The Ghost Breakers (1940)

Bob Hope, despite being one of the most beloved comedians of all time, never made a genuine masterpiece. He turned out some very good movies (The Ghost Breakers, The Cat and the Canary, Son of Paleface, Road to Morocco, and The Princess and the Pirate, to name a few), but I would hesitate to call any of them classics. This is largely due to the fact that Hope’s greatest strength, his voice, lent itself better to the radio than it did to the movies; the humor is in the delivery of a joke, not so much the joke itself.  Therefore, it’s not surprising that by the 1960s, Hope’s humor was extremely antiquated; his inoffensive brand of humor (one liners, good natured ribbing) was out of place in a decade that produced Dr. Strangelove, The Graduate, and Head. The less I say about his Christmas Specials, especially in the 90s, the better.

The Ghost Breakers and The Cat and the Canary are easily Bob Hope’s best movies, for two important reasons:

1)      They both play on Hope’s radio persona. In both films he is cast as a radio personality that unwittingly gets involved in a murder mystery. In The Cat and the Canary, he is radio actor, Wally Campbell, whose expertise in radio mysteries often puts him one step ahead of the narrative.  In The Ghost Breakers he is crime reporter, Larry Lawrence, who manages to get on the bad side of New York gangster, Frenchy Duval, after doing an exposé on the radio.  Through a set of contrivances (Larry mistaken believes he shot a man to death), he winds up on steam ship to Cuba. He is able to evade Frenchy, and the police, with the help of heiress, Mary Carter, who has inherited a “haunted” mansion in Cuba, “Castillo Maldito.” Grateful for her assistance, Larry vows to help Mary with her dealings in Cuba.

2)      His co-star in both movies is Paulette Goddard.  It’s a shame that Hope and Goddard didn’t make more movies together as they have great onscreen chemistry.  In The Cat and the Canary, Goddard is your standard damsel in distress, but in The Ghost Breakers her character, Mary Carter, is a genuinely brave soul and, despite all the warnings of danger, is determined to go there and claim her new property.  Goddard is a lively leading lady and holds her own against Bob Hope. Goddard was no stranger to comedy, having co-starred with (her then husband) Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times and The Great Dictator.  

It’s also interesting that Hope’s cowardly screen persona is greatly toned down for this movie - Larry is a fairly competent and dashing hero. He takes upon himself to solve the mystery of Mary’s “haunted” mansion and willing goes into harm’s way, with his servant, Alex, in two.  More importantly, Hope proves to be a convincing romantic lead – it’s easy to understand why Mary would fall for a guy like Larry, he’s the only fun person in her life. Every one else around her is so grim, but Larry makes the most out of a bad situation. There’s a rather lovely moment, after an attempt has been on Mary’s life, where Larry cheers her up by asking her for a dance. It doesn’t have any narrative function, but the interplay between Hope and Goddard is marvelous.

The most problematic aspect of Ghost Breakers is Alex, who, as played by Willie Best, is a cowardly black man that stumbles through the scenery. The comical black sidekick was, unfortunately, a common trope in many murder-mysteries of the time. Though, to the movie’s credit, Alex, despite being a scaredy-cat, proves to be fairly reliable companion and……..SPOILERS…… actually saves the day at the end.  Alex can be cringe inducing at times, but compared to Stepin Fetchit in Charlie Chan in Egypt, he is a step in the right direction, albeit a very tiny one. The rest of the  supporting cast is good; Paul Lukas, in particular, is appropriately sinister as the solicitor, Parada. Richard Carlson's performance, however, greatly suffers because his character isn't introduced until the movie's half way point. 

It isn’t until the movie’s third act that Hope and company arrive at the “haunted mansion,” the first hour effectively builds up to this moment - characters warn Mary to stay away from Castillo Maldito; there are a few attempts on her life; and we’re even given a back story on the mansion.  The opening sequence is appropriately spooky; there has been a city wide blackout in Manhattan due to a lightning storm, so characters are either in silhouette and engulfed in shadows.  Ghost Breakers is one of the rare horror - comedies that is actually unnerving at times.  The scenes in Castillo Maldito are straight out of a nightmare –the scene of the zombie (Noble Johnson) ambling towards Mary is genuinely creepy. It’s also refreshing that movie is remains fairly ambiguous about the supernatural; in most horror-comedies it is all revealed to be one elaborate plot by the bad guy to scare away potential meddlers from a hidden treasure. Granted, this is essentially the plot to The Ghost Breakers, but not all of its horrors are explained away – SPOILERS- in a complete twist it is revealed that ghost Larry witnessed rising from its coffin is indeed a ghost. This isn’t Scooby Doo, Where Are You where the villain possesses a 16 mm movie projector that can magically project images onto thin air, nope, this is the rare case where the supernatural does exist.

The visuals, the direction, and the performances are all first rate, but the screenplay is incredibly sloppy; plot threads are completely abandoned, while supporting characters are completely forgotten about.  Through out the movie Mary keeps bumping in a comically awkward man, who is revealed to be an acquaintance of Francisco Mederes - an antagonist of Mary’s.  Who is this man? Is he working for Mederes? Or is he just a tourist? The movie never explains. Is there a deleted scene that reveals his identity? Or did the filmmakers decide to discard this character altogether, because, “WHO  CARES?”  I wouldn’t have a problem with the latter if it wasn’t for the fact that so much emphasis is placed on the character.  How do the zombie and his mother factor into all of this? Are they in cahoots with the main villain? Or do they simply resent intruders? The movie also forgets about the whole Frenchy Duval subplot. At the end, Larry and Mary are merrily on their way back to America, gushing about their honeymoon, while forgetting that Larry is still a marked man.  It is highly unlikely that Frenchy Duval is going to forget that Larry stood him up. 

Credits

Cast: Bob Hope (Larry), Paulette Goddard (Mary), Richard Carlson (Geoff), Paul Lukas (Parada), Anthony Quinn (Ramon Mederes/Francisco Mederes), Willie Best (Alex), Pedro de Cordoba (Havez), Virginia Brissac (Mother Zombie), Noble Johnson (Zombie), Tom Dugan (Raspy Kelly), Paul Fix (Frenchy), Llody Corrigan (Martin).

Director: George Marshall
Screenplay: Walter DeLeon.
Running Time: 85 min.