ABBOTT AND COSTELLO-HOLD THAT GHOST

 

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO-HOLD THAT GHOST

 

HOLD THAT GHOST is without a doubt (at least for me) the best of the first four A and C movies. For one thing the musical numbers do not intrude on the plot, the comedy, the laughs, or the story, which moves VERY fast thanks to it not being like ONE NIGHT IN THE TROPICS, BUCK PRIVATES, and IN THE NAVY. Test audiences saw the movie and…wow! They wanted the Andrews Sisters in the movie. Good God! For some reason that also included Ted Lewis. The less I write about the ME AND MY SHADOW number, the better. I…can’t. Even.

 

Lou is uproariously funny in this and practically every scene he’s in elicits a laugh. His reaction to scary or mysterious or dangerous things is a joy to behold. There’s lot of word play as in all A and C movies. There’s a few routines but not as many—the “Oh Chuck” and “Moving Candle” are two of them and I cannot think of any others. The funny dialog, the jokes, and the humor came out of the situation and even the older jokes were short and fit into the situation of a haunted house well. The TV show did a version of this and the boys did a short version radio of HOLD THAT GHOST before the movie came out (I cannot understand how this was allowed as it probably revealed a lot of spoilers).

 

Universal was coming into its own with these mystery/ghost/supernatural movies (a full series with Lon Chaney Jr and of course the classics such as Bride of Frankenstein and House of Dracula) as far as casting AND incidental (although there is nothing incidental about them) scores for the action and horror sequences. The music movies along and gives the movie a certain danger and mystery to it that might lack if it weren’t that good. But the music, the plot, and everything else is secondary to the rapport between Bud and Lou and although Bud seems overly mean to Lou in this one, his timing is perfect and you can see him keep Lou on track. Lou is just pure funny in this and just about non-stop.

 

HOLD THAT GHOST may not have the overlong and horrid musical numbers that abound in the boys’ previous films…well, there are a few but at the beginning of the movie and the end….but it does have a TERRIFIC score for the scary moments, the fights scenes, and the changing gambling room scenes.

 

I’m not sure who the dead body was in the closet at the end but it looked like the driver. A cut scene would have explained who the gangsters were that were trying to scare everyone out of the house and that the two detectives that came to the house were part of this gang of crooks. It’s interesting to note that once they are scared away from the house, they leave and…basically get away with murder…of course, the people they murdered were also gangsters so I guess it was okay, then!

 

Of the first four movies, this one had the best cast (the others were okay, too but here…wow!). Camille is…played by Joan Davis who is a perfect foil for the boys and adds her own comedy to the proceedings. I almost wish she had been other A and C movies or even the TV show. She adds that much to them and to the fun and laughs. She has a great rapport with both Bud and Lou. One of the many highlights of the movie is her dance with Lou after dinner as the Blue Danube plays. It has to be seen to be believed at how charming and funny it is (Costello falls into a piano; Camille gets a water bucket stuck on her butt and Costello plays it like a bongo drum…and she dances to accompany!).  

 

Evelyn Ankers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_Ankers) and the great Richard Carlson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Carlson_(actor) make for a great team, too. Going against the grain, Carlson plays a good looking doctor/scientist who is the hero but absent mindedly. I love their scenes together and they make a great group with the boys and Camille. They are insanely likeable. Both were in several (not together, unfortunately) horror and science fiction movies.

 

 

I love when Costello plays the hero and actually wins and the chase/fight sequence at the climax of the film is tremendous fun. Lou gets to get his own back some of the criminals. 

 

You can find the plot here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hold_That_Ghost

 

 

I did not see the complete film in over 20 or more years and today saw it and enjoyed it a great deal.

 

The original ending sounded lame with the boys running a sanitarium. Camille is not in the finale that was in the actual movie.

 

HOLD THAT GHOST is a lot of fun and is right up there with THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES and ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN.