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'''''The Ghost Breakers''''' is a 1940 American mystery/horror [[comedy film]] directed by [[George Marshall (director)|George Marshall]] and starring [[Bob Hope]] and [[Paulette Goddard]]. It was adapted by screenwriter [[Walter DeLeon]] as the third film version of the 1909 play ''[[The Ghost Breaker (play)|The Ghost Breaker]]'' by [[Paul Dickey]] and [[Charles W. Goddard]].<ref name="TCM">{{cite web|url=http://www.tcm.turner.com/thismonth/article.jsp?cid=97206&mainArticleId=133204|title=The Ghost Breakers|last=Miller|first=John M.|work=[[Turner Classic Movies]]|access-date=February 2, 2015}}</ref>
'''''The Ghost Breakers''''' is a 1940 American mystery/[[horror comedy]] film directed by [[George Marshall (director)|George Marshall]] and starring [[Bob Hope]] and [[Paulette Goddard]]. It was adapted by screenwriter [[Walter DeLeon]] as the third film version of the 1909 play ''[[The Ghost Breaker (play)|The Ghost Breaker]]'' by [[Paul Dickey]] and [[Charles W. Goddard]].<ref name="TCM">{{cite web|url=http://www.tcm.turner.com/thismonth/article.jsp?cid=97206&mainArticleId=133204|title=The Ghost Breakers|last=Miller|first=John M.|work=[[Turner Classic Movies]]|access-date=February 2, 2015}}</ref>


Along with the [[Abbott and Costello]] films ''[[Hold That Ghost]]'' and ''[[Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein]]'' and Hope and Goddard's own ''[[The Cat and the Canary (1939 film)|The Cat and the Canary]]'', it is cited as a prime example of the classic [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] horror-comedy.<ref name="TCM"/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun/02/entertainment/et-la-classic-hollywood-20100602|title=Classic Hollywood: When Bob Hope, Joe E. Brown and Red Skelton ruled big-screen comedies|last=King|first=Susan|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=June 2, 2010|access-date=February 2, 2015}}</ref>
Along with the [[Abbott and Costello]] films ''[[Hold That Ghost]]'' and ''[[Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein]]'' and Hope and Goddard's own ''[[The Cat and the Canary (1939 film)|The Cat and the Canary]]'', it is cited as a prime example of the classic [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] horror-comedy.<ref name="TCM"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-jun-02-et-la-classic-hollywood-20100602-story.html|title=Classic Hollywood: When Bob Hope, Joe E. Brown and Red Skelton ruled big-screen comedies|last=King|first=Susan|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=June 2, 2010|access-date=February 2, 2015}}</ref>

The film is primarily set in an [[abandoned house]] in [[Cuba]]. A woman has just inherited the house and the associated [[plantation]], and she arrives to inspect her property. Accompanying her is her new love interest, a [[radio broadcaster]] from [[Manhattan]]. The duo encounters a supposed [[zombie]], and take part in [[treasure hunting]] in the abandoned house.


==Plot==
==Plot==
[[Image:Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard in The Ghost Breakers trailer.JPG|left|200px]]
[[Image:Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard in The Ghost Breakers trailer.JPG|thumb|left|upright|Trailer]]
The film opens in 1940 Manhattan during a violent evening thunderstorm. From a radio network's studio, broadcaster Larry Lawrence exposes the crimes of underworld boss Frenchy Duval. In her hotel suite, while listening to Lawrence on the radio, Mary Carter is visited by Mr. Parada, a sinister Cuban solicitor. He delivers her the deed to her inheritance—a plantation and mansion in Cuba. Despite Parada's objections, Mary decides to travel there by ship to inspect the property. Not even a phone call from the mysterious Mr. Mederos can convince her to stay put. Cut to the radio station, where Larry Lawrence has finished his broadcast. He receives a phone call from Frenchy Duval, who invites Larry to his hotel. Coincidentally, Frenchy lives on the same floor in the same hotel as Mary. When Larry arrives, a bullet-ridden comedy of errors ensues. Looking for cover, Larry ducks into Mary's suite, where he takes refuge in her large open trunk. Unaware of Larry's presence, Mary locks the trunk and arranges for its transport to the harbor.
The film opens in 1940 Manhattan during a violent evening thunderstorm. From a radio studio, broadcaster Larry Lawrence exposes the crimes of underworld boss Frenchy Duval.
In her hotel suite, while listening to the broadcast, Mary Carter is visited by Mr. Parada, a sinister Cuban solicitor. He delivers her the deed to her inheritance—a plantation and mansion in Cuba. Despite Parada's objections, Mary decides to travel there by ship to inspect the property. As Larry finishes his program, he takes a phone call from Frenchy himself, inviting Larry to his hotel. Coincidentally, Frenchy lives on the same floor as Mary.
When Larry arrives, he fires his gun and becomes convinced he killed a man, initially unaware that the actual assailant is further down the hall. Looking for cover, Larry ducks into Mary's suite, where he takes refuge in her large open trunk. Unaware of Larry's presence, Mary locks the trunk and arranges for its transport to the harbor.

