Going beyond the bounds of decency-as-was, Hitchcock took his trademark black humour and shoved it into the foreground, with this whimsical tale of a body discovered in the woods, and various folk’s reactions to it. It was decried as tasteless in its day, but its main drawback – as with so much ‘dark’ comedy – is the sheer plodding dullness of the thing, especially when compared to Hitch’s suspense-chafing best. Arsenic and Old Lace it ain’t. It’s barely even Weekend at Bernie’s II.
