Spook Busters (1946)

The Bowery Boys--Slip, Sach, Bobby, Whitey & Chuck--start their own exterminating service, and get a job which takes them to a spooky old abandoned mansion in the middle of the night. ... See full summary »

Director:

William Beaudine

Writers:

Edmond Seward (original screenplay), Tim Ryan (original screenplay)

Stars:

Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Douglass Dumbrille

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Leo Gorcey	...	Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
Huntz Hall	...	Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones
Douglass Dumbrille	...	Dr. Coslow
Bobby Jordan	...	Bobby
Gabriel Dell	...	Gabe 'Gabie' Moreno
William 'Billy' Benedict	...	Whitey (as Billy Benedict)
David Gorcey	...	Chuck
Tanis Chandler	...	Mignon Moreno
Maurice Cass	...	Dr. Bender
Vera Lewis	...	Mrs. Grimm
Charles Middleton	...	Mr. Stiles
Chester Clute	...	Brown
Richard Alexander	...	Ivan
Bernard Gorcey	...	Louis Xavier 'Louie' Dumbrowski
Charles Millsfield	...	Dean Pettyboff

Storyline

The Bowery Boys--Slip, Sach, Bobby, Whitey & Chuck--start their own exterminating service, and get a job which takes them to a spooky old abandoned mansion in the middle of the night. Meeting up with pal Gabe and his new French bride, the boys are tormented by mad scientists who try to convince them the place is haunted and then kidnap Sach in order to place his brain inside a gorilla.

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Plot Keywords:

bride | french | mad scientist | gorilla | pest control | 

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Taglines:

The Fun's Getting FEAROCIOUS! MAD DOCTORS! HAUNTED HOUSES! GORILLAS!

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Genres:

Comedy | Mystery

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

French English

Release Date:

24 August 1946 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ghost Busters

Company Credits

Production Co:

Monogram Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

68 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The fourth of forty-eight Bowery Boys movies.

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Goofs

After Satch lights two candles, his hand shakes so bad it puts the match out. In the very next shot, there are three candles lit.

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Quotes

Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney: [seeing Gaby's French wife] Viva la-Viva la-Viva la French!
Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones: Hubba-hubba-hubba.
Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney: That's what I just said.

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Connections

Followed by Fighting Fools (1949)

User Reviews

Brain Exchange

Although the name of the film might give you the idea that it was the ancestor of the immensely successful Ghostbuster films of the Eighties, Spook Busters has the Bowery Boys get into the ghost business quite by accident.

Not that there are any real ghosts in Spook Busters, but the people where newly graduated exterminator Leo Gorcey has been hired to rid the place of six legged pests by the rental agent are keeping up the rumors it's a haunted house because of the experiments they're conducting. But when chief scientist Douglass Dumbrille takes one look at Huntz Hall, he decides Hall would be a grand subject for his latest experiment. What is that you say, why merely to exchange Hall's brain for that of a gorilla's and vice versa. Just the sort of stuff that movie mad scientists go around doing, though one does have to ask why.

Douglass Dumbrille who was one of film's best villains at both a serious and a comic one. He's best known for being the shyster lawyer Mr. Cedar in Mr. Deeds Goes To Town. But in a comic vein we've seen him roll down a department store floor after The Marx Brothers in The Big Store and in an Indian suit after Lou Costello in Ride 'Em Cowboy. Dumbrille really enjoyed the comic villain roles and he looks like he's having an equally good time with the Bowery Boys as a mad scientist.

You can't expect too much from Monogram Pictures, but Spook Busters is a good example of the Bowery Boys and their shtick.