⚫
At the dock, Larry's [[valet]] Alex searches among the luggage and finds Larry. Although not in time to prevent the trunk's transfer to the ship's hold, Alex manages to get on board to extricate his employer before the ship sails. During the trip, Larry and Mary strike up a flirtation. They then meet an acquaintance of Mary's, Geoff Montgomery, a young intellectual who regales them with tales of Caribbean superstitions, particularly [[Haitian Vodou|voodoo]], ghosts, and zombies.

Upon reaching [[Havana]], Mary, Larry, and Alex travel to her new island estate. En route, they find a shack occupied by an old woman and her catatonic son, whom they suspect is a zombie. The three explore the old, abandoned mansion and discover the large portrait of a woman who is a mirror image of Mary. Soon, they are terrorized by a ghost. Then, they encounter the "zombie", whom Alex traps in a closet.


Parada arrives next, but he's fatally stabbed and placed in a casket. Larry and Mary discover him; Parada's last act is to reveal to them access to a [[secret passage]] under the house. As the couple draw closer to the lost treasure, Parada's murderer attempts to kill them, but this sets off a trap that causes him to plummet through the basement floor to his death. Larry, Mary, and Alex leave the island after claiming Mary's right to her fortune. As Larry alludes to his plans for his and Mary's eventual honeymoon, the film draws to a close.
⚫
Later at the dock, Larry's [[valet]] Alex searches among the luggage bound for loading and finds Larry among them. Although not in time to prevent the trunk's transfer to the ship's hold, Alex manages to get on board in order to extricate his employer before the ship sails. During the trip, Larry and Mary strike up a flirtation. Later, they meet an acquaintance of Mary's, Geoff Montgomery, a young intellectual who regales them with tales of Caribbean superstitions, particularly [[Haitian Vodou|voodoo]], ghosts, and zombies. Upon reaching Havana, Mary, Larry, and Alex go to the small island locale of her new estate. En route they find a shack occupied by an old woman and her catatonic son, whom they believe is a zombie. The imposing plantation manor proves to be a spooky edifice indeed. They begin to explore the long-abandoned, cobweb-ridden mansion and discover a large portrait of a woman who is nearly an exact likeness of Mary—most certainly an ancestor. Soon they are terrorized by the appearance of a ghost and the reappearance of the zombie. Are these real, or are they a ruse to frighten Mary away from her inheritance?


==Cast==
==Cast==
{{div col|colwidth=26em}}
* [[Bob Hope]] as Larry Lawrence
* [[Paulette Goddard]] as Mary Carter
*[[Bob Hope]] as Larry Lawrence
* [[Richard Carlson (actor)|Richard Carlson]] as Geoff Montgomery
*[[Paulette Goddard]] as Mary Carter
*[[Richard Carlson (actor)|Richard Carlson]] as Geoff Montgomery
* [[Paul Lukas]] as Parada
*[[Paul Lukas]] as Parada
*[[Willie Best]] as Alex
*[[Willie Best]] as Alex
* [[Pedro De Cordoba]] as Havez
*[[Pedro De Cordoba]] as Havez
* [[Virginia Brissac]] as Mother Zombie
*[[Virginia Brissac]] as Mother Zombie
* [[Noble Johnson]] as The Zombie
*[[Noble Johnson]] as The Zombie
* [[Anthony Quinn]] as Ramon Mederos / Francisco Mederos
*[[Anthony Quinn]] as Ramon Mederos / Francisco Mederos
* [[Tom Dugan (actor, born 1889)|Tom Dugan]] as "Raspy" Kelly
*[[Tom Dugan (actor, born 1889)|Tom Dugan]] as Raspy Kelly
* [[Paul Fix]] as "Frenchy" Duval
*[[Paul Fix]] as Frenchy Duval
* [[Lloyd Corrigan]] as Martin
*[[Lloyd Corrigan]] as Martin
'''Uncredited (in order of appearance)'''
'''Uncredited (in order of appearance)'''
* [[Jack Norton]] as Drunk
*[[Jack Norton]] as Drunk
* [[Emmett Vogan]] as The Announcer
*[[Emmett Vogan]] as Announcer
* [[Robert Elliott (actor)|Robert Elliott]] as Lieutenant Murray
*[[Robert Elliott (actor, born 1879)|Robert Elliott]] as Lieutenant Murray
* [[James Flavin]] as Hotel Porter
*[[James Flavin]] as Hotel porter
* [[Max Wagner]] as Ship Porter
*[[Max Wagner]] as Ship porter
* [[Paul Newlan]] as Beggar
*[[Paul Newlan]] as Beggar
* [[Blanca Vischer]] as Dolores, From Cuba
*[[Blanca Vischer]] as Dolores from Cuba
* [[Douglas Kennedy (actor)|Douglas Kennedy]] as Intern
*[[Douglas Kennedy (actor)|Douglas Kennedy]] as Intern
* [[Robert Ryan]] as Intern
*[[Robert Ryan]] as Intern
{{div col end}}


