The Ghost Breakers (1940)

Director:

George Marshall

Writers:

Walter DeLeon (screen play)
Paul Dickey (based on a play by) ...
(more)

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 | Treasure

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 Mederos / Francisco Mederos
Tom Dugan	...	Raspy Kelly
Paul Fix	...	Frenchy Duval
Lloyd Corrigan	...	Martin
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
James Blaine	...	Police Sergeant (uncredited)
David Durand	...	Bellhop (uncredited)
Jack Edwards	...	Ship Bellboy (uncredited)
Robert Elliott	...	Lieutenant Murray (uncredited)
James Flavin	...	Hotel Porter (uncredited)
Jack Hatfield	...	Elevator Boy (uncredited)
Grace Hayle	...	Screaming Woman (uncredited)
Douglas Kennedy	...	Intern (uncredited)
Francisco Marán	...	Headwaiter (uncredited)
Dolores Moran	...	Las Palmas Patron (uncredited)
Paul Newlan	...	Baggage Handler (uncredited)
Jack Norton	...	Drunk (uncredited)
Tom Quinn	...	Man in Hotel Hallway (uncredited)
Robert Ryan	...	Intern (uncredited)
Larry Steers	...	Man in Hotel Hallway (uncredited)
Kay Stewart	...	Telephone Girl (uncredited)
Leonard Sues	...	Newsboy (uncredited)
Brick Sullivan	...	Policeman at Boat Dock (uncredited)
Blanca Vischer	...	Dolores - Cuban Girl (uncredited)
Emmett Vogan	...	Radio Announcer (uncredited)
Max Wagner	...	Ship Porter (uncredited)

Directed by
George Marshall

Writing credits
Walter DeLeon		(screen play)
Paul Dickey		(based on a play by) and
Charles W. Goddard		(based on a play by)

Produced by
Arthur Hornblow Jr.	....	producer
William LeBaron	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Ernst Toch
Victor Young		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Charles Lang		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Ellsworth Hoagland		(edited by)

Art Direction by
Hans Dreier
Robert Usher

Costume Design by
Edith Head		(costumes)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Mel Epstein	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
A.E. Freudeman	....	interior decorator

Sound Department
Harold Lewis	....	sound recordist
Richard Olson	....	sound recordist

Visual Effects by
Farciot Edouart	....	process photography

Camera and Electrical Department
Andrew J. Durkus	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Bill Heckler	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Music Department
Andrea Setaro	....	musical advisor

Production Companies

• Paramount Pictures (as A Paramount Picture)

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1940) (USA) (theatrical)
• MCA/Universal Home Video ((199?)) (USA) (VHS)
• MCA/Universal Pictures (1958) (USA) (TV)
• Universal Studios Home Entertainment (2010) (USA) (DVD) (Bob Hope: Thanks for the Memories Collection)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

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

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The play, "The Ghost Breaker," by Paul Dickey and Charles W. Goddard, was filmed twice as a silent film, in 1914 (directed by Cecil B. DeMille), and in 1922. Both silent versions are considered lost. The play was filmed a final time as Scared Stiff (1953), starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Bob Hope made a cameo appearance in the film.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Geoff Montgomery knocks on the door to Mary Carter's hotel room, he's wearing his hat but when she opens the door he has it in his hand even though there hasn't been sufficient time after the cut take for him to have removed it.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America: Would Ya Hit a Guy with Glasses?: Nerds, Jerks & Oddballs (#1.1)" (2009)

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.