Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Overlooked Movies -- Hold that Ghost

When I saw this movie in the theater on one of its re-releases in the late '40s, I thought it was scary and hilarious.  Of course I was 7 or 8, so you have take that into account.

Bud and Lou are two hapless service station (Google it, whippersnappers) attendants, who through an odd set of circumstances inherit the estate of a notorious gangster.  It includes an old  rural hotel where they eventually find themselves stranded with a scientist, a radio actress, a lovely waitress, and a gangster on a dark and stormy night.  After that, nothing much that happens makes any sense at all.  I'm sure I didn't care when I was 7 or 8 and don't much care now.  Some of it still strikes me as funny, though some of Bud and Lou's routines have worn a little thin.  None of it is scary, of course, but I still prefer it to the blood and gore of many current fright films.

The framing device uses nightclub settings to feature Ted Lewis and the Andrews Sisters.  Is everybody happy?  Happy enough to smile if not to laugh.  I like Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein better for laughs and scares.  Is this movie even cornier than Buck Privates?  Possibly.  Watch it and decide for yourself.

3 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

Yes, FRANKENSTEIN is by far the best.

RonKo said...

The first movie I can recall seeing was Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy. This would have been in the mid-late 50s. It terrified me.

Jeff Meyerson said...

Well, it's no THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES but it is entertaining enough for fans.