==Various versions==
==Various versions==
Line 70: Line 82:
Scenes from the film were used in the 1972 pilot episode of ''[[The Snoop Sisters]]'' (aka ''The Female Instinct'').<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/LBuAYDly250 Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20190716122107/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBuAYDly250&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBuAYDly250| title = SNOOP SISTERS 1972 / Helen Hayes & Mildred Natwick / Complete Episode | website=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
Scenes from the film were used in the 1972 pilot episode of ''[[The Snoop Sisters]]'' (aka ''The Female Instinct'').<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/LBuAYDly250 Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20190716122107/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBuAYDly250&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBuAYDly250| title = SNOOP SISTERS 1972 / Helen Hayes & Mildred Natwick / Complete Episode | website=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>


''The Ghost Breakers'' was one of the inspirations for the ''[[Ghostbusters (franchise)|Ghostbusters]]'' series of films, whereby Dan Ackroyd wanted to combine the latest research with ''The Ghost Breakers'' style of comedy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/56140/20-things-you-might-not-know-about-ghostbusters|title = 20 Things You Might Not Know About Ghostbusters}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://uk.news.yahoo.com/dan-aykroyd-explains-spooky-way-115438407.html|title=Dan Aykroyd Explains Spooky Way He Came up with Original 'Ghostbusters' Idea}}</ref>
''The Ghost Breakers'' was one of the inspirations for the ''[[Ghostbusters (franchise)|Ghostbusters]]'' series of films, whereby [[Dan Aykroyd]] wanted to combine the latest research with ''The Ghost Breakers'' style of comedy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/56140/20-things-you-might-not-know-about-ghostbusters|title = 20 Things You Might Not Know About Ghostbusters| date=14 July 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://uk.news.yahoo.com/dan-aykroyd-explains-spooky-way-115438407.html|title=Dan Aykroyd Explains Spooky Way He Came up with Original 'Ghostbusters' Idea|date=16 November 2021 }}</ref>


