Cheap The Ghost Breakers (DVD) (Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard) (George Marshall) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Ghost Breakers

The Original 'Ghostbusters'-More Fun Than Being Scared Silly
What's scary, haunted and more laughs than Bela Lugosi in an Abbott & Costello movie? [A very ]old Bob Hope who just had a birthday on May 29, 2003. Well, my joke may not be that great. But, to celebrate the guy who for almost a century has entertained everyone from troops overseas to people like us back on the homefront with a slew of great comedy movies. From out of all those 'Road' movies and films like, 'The Lemon Drop Kid,' 'Paleface' and 'Fancypants' I picked 'Ghost Breakers' as a tribute to the "Best Entertainer of the Century." Bob Hope makes being scared to death so funny that he could outshine any of the Lou Costello petrified routines. Hope plays Larry Lawrence and witnesses a murder at a hotel he's staying, and to hide from the culprits he ducks into Mary Carter's (Paulette Goddard) trunk. She is leaving for Cuba where she inherited a haunted castle on the equally haunted Black Island. When she gets there the island is occupied with uninvited guests. Anthony Quinn plays a duel role as the evil, scheming Mederos twins. When Larry and Mary arrive waiting at the castle is Mother Zombie and her giant zombie son. When Larry and his friend and valet, Alex (Willie Best) make sure everything's safe all wacky mayhem breaks loose. Larry gets more than he bargained for. Hope's funny wise-cracks keep you laughing and forget you're supposed to be scared. I would say this is one of the funniest comedies, if not one of Bob Hope's finest comedies I've seen. It's a different kind of scary movie with lots of comeback jokes, that's not out to frighten you, but to scare you silly and there's romance, too. It's the original 'Ghostbusters,' but in black-and-white and without all the hype of some big movie production and special effects. It's just plain entertainingly good time.

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ONE OF BOB AND PAULETTE'S BEST
Mr. Hope plays Larry Lawerence a radio announcer who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Someone's been shot and he thinks he's did it. Why? See the movie! Anyway, he stumbles across Mary Carter (played by Paulette Goddard) a beautiful brunette who has just inherited a castle in Cuba. Only thing is, the castle is reputed to be HAUNTED (did lightning flash when you read haunted? ) oh well. For some reason, a lot of people don't want Miss Carter to go to the castle, and someone has offered her a large sum of money for the place. But why? What is so special about an old castle? And why doesn't anyone want Miss Carter to have the place? SEE THE MOVIE!!! Larry and Miss Carter end up going to Cuba together to visit the historic castle. Part of what they find is ghosts and zombies. But what else lurks in the halls of this darkened castle? SEE THE MOVIE DARN IT!!! This movie is filled with action, suspense, horror, drama, and comedy, all rolled into one !!! Anthony Quinn has a small role in the film, and I just love the character named Alex. He adds a unique flavor to the movie. I just wish I could own a suit like Hope wears in this fun film. It's perfect for Halloween, and it's minus four letter words (of the bad kind). Of course, I'm partial to spooky/comedy movies anyway (they're one of my favorites). The lines of this film are delightfully written. Republicans will just love the question/remark Larry makes about democrats. The person who wrote the script is a master, plain and simple. All the sarcastic remarks and other wisecracks were the work of a genius. Everyone involved did superbly (did I spell that right?). In one part, Larry says to Alex, "we aren't going to get hurt unless we find the secret of this place" to which Alex asks "well why do we keep looking". Larry then responds with "it is sort of ridiculous isn't it?" Comical lines like that are found throughout the movie. This is a movie the whole family can watch and enjoy. I know I did.

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Easily one of Bob Hope's finest films
Bob Hope was never truly a film comedian like Cary Grant or even Joel McCrea. He was primarily a radio personality who also appeared in a few films. For the most part, his later career was progressively weaker and weaker, and his celebrated series of Road Pictures with Bing Crosby were more notable for their spirit and energy than for much in the way of genuine humor. Indeed, of the famous comedians of the 20th century, Hope was one of the least funny. But for those who, like myself, do not count themselves among Hope's fans, there are two films that he made, both with Paulette Goddard, that are both remarkably entertaining and fun: THE CAT AND THE CANARY, released in 1939, and THE GHOST BREAKERS, released in 1940.

What made these two films so much more successful than those that followed? First and foremost, there is a balance between the rest of the film elements and Hope's strong screen personality. For many of us, a little Bob Hope goes a long way, and in small amounts can even be entertaining. Although shockingly few of his one liners are actually funny, he does possess a nice physical timing, a great energy level, and a pleasant persona. He was never more pleasant or well presented as in these two films. The balance was achieved partly by not focusing as much on Hope as in his later films, and partly by including a very strong supporting cast. The very beautiful Paulette Goddard adorned both THE CAT AND THE CANARY and THE GHOST BREAKERS (her marriage to Charlie Chaplain ending in between efforts), and this film included as well Paul Lukas, Richard Carlson, and a very young Anthony Quinn (and for once the Mexican Quinn--born Antonio Rudolfo Oaxaca Quinn in Mexico--gets to play an Hispanic). The sets are fun, the direction fast-paced and never dull, and while the one liners don't elicit many out and out laughs, they at least engender a spirit of enjoyment. I can imagine only the most curmudgeonly viewer not having fun with one.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the film is the role of Alex the manservant played by Willie Best, who along with other black actors such as Fred 'Snowflake' Toones played a host of frightened, illiterate, stupid, and lazy colored servants, red caps, and porters during the thirties and forties. In this film as well he is often fearful, frequently mangles his sentences, and is definitely subservient. Nonetheless, this is one of the most interesting of this kind of performance in any film I know from the era. Partly this is because you get the feeling that his character is far more intelligent than he at first lets on, and although he is often fearful, he always manages to get the better of his fear, and in fact intervenes physically more than once to help Hope when he is in danger. He and Hope seem more like companions the pure master and servant, and almost approximate Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Best does reinforce the stereotype in his role, but he comes very close to making something more of it. Sadly, it would remain one of the better roles for an African-American actor in a film mainly featuring white actors for some time (excepting several roles by the very talented and immensely dignified Rex Ingram, who is arguably the lone African American male who managed to completely shatter the stereotype in the 1940s, with several superb roles from THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD as the Genie, to Jim in HUCKLEBERRY FINN, to Da Lawd in GREEN PASTURES, to Lucifer in CABIN IN THE SKY, to Sgt. Tambul in SAHARA).

The DVD has a number of excellent features, including excerpts from some of Hope's USO tours (Hope was, of course, one of the foremost entertainers of U.S. troops in WW II, perhaps surpassed only by Marlene Dietrich, whose efforts were truly heroic, with her actually living with and entertaining troops in the front lines while the invasion of Germany pushed forward)

All in all, this was a very enjoyable film that will show Bob Hope at his very best.