Hold That Ghost (1941)
Yes, I’ve finally returned to working on the Abbott and Costello reviews. For now, I’ve decided that every other week will be an Abbott and Costello review while in between will be a random review. With that said, let’s move on to the next Abbott and Costello film, Hold That Ghost.
Abbott and Costello are Chuck Murray and Ferdie Jones, two gas station attendants who aspire to more in life. After getting tangled up with a gangster in his final hours, they find themselves the heirs to all his fortunes, which are located at the gangster’s abandoned tavern. At the tavern they’re joined by radio actress Camille Brewster (Joan Davis), Dr. Jackson (Richard Carlson), Charlie Smith (Mark Lawrence), and Norma Lind (Evelyn Ankers). It then becomes a night of frights and terrors as they discover the place might be haunted.
Hold That Ghost is a very different change of pace from the previous two films, in that this one is a scare comedy rather than a service comedy and it works very well because Costello was the master when it came to scared reactions. Costello’s scared reactions take up a lot of the film, but it never gets repetitive because of the various different ways he’s able to do them. Nowhere is this more evident than with the moving candle bit, where he keeps trying to spit out Chuck’s name, but continuously is too out of breath to do so. Sadly, this results in very few verbal routines between Abbott and Costello, and really Abbott’s role isn’t even all that important. However, he still has a few moments and Costello is just so entertaining in this that I really don’t mind.
The supporting cast is really good as well. Joan Davis is perfect as the love interest for Costello, reflecting the same childlike wonder that Costello has, and they’re especially great together when they do a dance routine early on at the tavern. Even the romantic interests are pretty interesting. The doctor is initially only interested in his work, but eventually Norma gets him to soften up. Both of them do a good job in their acting and they don’t overtake the picture completely either, so that helps a lot as well.
Hold That Ghost is almost the perfect Abbott and Costello movie. The one major problem is the nightclub scenes. Hold That Ghost was filmed right after Buck Privates, but after seeing the success of Buck Privates, Universal decided to shelve Ghost and film In the Navy instead. When they returned to Ghost, Universal was cautious and decided to add some song sequences from the likes of Ted Andrews and his orchestra and the Andrews Sisters. The songs are really boring and part of that has to do with the fact that they’re all lumped together at the beginning and end, unlike the previous two films where they’re spaced out and as a result don’t feel that repetitive. Even the stuff that Abbott and Costello are doing in these scenes isn’t really of all that much interest. The nightclub scenes aren’t too long, but they still drag down the entire experience and I’d just recommend skipping them altogether, because the narrative still makes since without them.
In the end, Hold That Ghost is a mostly solid entry in the catalogue of Abbott and Costello films and one of the great examples of a scare comedy. With good production values and a solid supporting cast, this one is definitely worth a look.
9 out of 10
Abbott and Costello are Chuck Murray and Ferdie Jones, two gas station attendants who aspire to more in life. After getting tangled up with a gangster in his final hours, they find themselves the heirs to all his fortunes, which are located at the gangster’s abandoned tavern. At the tavern they’re joined by radio actress Camille Brewster (Joan Davis), Dr. Jackson (Richard Carlson), Charlie Smith (Mark Lawrence), and Norma Lind (Evelyn Ankers). It then becomes a night of frights and terrors as they discover the place might be haunted.
Hold That Ghost is a very different change of pace from the previous two films, in that this one is a scare comedy rather than a service comedy and it works very well because Costello was the master when it came to scared reactions. Costello’s scared reactions take up a lot of the film, but it never gets repetitive because of the various different ways he’s able to do them. Nowhere is this more evident than with the moving candle bit, where he keeps trying to spit out Chuck’s name, but continuously is too out of breath to do so. Sadly, this results in very few verbal routines between Abbott and Costello, and really Abbott’s role isn’t even all that important. However, he still has a few moments and Costello is just so entertaining in this that I really don’t mind.
The supporting cast is really good as well. Joan Davis is perfect as the love interest for Costello, reflecting the same childlike wonder that Costello has, and they’re especially great together when they do a dance routine early on at the tavern. Even the romantic interests are pretty interesting. The doctor is initially only interested in his work, but eventually Norma gets him to soften up. Both of them do a good job in their acting and they don’t overtake the picture completely either, so that helps a lot as well.
Hold That Ghost is almost the perfect Abbott and Costello movie. The one major problem is the nightclub scenes. Hold That Ghost was filmed right after Buck Privates, but after seeing the success of Buck Privates, Universal decided to shelve Ghost and film In the Navy instead. When they returned to Ghost, Universal was cautious and decided to add some song sequences from the likes of Ted Andrews and his orchestra and the Andrews Sisters. The songs are really boring and part of that has to do with the fact that they’re all lumped together at the beginning and end, unlike the previous two films where they’re spaced out and as a result don’t feel that repetitive. Even the stuff that Abbott and Costello are doing in these scenes isn’t really of all that much interest. The nightclub scenes aren’t too long, but they still drag down the entire experience and I’d just recommend skipping them altogether, because the narrative still makes since without them.
In the end, Hold That Ghost is a mostly solid entry in the catalogue of Abbott and Costello films and one of the great examples of a scare comedy. With good production values and a solid supporting cast, this one is definitely worth a look.
9 out of 10
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