==Reception==
==Reception==
Reviews from critics were positive. [[Bosley Crowther]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote, "It looks as though Paramount has really discovered something: it has found the fabled formula for making an audience shriek with laughter and fright at one and (as the barkers say) the simultaneous time."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9D02E2DA123EE432A25757C0A9619C946193D6CF|title=The Ghost Breakers (1940)|last=Crowther|first=Bosley|author-link=Bosley Crowther|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=July 4, 1940|access-date=February 2, 2015}}</ref> ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' declared it "solid comedy entertainment that will generate plenty of laughs and roll up some hefty b.o. figures along the way."<ref>{{cite magazine |date=June 12, 1940 |title=The Ghost Breakers |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |location=New York |publisher=Variety, Inc. |page=14 }}</ref> ''[[Harrison's Reports]]'' called it, "One of the finest ghost stories that have been produced for some time."<ref>{{cite journal |date=June 22, 1940 |title='The Ghost Breakers' with Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard |journal=[[Harrison's Reports]] |page=98 }}</ref> "Corking comedy has laughs and thrills aplenty," ''[[Film Daily]]'' reported.<ref>{{cite journal |date=June 13, 1940 |title=Reviews of the New Films |journal=[[Film Daily]] |location=New York |publisher=Wid's Films and Film Folk, Inc. |page=5 }}</ref> [[John Mosher (writer)|John Mosher]] of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' wrote, "The amalgam of farce and horror is very successful."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Mosher |first=John |author-link=John Mosher (writer) |date=July 6, 1940 |title=The Current Cinema |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |location=New York |publisher=F-R Publishing Corp. |page=46 }}</ref>
Reviews from critics were positive. [[Bosley Crowther]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote, "It looks as though Paramount has really discovered something: it has found the fabled formula for making an audience shriek with laughter and fright at one and (as the barkers say) the simultaneous time."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9D02E2DA123EE432A25757C0A9619C946193D6CF|title=The Ghost Breakers (1940)|last=Crowther|first=Bosley|author-link=Bosley Crowther|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=July 4, 1940|access-date=February 2, 2015}}</ref> ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' declared it "solid comedy entertainment that will generate plenty of laughs and roll up some hefty b.o. figures along the way."<ref>{{cite magazine |date=June 12, 1940 |title=The Ghost Breakers |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |location=New York |publisher=Variety, Inc. |page=14 }}</ref> ''[[Harrison's Reports]]'' called it, "One of the finest ghost stories that have been produced for some time."<ref>{{cite journal |date=June 22, 1940 |title='The Ghost Breakers' with Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard |journal=[[Harrison's Reports]] |page=98 }}</ref> "Corking comedy has laughs and thrills aplenty," ''[[Film Daily]]'' reported.<ref>{{cite journal |date=June 13, 1940 |title=Reviews of the New Films |journal=[[Film Daily]] |location=New York |publisher=Wid's Films and Film Folk, Inc. |page=5 }}</ref> [[John Mosher (writer)|John Mosher]] of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' wrote, "The amalgam of farce and horror is very successful."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Mosher |first=John |author-link=John Mosher (writer) |date=July 6, 1940 |title=The Current Cinema |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |location=New York |publisher=F-R Publishing Corp. |page=46 }}</ref>


Writing in ''The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia'', [[Peter Dendle]] said, "This is considered to be among Bob Hope's finest pictures, and the direction is smooth and the lines delivered flawlessly, but black actor Willie Best's jokes about fried chicken are no longer funny, and smarmy Hope isn't funny to begin with."<ref>{{cite book|title=The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia|last=Dendle|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Dendle|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|year=2001|pages=73–74|isbn=978-0-7864-9288-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RKd9xK80dfcC&pg=PA73}}</ref> Glenn Kay, who wrote ''[[Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide]]'', called it "entertaining and hugely successful", though he said some scenes are uncomfortable due to their political incorrectness.<ref>{{cite book|title=Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide|last=Kay|first=Glenn|publisher=[[Chicago Review Press]]|year=2008|isbn=978-1-55652-770-8|pages=14–15|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aBfGajftevEC&pg=PA121}}</ref>
Writing in ''The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia'', [[Peter Dendle]] said, "This is considered to be among Bob Hope's finest pictures, and the direction is smooth and the lines delivered flawlessly, but black actor Willie Best's jokes about [[fried chicken]] are no longer funny, and smarmy Hope isn't funny to begin with."<ref>{{cite book|title=The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia|last=Dendle|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Dendle|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|year=2001|pages=73–74|isbn=978-0-7864-9288-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RKd9xK80dfcC&pg=PA73}}</ref> Glenn Kay, who wrote ''[[Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide]]'', called it "entertaining and hugely successful", though he said some scenes are uncomfortable due to their [[political incorrectness]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide|last=Kay|first=Glenn|publisher=[[Chicago Review Press]]|year=2008|isbn=978-1-55652-770-8|pages=14–15|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aBfGajftevEC&pg=PA121}}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
Line 88: Line 100:
* {{IMDb title|tt0032520}}
* {{IMDb title|tt0032520}}
*[http://trailersfromhell.com/the-ghost-breakers/ ''The Ghost Breakers''] at [[Trailers from Hell]]
*[http://trailersfromhell.com/the-ghost-breakers/ ''The Ghost Breakers''] at [[Trailers from Hell]]
* {{Amg movie|19629|The Ghost Breakers}}
* {{AllMovie title|19629|The Ghost Breakers}}
* {{tcmdb title|76190|The Ghost Breakers}}
* {{TCMDb title|76190|The Ghost Breakers}}


