Cristi_Ciopron A delightful, eminently watchable comedy, masterly paced, you may find it endearing, with its expert timing, and despite the gracelessness of its male cast, anyway the movie spells its genre so as not to disappoint the gullible; a playwright rented the mansion once owned by an insane physician, whose legacy of fright still carries on, and the playwright gathers there several people to stage his play, with one of the main results being that they all are really guests and none knows indeed the house. I believe that the device of 'the audience on stage', or 'the audience in the movie', as represented by the old-timer and his degenerate secretary intended to have fun no matter what, worked wonderfully; that's how exciting they felt to be the cinema, and they were right. Miljan plays the controversial playwright, June Collyer plays the starlet, while Kolker and Kirke are the usual creeps from such movies; save for the two girls (June and Eve), it's an ugly cast, one player uglier than the other, at least four mugs (the playwright, the supposed Amphytrio the psychiatrist, the heady Terry, the butler).Eve Southern was intriguing, she's the one playing the insane widow.The guards' uniform looked eerie. The patient's discourse was an early impersonation of the German Leader.Nice pace, sharp one-liners, two likable actresses, ugly male cast; as said, it's a farce, kindred to music hall, revue, etc., but the plot was neat anyway, and the experience is refreshing.Strayer directed 'The Ghost …' in '34, and 'The Monster …' in '32.

binapiraeus Now, this movie, made in the middle of the great wave of 30s' mysteries, certainly has got ALL the 'necessary' ingredients: the isolated old house, the thunderstorm outside, psychic ongoings, turning bookshelves, eyes staring out of portraits, secret passages... But at the same time it's also one of the very first, and best, spoofs on the genre - and the scary moments are really masterfully mixed with the comic ones! It all starts (once again) with a car being stuck in the mud in the middle of nowhere, with only an old mansion for the three travelers to seek shelter from the rain: a theatrical producer, his secretary, and a playwright. But the scenery changes as soon as the inhabitants of the house greet the playwright: they're old acquaintances, although not all of them seem to be on very friendly terms with him. And then a strange woman makes her appearance: dressed all in black and staring in an absent-minded way, she steps down the stairs - and scares the travelers with her strange talk about danger and murders in this very house... The host explains that she's his sister, and she's been mentally disturbed ever since her husband was murdered right there in the dining room three years ago - and as soon as they sit down to dinner, she starts talking to her invisible dead husband, a chair starts to move all by itself, the lights turn out, a frightening death mask is seen; and when the lights are on again, the mysterious woman has disappeared...But as soon as the producer and the secretary, both scared to death, have disappeared into their room, the atmosphere changes: the playwright and his friends, who turn out to be actors, are very much amused and pleased by their 'rehearsal' of his new play, which he hopes the producer will accept this way! Meanwhile, the producer finds a copy of the script in his room, and so he also thinks he knows what's going on, and decides to join in with the 'fun' - only that a short while later, the 'play' is ended suddenly when they find the actress who had impersonated the disturbed woman is found dead behind a door...From this point on, the movie keeps confusing us so much that sometimes we really don't know where the 'plot within the plot' stops and the 'real' horror begins... But the balance between mystery and comedy is being held really perfectly throughout the whole movie, so it should provide unforgettable entertainment for ALL classic movie fans with a sense of humor - a much underestimated little B movie gem that should certainly get more attention by film historians, so that a wider audience will be able to get to know and enjoy it!

Michael_Elliott Ghost Walks, The (1934) ** (out of 4) A screenwriter invites his producer's to an old dark house. He's paid a bunch of actors to act out his play so that the producer will put up the money but soon a real killer starts to stalk them. The premise is rather interesting but like most of these types of films of the era it really never gets too interesting due to the lackluster direction. Perhaps I've just seen way too many of these films but they all appear the same. Just a different cast.Living Ghost, The (1942) ** (out of 4) A detective is hired to find out who killed a man but once he's on the scene another victim falls into some sort of zombie-like state. Here's another "old dark house" film that has a rather boring mystery plot and lifeless direction from the usually reliable William Beaudine.

ricmarc2001 The Ghost Walks is a nifty little mystery with a great twist, snappy dialog, and best of all a pansy played to the twittery hilt by character actor Johnny Arthur which never demeans or denigrates his character. Mr. Arthur is great in his role of Homer Erskine bringing great comic relief as the secretary of the Broadway producer Herman Wood, played by another great character actor Richard Carle.They play off of each other superbly.Although the acceptable words of the time sissy and cream puff are used to describe the character of Homer, it is never mean spirited or meant as denigration, and are not spoken by the manly males of the film but by his employer, who fires and rehires him every other scene and who displays an almost exasperated affection for his devoted employee.There is a great scene where Homer tells his boss that he has devoted the best years of his life to him and has been everything but a mother to him.The mystery angle of the film is very entertaining, and the twist at the end might just leave you in stitches.For a low budget poverty row picture, this film has superb set decoration and great costuming.Director Frank Strayer ably handles his cast and this film holds together much better than some of his other low budget mystery attempts, but he had a great script to work with and some wonderful actors to carry it through.This film is a must see for devotees of poverty row films, old dark house mysteries (they actually managed to work in the lines "It was a dark and stormy night)and it has the added bonus of being an early representation of a gay character in film where nothing bad happens to them in the end.This movie is available for download in the public domain film section of the Internet Archive at archive.org.