. Mona’s husband Henry (Douglas Fowley) pulls a gun and threatens to shoot if the occupant doesn’t show themselves, at which point Tuttle stands, still naked, holding an armful of black kittens. Of course he finds this predicament rather difficult to explain.

One Body Too Many - Tuttle Jack Haley naked in laundry basket with armful of black kittens surrounded by numerous people

In the close up shot the kittens are much older than the ones used in the wide shot (the latter kittens are so small their eyes don’t even look open yet!)