Un fantasma al sol de mediodía

This is one of Peter Sellers' lesser-known movies. And I wouldn't say it's one of his best. It's not the same quality as classics like "The Pink Panther" or "Dr. Strangelove." This movie is just a silly pirate farce. Not bad, but could have been better.

I just saw the Ghost of Peter Sellers, a documentary about this ill fated film. Its the best documentary I've seen about a movie going wrong. As a filmmaker, I think every director should watch it. Its even better than Lost in la Mancha, because it was directed by the same director who shot the dreadful movie, Peter Medak.

Peter Sellars was a strange and most perplexing actor. At times, he was brilliant...producing some of the best films of the era. Imagine....playing multiple roles in such classics as "Dr. Strangelove" and "The Mouse That Roared"! He was also brilliant in "Being There" and many other pictures. That being said, he also starred in many of the WORST comedies of his era...and this became much more the norm during the last decade of his life. Some was due to his overacting, some was due to his terrible choices of film projects and some was likely due to his being a VERY difficult actor who often clashed with directors...making the filmmaking process hellish for everyone according to many sources. Just look at films like "The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu", "The Prisoner of Zenda" and "The Great McGonagall"...all box office bombs with very, very few laughs. Because of the incredibly uneven quality of his later work, I put off watching "Ghost in the Noonday Sun" for many years.

In addition to my trepidation, the film turns out to have been a nightmare to make...with Sellers and the director at each other's throats during production. The film was also shelved and never released in theaters...only being released to cable a decade later! Surely, this likely means that my watching "Ghost" would be a chore!

The story starts off poorly. Inexplicably, it begins with a long prologue which looks like a parody of a silent movie. It is odd, as the rest of the film is NOT silent nor looks anything like this prologue. However, in the prologue you learn that a pirate ship's cook has killed the Captain and assumed command. Unfortunately, this cook is too stupid to remember where the pirate treasure was buried and he and the dead Captain are the only ones who know about its whereabouts. In order to get to where it is, the cook and his crew kidnap a boy who apparently can see and talk to the dead in the hope that the boy can talk to the Captain and learn about the treasure.

So is this any good? No. Unfortunately, instead of making the film conventional and funny, like Sellers' Pink Panther films, it is very unconventional. Sellers' performance is VERY broad and, frankly, poor. The film also is just dumb in places, such as the extensive use of 'silly' sound effects, sped up sequences in order to make them funny (it didn't work) as well as naming the cook 'Dick Scratcher'.

It has more of a Three Stooges style than that of a pirate film. Compared to this, the silly (but very uneven) 1980s film, "Yellowbeard" is a masterpiece!

Overall, this is a very bad film that even Peter Sellers' most devoted fans would have a hard time enjoying or even justifying its being made in the first place.

Peter Sellers plays Dick Scratcher (ha,ha), a cook for a pirate ship who takes over as captain after he murders the previous one. Although he's witnessed a treasure being buried, he begins losing his memory and the treasure map he obtains becomes blank. Thus, Dick is forced to find someone who can see and communicate with ghosts (do you place an ad for that?) and help lead a path to the treasure. It's mind boggling how anyone could have bankrolled this pointless film. Former Goon Spike Milligan replaced Medak as director, and given Medak's talents in the film The Ruling Class, you can probably guess which of the grainy, poorly lit scenes had Milligan in the director's chair. Peter Boyle makes a brief appearance in the film's first 10 minutes as the doomed pirate captain. He's probably quite thankful that Young Frankenstein was released the same year this was filmed and canned, so that he can keep this off his resume. Franciosa looks dashing as the handsome power-behind-Scratcher but he and Seller both look pretty desperate, with even Sellers' makeup and hair looking quite terrible. They had to know this movie was bombing even as they were filming it. With lines like these, I can understand any possible unease:

PIERRE: (about to be hanged) You'll pay for this.

SCRATCHER: No, I won't. I'll do it for free.

And that's one of the GOOD jokes. It's amazing to me that much of Sellers prolific material is still in the vaults, but this was made available on VHS more than 15 years ago! How about someone stepping up to the plate and releasing in the US the well-received British TV program "A Show Called Fred" starring Sellers, Milligan, and directed by the great Richard Lester?

I have been a Sellers fan for most of my life. Growing up in the late 60's and 70's his name was a household word because his comedic power brought laughter to millions. His diversity is simply astounding compared to, say, Jim Carrey or Jeniffer Aniston. Maybe this is a movie for the true Peter Sellers fan. A bit off the beaten path. The plot is secondary. Watching Sellers in character is a pure joy. You will never see a more cowardly pathetic weasel on film anywhere. Sellers performance in Ghost in the Noonday Sun is much more entertaining than Magic Christian or Casino Royale. Lighten up and enjoy the simple buffoonery and hilarious character brilliantly played by the great Peter Sellers. Skelingtons and canyon balls to you.