The Ghost Breakers (1940)

Director:

George Marshall

Writers:

Paul Dickey (play) and
Charles W. Goddard (play) ...

Release Date:

21 June 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Horror

Tagline:

The two stars of "The Cat and the Canary" find love and laughter in a haunted house!

Plot:

A radio broadcaster, his quaking manservant and an heiress investigate the mystery of a haunted castle in Cuba.

Plot Keywords:

Castle | Island | Cuba | Ghost | Zombie

Cast

Bob Hope	...	Larry Lawrence
Paulette Goddard	...	Mary Carter
Richard Carlson	...	Geoff Montgomery
Paul Lukas	...	Parada
Willie Best	...	Alex
Pedro de Cordoba	...	Havez (as Pedro De Cordoba)
Virginia Brissac	...	Mother Zombie
Noble Johnson	...	The Zombie
Anthony Quinn	...	Ramon Mederes / Francisco Mederes
Tom Dugan	...	Raspy Kelly
Paul Fix	...	Frenchy Duval
Lloyd Corrigan	...	Martin

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #6126) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | UK:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Robert Ryan makes his screen debut.

Goofs:

Continuity: A ghost is seen walking in the foyer where Lawrence finds his body is entombed. Later, Lawrence "discovers" the same ghost's body in the crypt.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Mary Carter: Hello, operator? Operator? Operator, the lights in my room. What? The lightning?

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Svengoolie: The Ghost Breakers" (1999)

Soundtrack:

Thanks for the Memory

Willie Best at his best

Bob Hope's early movies were rare gems to be watched over and over. Even the Road pictures with Bing are still fun. Too many of today's viewers only remember Bob's turkeys such as "A Global Affair," "I'll Take Sweden," and "Boy, Did I Get A Wrong Number." These viewers would be surprised to see a fresh young comic that could quip with the best of them. Another able funny man Willie Best, who never got his due because of the racial stereotyping rampant in Hollywood at the time, makes a better sparring partner for Bob than anyone else including Bing Crosby, although Crosby and Hope were also a winning combination with plenty of chemistry between them. The inspired teaming of Hope and Best reminds one of the later inspired teaming of Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder.

In "The Ghost Breakers" Bob Hope and Willie Best are together through much of the picture. So each is able to strut his stuff. Many of the asides and lines are as fresh and humorous today as in 1940. For example, Geoff Montgomery (Richard Carlson) tells Larry Lawrence (Bob Hope) that A zombie has no will of his own. You see them sometimes walking around blindly with dead eyes, following orders, not knowing what they do, not caring. Hope replies, "You mean like Democrats." Would many Americans find that amusing today? I think so. As for Best and Hope. Hope tells Best that if he sees two ghosts running down the stairs, "Let the first one by because that one will be me." Best retorts, "If you see another one pass you,let him go because that one will be me." And the fun continues at a scatter gun pace.

An added attraction is the wonderful and beautiful Paulette Goddard. She and Hope make a charming couple. Yes, when he was young, Bob was considered a romantic leading man to some extent. Never taking himself too seriously Hope would later use this earlier image as a continual joke.

The story based on a Paul Dickey play is also a good one. Goddard inherits a supposedly haunted plantation in Cuba. Bob, who thinks he committed a murder, accidentally ends up aboard ship with her. Are the ghosts real or is someone trying to scare her away from her inheritance? If so, who? Watch and see. Getting there is a lot of fun, combined with thrills and chills aplenty along the way.