Jack Haley

Insurance salesman Albert Tuttle arrives at the Rutherford mansion to sell a policy — only to find his prospect already dead, the heirs locked in by a will that won't be read until the body is entombed, and the corpse itself refusing to stay put. Jack Haley plays the jittery Tuttle, with Bela Lugosi in a red-herring role as the sinister butler, plus secret passages and a disappearing body. A Pine-Thomas production for Paramount, directed by Frank McDonald. It is in the public domain after its copyright was not renewed.

Comedy · Horror · Mystery

Two rival radio producers — small-town schemer Pinky Wilson and network man John Guedel — chase the same sponsor and the same idea: a show built around ordinary people doing ridiculous things. Jack Haley, Helen Walker, Rudy Vallee, and Ozzie Nelson star in this Paramount musical comedy spun off from Art Linkletter's hit radio program, directed by Sam White. It's an amiable peek at the era when radio gimmicks ruled the airwaves. The film is in the public domain after its copyright was not renewed.

Comedy · Music

Larry Elliot, a timid chess columnist who covers murders for a newspaper, flees to Grape City to escape a gangster's threats — only to land in a haunted-house mystery involving a stolen jade chess set, a missing corpse, and a fortune hidden in a creepy mansion. Jack Haley, the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz, plays the jittery reporter alongside Ann Savage and Barton MacLane. A Pine-Thomas production for Paramount, also released as Treasure of Fear. The film entered the public domain through non-renewal.

Comedy · Mystery · Horror