Let's Kill Uncle (1966), dir. William Castle, William Castle Productions
Moving into William Castle's efforts, and yeah, this might be the darkest comedy I've reviewed.
Russel Harrison and his wife are dead. Tragic to be sure, but what about the children? Well, child at any rate. Barnaby (Pat Cardi) is now heir to five million dollars but the actual handling of the estate will be handled by his only other relative, his uncle: Major Kevin Harrison (Nigel Green).
Yes, major. Kevin was a commando during the war and literally wrote the book on killing enemy personal. He loves his nephew of course...but five million bucks is five million bucks. Private estates have quite the upkeep you know.
Barnaby is in the dark about that last part, however; on the boat ride over he befriends Chrissie (Mary Badham), the only other kid on the island. Barnaby is also quite the practical joker. He's made that quite clear to everyone on the island that by the point his uncle wakes him up before dawn, no one will believe him.
But what does dear old Uncle Kevin want? Why, to have an adventure, of course! Kevin does an old trick he learned during the war and soon Barnaby is walking zombie like towards the edge of the closet cliff.
Justine (Linda Lawson), the island's only other inhabitant, spots Barnaby and manages to snap him awake. Barnaby tries to pass it off as a case of sleepwalking but Kevin is clear. Nope, he was trying to kill him. He sets down some ground rules, just to make things fair. The house is safe, and no bullets, knives, or piano wire. The local constabulary aren't total fools after all.
Barnaby is at his wit's end when Chrissie comes up with a brilliant idea. Why not play Uncle Kevin's game? So, in one corner a battle honed commando with a home front advantage and in the other two preteens.
Ending is a bit weak but overall pretty good. Castle doesn't act as host this time out but the story is grim enough that he doesn't need to.
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