{{George Marshall}}
{{George Marshall}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghost Breakers, The}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghost Breakers, The}}
[[Category:1940 films]]
[[Category:1940 films]]
[[Category:1940s comedy horror films]]
[[Category:1940 comedy horror films]]
[[Category:1940s comedy mystery films]]
[[Category:1940s comedy mystery films]]
⚫
[[Category:Films set in 1940]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American comedy horror films]]
[[Category:American comedy horror films]]
Line 109: Line 122:
[[Category:Films set in country houses]]
[[Category:Films set in country houses]]
[[Category:Films set in Cuba]]
[[Category:Films set in Cuba]]
[[Category:Films set in Manhattan]]
[[Category:Films about Voodoo]]
[[Category:Films about Voodoo]]
[[Category:Paramount Pictures films]]
[[Category:Paramount Pictures films]]
⚫
[[Category:1940 comedy films]]
⚫
[[Category:1940 horror films]]
[[Category:1940s English-language films]]
[[Category:1940s English-language films]]
[[Category:1940s American films]]
[[Category:1940s American films]]
[[Category:The Ghost Breaker (play)]]
[[Category:Films about inheritances]]
[[Category:Films set on farms]]
[[Category:Films set in abandoned houses]]
[[Category:Films about radio people]]
[[Category:Films about treasure hunting]]
⚫
[[Category:English-language comedy horror films]]
[[Category:English-language comedy mystery films]]

Latest revision as of 18:07, 6 October 2024

Not to be confused with The Ghost Breaker (1914 film) or The Ghost Breaker (1922 film).
The Ghost Breakers
Directed byGeorge Marshall
Screenplay byWalter DeLeon
Based onThe Ghost Breaker
(1909 play)
by Paul Dickey and Charles W. Goddard
Produced byArthur Hornblow Jr.
Starring
CinematographyCharles Lang
Edited byEllsworth Hoagland
Music byErnst Toch
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release dates
  • June 7, 1940 (1940-06-07)
(Detroit)[1]
  • June 21, 1940 (1940-06-21)
(USA)
Running time
83 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Ghost Breakers is a 1940 American mystery/horror comedy film directed by George Marshall and starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard. It was adapted by screenwriter Walter DeLeon as the third film version of the 1909 play The Ghost Breaker by Paul Dickey and Charles W. Goddard.[2]

Along with the Abbott and Costello films Hold That Ghost and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and Hope and Goddard's own The Cat and the Canary, it is cited as a prime example of the classic Hollywood horror-comedy.[2][3]

The film is primarily set in an abandoned house in Cuba. A woman has just inherited the house and the associated plantation, and she arrives to inspect her property. Accompanying her is her new love interest, a radio broadcaster from Manhattan. The duo encounters a supposed zombie, and take part in treasure hunting in the abandoned house.

Plot

[edit]
Trailer

The film opens in 1940 Manhattan during a violent evening thunderstorm. From a radio studio, broadcaster Larry Lawrence exposes the crimes of underworld boss Frenchy Duval.

In her hotel suite, while listening to the broadcast, Mary Carter is visited by Mr. Parada, a sinister Cuban solicitor. He delivers her the deed to her inheritance—a plantation and mansion in Cuba. Despite Parada's objections, Mary decides to travel there by ship to inspect the property. As Larry finishes his program, he takes a phone call from Frenchy himself, inviting Larry to his hotel. Coincidentally, Frenchy lives on the same floor as Mary.

When Larry arrives, he fires his gun and becomes convinced he killed a man, initially unaware that the actual assailant is further down the hall. Looking for cover, Larry ducks into Mary's suite, where he takes refuge in her large open trunk. Unaware of Larry's presence, Mary locks the trunk and arranges for its transport to the harbor.

At the dock, Larry's valet Alex searches among the luggage and finds Larry. Although not in time to prevent the trunk's transfer to the ship's hold, Alex manages to get on board to extricate his employer before the ship sails. During the trip, Larry and Mary strike up a flirtation. They then meet an acquaintance of Mary's, Geoff Montgomery, a young intellectual who regales them with tales of Caribbean superstitions, particularly voodoo, ghosts, and zombies.

Upon reaching Havana, Mary, Larry, and Alex travel to her new island estate. En route, they find a shack occupied by an old woman and her catatonic son, whom they suspect is a zombie. The three explore the old, abandoned mansion and discover the large portrait of a woman who is a mirror image of Mary. Soon, they are terrorized by a ghost. Then, they encounter the "zombie", whom Alex traps in a closet.

