The Ghost Breakers
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Movie Reviews of The Ghost Breakers
Movie Review: The ultimate "Old Dark House" movie!
Summary: 5 Stars
Picture this scene (mild spoilers): Shapely Paulette Goddard, `working girl, honest but tough', is swimming ashore from the hired boat that ferried her from mainland Cuba to the island she has inherited from a Cuban relative. The ferryman will not land on the island after nightfall because it is supposedly haunted by ghosts and zombies. It is midnight, there is fog on the water and the moon is out. Paulette carries afloat a minuscule pyramid-shaped celluloid tote bag, which contains a dressing gown and a pair of sandals, which is the sum total of her wardrobe in the remainder of the film. Her swimming cap, Hollywood-style, has left her long brown curls miraculously dry, fluffy and manageable. She makes her way through the ferns of the parrot-infested jungle and into the haunted castle's moonlit cathedral-like main hall. She calls for Larry (Bob Hope), who is supposed to meet her there. No one answers but the echo of her own voice. Suddenly overcome by the strangeness, loneliness and eeriness of her situation and surroundings, she starts hearing her own inner voice, whispering at first and then shouting more and more urgently: `Get out... Get out... before it's too late!' She goes to exit the castle hall when she is confronted by the vision of a moonlit Black zombie stumbling towards her with murder in his eyes. She lets out a piercing scream and runs to the castle's monumental staircase. Her white bathrobe gets caught on a splinter of the balustrade. For interminable moments, she tries to free herself, immobile as in a nightmare where the dreamer runs to no avail. Finally the bathrobe tears apart, revealing one half of her swimsuit-clad body and her beautiful, long legs. She rushes upstairs and disappears behind the first door she sees.
What is remarkable about this scene is that every one of its elements is now a cinematic cliché that didn't exist before `Ghost Breakers' was shot. Everything from the script, the atmospheric lighting and photography, to the wardrobe, the sets and the music is a precedent-setting tour de force that would inspire all the Universal Studio horrors to come without ever being equalled for suspense and immediacy. And this is a Bob Hope comedy...
I love this film because it is really before its time. It's a successful blend of mystery, horror, chills and fine comedy. Bob Hope's manservant Alex (Willie Best) has all the best lines, which come in very handy to defuse some of the tension created by the most atmospheric package to ever grace an American movie screen until that time. The film never stops being intriguing from the opening scene of a thunderstorm above Manhattan to the hilarious epilogue. The night photography of the moonlit castle is especially gripping.
The theatrical trailer for this film (which comes with both the VHS and the DVD version) is probably the first known instance of the use of the theremin in a film soundtrack. How cool is that!
This is also one of Bob Hope's funniest performances and a great way to remember him.
P.S.: Like many commentators, I first saw this film on the late show as a kid and remembered it as the most chilling horror picture I had ever seen and only got to understand the jokes later. It's really that good.
Movie Review: Who you gonna call? What about Bob Hope? He's only 100.
Summary: 5 Stars
Bob Hope turned 100 today and the question was raised as to what movie of his should people try to see that is (a) pretty good but (b) not one of the standards like "Paleface" or the Road Pictures with Bing Crosby. My vote is for this 1940 film, "The Ghost Breakers?" The film is usually dismissed because it was just another one of haunted house comedies that were being produced right before World War II, but we are talking Bob Hope and that makes all the differences: Bob Hope being scared to death still makes me laugh, long after Lou Costello's similar routine grows stale. Having considerable hilarity going on before we even get inside the haunted house also helps the film. The plot of this 85-minute black & white comedy has Bob Hope as Larry Lawrence, a radio star who has made his reputation as a muckraker. Fleeing from a murder in a hotel he ends up in the trunk of Mary Carter (Paulette Goddard) who is on her way to Cuba, where she has inherited the haunted Black Island and its haunted Castillo Maldito. Once on the island, Mary runs into the charming Parada (Paul Lukas), her old friend Geoff Montgomery (Richard Carlson), and the scheming Mederos twins (Anthony Quinn and Anthony Quinn). Meanwhile, at the castle awaiting Larry and Mary are the Mother Zombie (Virginia Brissac) and her giant zombie son (Noble Johnson, who you might remember as the native chief in the original "King Kong"). Larry and his trusted valet Alex (Willie Best) go ahead to the castle to make sure everything is safe for Mary, at which point wackiness ensues.
