Invisible Ghost (1941)

User Rating:

4.7/10   

Director:

Joseph H. Lewis

Writers:

Al Martin (writer)
Helen Martin (writer)

Release Date:

25 April 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Horror

Tagline:

THE PHANTOM KILLER STRIKES! Only a terrified woman knows the secret of this ghostly murderer...who strikes in the night and leaves no clues---but his victims!

Plot:

The town's leading citizen becomes a homocidal maniac after his wife deserts him. |

Plot Keywords:

Fridge | Servant | Cigar | Portrait | Gardener

Cast

Bela Lugosi	...	Charles Kessler
Polly Ann Young	...	Virginia Kessler
John McGuire	...	Ralph Dickson / Paul Dickson
Clarence Muse	...	Evans the Butler
Terry Walker	...	Cecile Mannix
Betty Compson	...	Mrs. Kessler
Ernie Adams	...	Jules Mason
George Pembroke	...	Police Lieutenant Williams
Ottola Nesmith	...	Mrs. Mason (as Ollola Nesmith)
Fred Kelsey	...	Detective Ryan
Jack Mulhall	...	Detective Tim

Also Known As:

Murder by the Stars (USA) (working title)
Phantom Monster (USA) (working title)
The Phantom Killer (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

64 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | UK:PG (DVD rating) | USA:Approved (PCA #7243)

Company:

Banner Productions

Trivia:

First of the nine movies interpreted by Bela Lugosi for Sam Katzman at Monogram Pictures.

Quotes:

Charles Kessler: What's the matter with Miss Mannix?
Evans the Butler: I thought she was doing her exercises, but she's dead.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Deanimated (2002)

A diamond in the (very) rough

Through the courtesy of cheap DVDs I (like many others) can finally catch up on a lot of old horror movie that no longer play on TV. It's a special delight to watch some of the ultra cheap second features from the 1930s and 40s, and what I'm discovering is that they have a lot more legitimate entertainment value than I would have suspected. Back before there was cable with hundreds of channels to chose from twenty four hours a day a night at the movies was big entertainment, and I can imagine that sitting in a local movie house with all your friends watching a creaky old Monogram melodrama must have been a lot of fun. And some of them are still a lot of fun. INVISIBLE GHOST is a case in point. It had a stylish and inventive director (Joseph Lewis) doing his best with limited resources, an excellent cast, and even production values which must have seemed much better when the film was released because (and this will shock a lot of younger viewers) TIMES CHANGE! Much that seems "cheesy" (how I hate that word!) in hindsight is merely a reflection of the fact that half a century ago THINGS WERE DIFFERENT!

Sorry.

About the cast: Lugosi was fun, leading man/men John McGuire was capable and had a good look, Polly Ann Young looked strikingly contemporary with her lean body and angular features, Betty Compson as Lugosi's wife was genuinely creepy, and Clarence Muse was a breath of fresh air among the stereotypes of the day. I particularly liked his exchange with Ryan the cop who arrogantly demands to know where he was on the night of January 20th (or something like that). Muse merely pauses a moment then asks "Have you had your coffee yet?", effectively putting the cop in his place with a minimum of fuss or show.

(By the way, it was tough to take the actor playing Ryan (Fred Kelsey) seriously, since I'd recognized him from an identical part in a Three Stooges short.)