classicsoncall Review of Gildersleeve's Ghost

Gildersleeve's Ghost (1944)

"And remember, if you're going to get mixed up in any scandal, I want to be the cause of it."

[5/10 · 30 November 2023]

With a title like "Gildersleeve's Ghost", you wouldn't expect a gorilla to be one of the principal characters now, would you? That's an early surprise, right after two ancient ghosts ascend from their graves and decide to help their present-day relative win an election for police commissioner. Just the elements in those last two sentences would be enough of a premise for a wacky movie, but then you have to add a mad scientist (Frank Reicher), an over-sexed 'disappearing' lady (Marion Martin), a flighty newspaper reporter (Marie Blake), and current police commissioner Haley (Emory Parnell) into the mix, and the story gets about as hectic as it can with our hero Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve (Harold Peary) trying to prove he's not going crazy. And as for that gorilla, there's a 'real' one as part of the mad scientist menagerie, and Gildersleeve's assistant Peavey (Richard LeGrand) running around in a gorilla suit as a decoy to lure out the other one! Zany is probably the best word to describe this boatload of nonsense, but in the end it's a pretty entertaining flick that doesn't in the least try to take itself seriously. Recommended? Not really, but you could do worse, as I have many times.