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The Comedy of Terrors

1963 film by Jacques Tourneur

The Comedy of Terrors is a 1963 film about two unscrupulous undertakers who create their own customers when they cannot find willing ones.

Directed by Jacques Tourneur. Written by Richard Matheson.
They put new life in the undertaking business!  (taglines)

Waldo Trumbull

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  • To... uh... paraphrase the venerable adage: we shall kill two birds, with one... pillow.

Amos Hinchley

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  • [giving eulogy for John F. Black] And so, my friends, we find ourselves gathered around the bier of Mrs... er... Mr... You Know Whom... this litter of sorrow, this cairn, this cromlech, this dread dochma, this gart, this mastaba, this sorrowing tope, this unhappy tumulus, this, this... what is the word?... this... er, coffin! Never could think of that word. Requiescat in Pace, Mr... um... Mr... the memory of your good deeds will not perish with your untimely sepulcher.

John F. Black, Esq.

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  • [repeated line upon waking up from his "death"] What place is THIS?
  • FELIX GILLIE---"Why did I ever escape from prison? It was so peaceful there !"

Dialogue

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John F. Black, Esq.: [as he's dying again] "Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more..."
Waldo Trumbull: I'll believe that when I see it.
Amaryllis Trumbull: If my father chose to spend his hard-earned money in the collection of curious objects...
Waldo Trumbull: [interrupting] He did more than collect curious objects, madam, he also fathered one!
John F. Black, Esq.: [fighting to get out of the coffin into which Trumbull and Gillie have put him and which they are fighting to keep closed] Let me out of here!
Waldo Trumbull: We most certainly will NOT let you out of here, sir!
John F. Black, Esq.: Confound you, sir!
Waldo Trumbull: Confound you too, sir! Will you KINDLY have the goodness to die?
John F. Black, Esq.: NEVER!
Felix Gillie: [he and Trumbull are sitting on the coffin, trying to keep it closed and referring to Mr. Black, who's inside the coffin] For a man in his condition, he has a lot of energy!
Waldo Trumbull: The stubborn old crackpot! I could have sworn that he was dead!
Felix Gillie: It's about time!
Waldo Trumbull: I've never had such an uncooperative customer in my life!
Felix Gillie: And what if I tell them the truth and say it was all your idea in the first place?
Waldo 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] They just proved it.
Waldo Trumbull: Get away from me!
Amaryllis Trumbull: Am I so repulsive?
Waldo Trumbull: That's the word, yes.
Amaryllis Trumbull: Couldn't you find it in your heart to love me, Waldo?
Waldo Trumbull: Get up, you're sitting on my money!
Amaryllis Trumbull: So you reject me?
Waldo Trumbull: As long as there's liquor in the house!
John F. Black, Esq.: [who has just awakened from a cataleptic trance in the mortuary basement] Mr. Trumbull... this man... what am I doing here?
Waldo Trumbull: [who has recovered from his shock] Well, you're here because you're dead, Mr. Black.
John F. Black, Esq.: The hell I am!
Waldo Trumbull: Oh yes, Mr. Black, quite dead. Everybody knows it... except apparently you.
John F. Black, Esq.: What jiggery-pockery is this?
Waldo Trumbull: Oh, not jiggery-pockery, Mr. Black. Hinchley and Trumbull, Funeral Parlor.
John F. Black, Esq.: [realizing what Trumbull means] You wouldn't dare!
Waldo Trumbull: Have we a choice, Mr. Black?
Waldo Trumbull: Allow me, Madam, in this moment of your most desolate bereavement to lift from your sorrow-laden shoulders the burdens and tasks of exequiem sepulcher.
Mrs. Phipps: [confused] What?
Waldo Trumbull': I'll bury him for you.

Taglines

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  • Your favorite creeps...together again!
  • Every shroud has a silver lining!
  • Where the GHOULS are...is where the FUN is!
  • They put new life in the undertaking business!
  • A grave case of greed gone too far!
  • A macabre romp featuring 4 great names from the Horror Hall of Fame!

Cast

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