Ghost And Mr. Chicken

Starring: Don Knotts & Joan Staley Director: Alan Rafkin

The basic problem I have with this movie after watching it for the first time in years is that the lightful music score throughout is sometimes out of place. Either no music or something less light would do well in spots where Luther is doing ordinary things.
On the other hand, sometimes he is doing important things,
yet his support score is undermining that by insisting that everything he does is a joke, producing saccharin-like humor.
The court scene is the high point as far as comic effect goes.
Knotts was capable of funnier stuff than this, but overall it is a pretty good show. Recommendable as an amusing film worth buying and watching.

I FIRST WATCHED THIS MOVIE WHEN I WAS 9 OR SO YRS. OLD. THE MOVIE IS A BARNHOUSE OF LAUGHS. MRS. MAXWELL'S CHARACTER IS A GOOD MIX WITH LUTHER'S, KNOTT'S BEING THE REPORTER LUTHER HEGGS. LUTHER IS CLASSIC KNOTTS ALL THE WAY, A MEMORABLY WOBBLYCOBBLY KINDA' FELLA' WHO YOU'D NEVER FORGET IF YOU MET HIM IN REAL LIFE. AND YOU'D PROBABLY NEVER GET THROUGH LAUGHING ABOUT HIS QUIRKS EITHER! TOO BAD COMIC FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT HAS DROPPED SO FAR BELOW THE HARMLESS GOOD OL' LAUGHALOT SPIRIT THAT MAKES THIS MOVIE SUCH A KEEPSAKE.

This is one of the first movies I remember ever watching on TV as a kid. Seems like it would usually show up each year at Hallowe'en time. It's chock full of good ol' all-around family entertainment. ( Something this country desperately needs more of today. )

I enjoy so many things about this movie: "Attaboy, Luther!" ( a recurring bit suggested by Andy Griffith ); "And they used Bon Ami!" ( Don Knotts personally called the president of the Bon Ami Cleanser company to ask for permission to use that brand name in the movie ); the two haunted organs; the memorable Victorian house facades seen up and down "Colonial Street" on the Universal City backlot ( which includes the Munster's house and the Cleaver's house ).

Trivia buffs: There's a chubby, bespectacled "Barney Fife"-type deputy who appears in this movie, "Herkie", played by actor-turned-Hollywood producer JAMES BEGGS! Famous 1960s character actors BURT MUSTIN ( Beaver Cleaver's fireman friend ) and RETA SHAW ( "Tarot, Tarot, Solomon!" ) appear, too. PHIL OBER, the movie's bad guy, was in reality the longtime husband of VIVIAN "Ethel Mertz" VANCE. The drunk, seen at the very beginning of the movie, is HAL SMITH, "Otis" on "The Andy Griffith Show"! Also seen briefly are SANDRA GOULD ( the second "Gladys Kravitz" on "Bewitched" ) and RICHARD "Mr. Whipple" WILSON ( "Please don't squeeze the Charmin!" ).

If you have never seen this movie, or haven't seen it in years, do yourself a favor and get one from Oldies.com while you can! Get one, or I'll come back and haunt you...