In contrast to the Road pictures Hope stays in character throughout the film and his romancing of Mary rings true. There is an earnestness to Hope's character that is missing from most of his comedies. Hope's wisecracks work even better because of this restraint. Meanwhile, Goddard reminds us that she knew how to compliment a first rate comedian and she certainly gets more laughs at Hope's expense than she ever got at Charlie Chaplin's (no surprise there).
The biggest downside of this film is that it embraced black stereotypes throughout, mainly with Alex and the Cuban natives. Allowances can be made, more because despite Alex embodying the racist notion of blacks as slow (i.e., lazy) he usually is the one solving Larry's problems, than because the times constitutes any sort of an excuse. But even if I see some subversive elements challenge racial prejudice in this film, when Hope quips that he is going to have to paint Alex white to see him in the dark, it is hard not to cringe. That might be enough to stop you from wanting to watch "The Ghost Breakers," but I hope that it does not.
The DVD has an okay featurette on Hope entertaining the troops during World War II, an excerpt from a command performance in 1944, and a short subject "Hollywood Victory Caravan." You also get the trailer and a collection of gallery stills from the production, which is enough to round the rating on this DVD up instead of down. The result is not a great film, but still a good one that I would put in the middle of a Bob Hope Top 10 film list. In fact, I just did.
Movie Review: The Ghost Breakers
Summary: 5 Stars
The Ghost Breakers is generally considered to be the best of the Bob Hope vehicles. Teamed with the charming Paulette Goddard, Hope manages get some laughs here, despite a thoroughly predictable script.
Radio commentator Larry Lawrence (Hope) is implicated in a murder that he didn't commit, and he hides in the steamer trunk of Mary Carter (Goddard). What he doesn't know is that she and the trunk are bound for Cuba, where she has inherited a haunted castle, Castillo Maldito. Mysterious offers to purchase the castle are followed in quick succession by threatening letters and voodoo curses. It's up to Hope and his long-suffering manservant Alex (Willie Best) to unmask the ghosts before they end up as zombies themselves.
There are quite a few laughs in this picture, but they tend to be rather dated. The best gags require knowledge of Sally Rand and acquaintance with the fact that Vassar was once a women's college. Knowing who the heck H.V. Kaltenborn was wouldn't hurt either. Most viewers today are going to just be mystified by many of these gags, which is a pity, but such is the nature of comedy. Hope's timing is impeccable, and as usual he is the [...] of many of the gags. Many of the best lines go to the rest of the cast.
Goddard makes for a highly appealing heroine, and a very young Anthony Quinn makes an appearance as the murder victim and his twin brother. The main problem is that the story was old and creaky even back in the 1940s; it had already been made into silent films twice by Paramount. The script takes far too long to get to the haunted house and once it gets there doesn't have the energy of the many 3 Stooges shorts that use similar conceits. The picture is notable as one of the earlier pictures to take the notion of zombies quite seriously, and definitely the first mainstream film to do so. Noble Johnson plays the principal zombie, and he does make for a quite terrifying figure, lending the picture what little frightening quality it does have.
The Ghost Breakers was made in less sensitive times, and the depictions of the black characters, notably Alex, suffer from stereotypically exaggerated reactions. It's not as offensive as many relics from this period, but some caution is in order for younger or more sensitive viewers.
Movie Review: Hilarious Hope Haunted House Hijinx!