Parada arrives next, but he's fatally stabbed and placed in a casket. Larry and Mary discover him; Parada's last act is to reveal to them access to a secret passage under the house. As the couple draw closer to the lost treasure, Parada's murderer attempts to kill them, but this sets off a trap that causes him to plummet through the basement floor to his death. Larry, Mary, and Alex leave the island after claiming Mary's right to her fortune. As Larry alludes to his plans for his and Mary's eventual honeymoon, the film draws to a close.

Cast

[edit]

Uncredited (in order of appearance)

Various versions

[edit]

The Dickey and Goddard play The Ghost Breaker was filmed twice previously by Paramount, first in 1914 by Cecil B. DeMille, with stars H. B. Warner and Rita Stanwood. It was filmed again in 1922 by director Alfred E. Green, starring Wallace Reid and Lila Lee.[2] Both these silent film versions are now considered to be lost films.[4]

The film was adapted for radio on Screen Directors Playhouse on April 4, 1949. Bob Hope re-created his film role, and Shirley Mitchell starred as Mary. Hope appeared again on the program for an hour-long version on June 14, 1951.

George Marshall, director of The Ghost Breakers, remade it as Scared Stiff (1953), featuring Martin and Lewis (Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis). The remake featured cameos not only from Hope, but also from Bing Crosby. A year before Scared Stiff, Martin and Lewis appeared in the Crosby/Hope film Road to Bali. Marshall also directed the not-dissimilar Murder, He Says (1945), in which Fred MacMurray compares the situation to "that Bob Hope movie The Ghost Breakers."

Scenes from the film were used in the 1972 pilot episode of The Snoop Sisters (aka The Female Instinct).[5]

The Ghost Breakers was one of the inspirations for the Ghostbusters series of films, whereby Dan Aykroyd wanted to combine the latest research with The Ghost Breakers style of comedy.[6][7]

Reception

[edit]

Reviews from critics were positive. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote, "It looks as though Paramount has really discovered something: it has found the fabled formula for making an audience shriek with laughter and fright at one and (as the barkers say) the simultaneous time."[8] Variety declared it "solid comedy entertainment that will generate plenty of laughs and roll up some hefty b.o. figures along the way."[9] Harrison's Reports called it, "One of the finest ghost stories that have been produced for some time."[10] "Corking comedy has laughs and thrills aplenty," Film Daily reported.[11] John Mosher of The New Yorker wrote, "The amalgam of farce and horror is very successful."[12]

Writing in The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia, Peter Dendle said, "This is considered to be among Bob Hope's finest pictures, and the direction is smooth and the lines delivered flawlessly, but black actor Willie Best's jokes about fried chicken are no longer funny, and smarmy Hope isn't funny to begin with."[13] Glenn Kay, who wrote Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide, called it "entertaining and hugely successful", though he said some scenes are uncomfortable due to their political incorrectness.[14]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Hanson, Patricia King, ed. (1993). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films, 1931-1940. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 750. ISBN 0-520-07908-6.
  2. ^ a b c Miller, John M. "The Ghost Breakers". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
  3. ^ King, Susan (June 2, 2010). "Classic Hollywood: When Bob Hope, Joe E. Brown and Red Skelton ruled big-screen comedies". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
  4. ^ "SilentEra.com lost films index". SilentEra.com. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
  5. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "SNOOP SISTERS 1972 / Helen Hayes & Mildred Natwick / Complete Episode". YouTube.
  6. ^ "20 Things You Might Not Know About Ghostbusters". 14 July 2016.
  7. ^ "Dan Aykroyd Explains Spooky Way He Came up with Original 'Ghostbusters' Idea". 16 November 2021.
  8. ^ Crowther, Bosley (July 4, 1940). "The Ghost Breakers (1940)". The New York Times. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
  9. ^ "The Ghost Breakers". Variety. New York: Variety, Inc. June 12, 1940. p. 14.
  10. ^ "'The Ghost Breakers' with Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard". Harrison's Reports: 98. June 22, 1940.
  11. ^ "Reviews of the New Films". Film Daily. New York: Wid's Films and Film Folk, Inc.: 5 June 13, 1940.
  12. ^ Mosher, John (July 6, 1940). "The Current Cinema". The New Yorker. New York: F-R Publishing Corp. p. 46.
  13. ^ Dendle, Peter (2001). The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia. McFarland & Company. pp. 73–74. ISBN 978-0-7864-9288-6.
  14. ^ Kay, Glenn (2008). Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide. Chicago Review Press. pp. 14–15. ISBN 978-1-55652-770-8.
[edit]
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