Fifty Before '50: HOLD THAT GHOST (1941)

 by JB

Another seminal film has slipped through my brain cracks...

Although I count Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein among my very favorite horror films—I usually begin every Scary Movie Month with a rewatch—I remained in the dark about Hold That Ghost, the film every A&C book and documentary claimed as the inspiration for much of the “Lou Costello is so funny when he is scared” shtick in the Frankenstein picture.

Because I have seen ...Meet Frankenstein so many times, the earlier Hold That Ghost came across as a sort of "alternate dimension" version: In Hold That Ghost, the Bud Abbott character is named Chuck, leading to scene after scene of Costello yelling for his friend to come to his aid with “Oh, Chuck!” In ...Meet Frankenstein, Abbott's character is named Chick, leading to a similar chorus of Costello screaming, “Oh, Chick!” This similarity has to have been intentional.

THE PLOT IN BRIEF: Chuck Murray and Ferdy Jones (Bud Abbott and Lou Costello) are gas station attendants who work a one-night only gig as waiters at a fancy nightclub. The nightclub is frequented by gangsters like Moose Matson (William B. Davidson) and features top-notch entertainment, including bandleader Ted Lewis and the Andrews Sisters.

The next day, Moose stops at Chuck and Ferdy’s service station for gas and a wash. He is spotted by authorities who give chase; Moose is fatally shot. An odd codicil in his will bequeaths his entire estate to whoever is with him when he dies. Guess who is hiding in the backseat of the car? Chuck and Ferdy inherit Moose’s rundown tavern where, it is rumored, he hid his fortune. The tavern seems to be haunted. Other gangsters arrive. Will Chuck and Ferdy find the money before they are killed?

There’s a lot to like in this modest little film. Abbott & Costello are at the top of their game, especially in the bits involving physical comedy: At one point, Costello does a comic dance on a wet floor that is a highlight of the film. The supporting cast is also terrific: Mischa Auer shows up as an insufferable head waiter. Richard Carlson, still twelve years from making It Came from Outer Space and The Creature from the Black Lagoon at Universal, plays a nerdy doctor. Evelyn Ankers, who costarred in Universal’s The Wolf Man that same year, is featured as Carlson’s love interest. And Joan Davis, later to star in television’s I Married Joan, appears as an accident-prone waitress and Costello’s love interest. This is a great cast.

The production history of Hold That Ghost is fascinating. Earlier in 1941, the duo made Buck Privates for Universal Pictures, which became one of the studio’s highest grossing pictures to date. Although Abbott & Costello had nearly completed Hold That Ghost, that film was shelved so that Universal could cash in on Buck Privates’ success with another service comedy, In the Navy, which was also a big moneymaker. Both Buck Privates and In the Navy featured the Andrews Sisters. Preview audiences for Hold That Ghost asked why the film didn’t also feature the singing trio, so Universal put Hold That Ghost back into production, spending an additional $150,000 to add “bookend” scenes in a nightclub... featuring the Andrews Sisters.

It seems significant that Abbott & Costello made this movie, a horror comedy, for Universal in 1941 because, at that time, Universal had reached an impasse. Except for The Wolf Man, which would be released later in 1941, their famous horror films had run their course with sequel after sequel. Also, England responded negatively to American horror films and briefly banned them. Universal and other studios started to downplay the horror content of their horror films, focusing instead on newspaper movies (dogged reporters investigating something fishy), gangster pictures (criminals swindling people under the guise of monsters and ghosts), and horror comedies (tongue-in-cheek haunted house pictures like the Bob Hope remake of The Cat and the Canary). This trend reaches its head-scratching apotheosis in Hold That Ghost: Is it a comedy? A musical? A gangster movie? A haunted house picture? Is it a documentary about gas stations and the brave men who work there?

The answer is yes.

The new Kino-Lorber 4K disc looks great and contains two terrific audio commentaries, which complement each other nicely: Alan K. Rode focuses on production history and Samm Deighan focuses on the film as a whole. This is my first commentary by Deighan, but I was very impressed. She is both knowledgeable and conversational, two qualities that are sometimes at odds in other audio commentaries. I see here that Deighan produces special features for Vinegar Syndrome and hosts the “Twitch of the Death Nerve” podcast. I look forward to listening to more of her commentaries.