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Ghost Breakers" is an excellent comedyPaulette Goddard is lovely, the young Anthony Quinn is menacing, the mystery is valid, and the sets are wonderfully spooky. Hope is even somewhat heroic in this one, a bit of a change of pace from his usual, comedically cowardly characters. A dash of film noir even shows up early on as a power outage hits New York during a storm (dig that lightning!).
Crime reporter Hope flees to Cuba with Goddard after he mistakenly believes he shot a gangster's henchman in Goddard's hotel. Goddard has inherited a spooky old castle just offshore the island nation, and has received death threats from a mysterious villain. Taking up her cause, the suspicious Hope (and his unwilling servant), sets out to solve the mystery and bust the ghosts. Along the way, the rest of us are busting out laughing.
The thin-skinned among us may not care for some of the pre-PC dialog, but those with intellect enough to put things in context will not be upset by some of the more dated wisecracks.
Also included on the disc is "Hollywood Victory Caravan", a war bond short that is kind of a condensed version of "Star-Spangled Rhythm", another Hope film available in this DVD series. A young lady needs to get to Washington to see her wounded brother just back from the battlefield, but the only train that can take her is tied up with a War Bond rally. Naturally she has to sneak into the Paramount lot and ask Bing Crosby for help. As she wanders about the lot trying to avoid a security guard (William Demerest), she runs into such notables as Barbara Stanwyck and Alan Ladd. When she meets with the sympathetic Bing (after enjoying a Gershwin number performed by Carmen Cavallero and His Orchestra), Crosby and Hope get things worked out for sister and brother. The short also features a patriotic speech by Humphrey Bogart, and a wrap-up number by Crosby.
A second inclusion is a condensed and edited-down edition of "Command Performance" with Judy Garland and Lana Turner doing walk-ons (Lana gets in a good zinger on Hope that leads to some ad-libbing by the comedian).
To round things out the disc includes a short documentary on Hope's USO work ("Entertaining the Troops"), production notes, bios, and the film's trailer.
An excellent all-around package for Hope fans!
Movie Review: Young Bob Hope and Paulette Goodard chase the spooks.
Summary: 5 Stars
The Ghost Breakers (1940). Paramount Pictures Inc. A very popular Bob Hope movie. To start the mood, there is a furious thunder and lightning storm brewing in Manhattan. In fact, a man across the hall lights his cigarette with the candles Paulette Goodard (who plays "Mary") is holding and she says, "Nice night for a murder." There is a castle on Black Island where the ghosts have to find there way around in the dark. The castle was built by Mary's great-great-grandfather. The castle has many stories and legends. No one has ever spent the night inside the castle and be able to tell about it the next morning. Paulette plans on doing just that. It is now her castle. However, Anthony Quinn (as "Mederos") has awarning for her. Bob Hope plays "Larry", a radio announcer. He goes to the hotel and hears Mederos get shot. Terrified, he ends up in the apartment of Paulette. Bob had a gun in his trenchcoat pocket and as a nervous reaction, when he heard the initial shot, he pulled out his gun and shot the light above. But when he saw Mederos drop to the floor, Bob thinks he shot him. But of course he did not. It was the man in Room 1406. Bob and Paulette end up on a cruise together to Havana, Cuba. They are warned of voodoo and Zombies by a Cuban man. More fun begins when Bob Hope reaches the castle and encounters some spooks of his own. Remade as SCARED STIFF (1953) with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis with Bob Hope in a cameo appearance. Mr. Bob Hope delighted us for 65 years on radio, film and televison. He reached 100 years of age on May 29, 2003 and peacefully passed on July 27, 2003. He will continue to delight us and make us laugh for many more years to come. DVD includes, in the "Bonus materials" section, a six-minute featurette "Entertaining The troops--Bob Hope & the USO. Another six-minute featurette "Command Performance 1944" with Bob Hope, Betty Hutton, Lana Turner and Judy Garland. A theatrical featurette, "Hollywood Victory Caravan". Also Photo Gallery, Theatrical Trailer, Production Notes, Cast and Filmmakers, DVD-ROM features.