Sh! The Octopus (1937)

Starring Hugh Herbert, Allen Jenkins, Marcia Ralston, John Eldredge, George Rosener
Directed by William McGann
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A pair of bumbling detectives try to solve a mysterious murder at a lighthouse, which may be the work of "The Octopus," a criminal boss with real tentacles.  

Warner Brothers presents a very silly mystery-comedy, with several actors practicing their comedy shtick, most notably Herbert with an avalanche of puns and Jenkins playing his usual dimwitted persona.  Just when you think you can start to take the mystery plot seriously, some silly sight gag is unleashed on the audience, as when the long tentacles of an octopus grab one of the characters or Herbert disassembles a ladder trying to climb down it.  It's not a great comedy, but it is entertaining, and the team of Herbert and Jenkins are amusing enough.

Horror Island (1941)

Starring Dick Foran, Leo Carrillo, Peggy Moran, Fuzzy Knight, John Eldredge
Directed by George Waggner
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A huckster tries to lure thrillseekers to a phony haunted castle on an island he owns, but the lure of a hidden treasure on the island also brings a mysterious phantom there.

A fun little B-movie mystery from Universal Pictures, this picture reunites Dick Foran and Peggy Moran, the stars of The Mummy's Hand, and benefits from their charming screen chemistry.  There's also a pleasant mixture of comedy and thrills in the offing, a nice assemblage of music cues from the Universal library, and a colorful supporting cast with standouts in Carrillo as a boisterous peg-legged sailor, and the sinister-voiced Foy Van Dolsen as The Phantom.  I've always felt the comic mysteries Universal put out in the forties were second to none, and this one's no exception.