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The East Side Kids decide to do some redecorating for a pal on his honeymoon. He's marrying Ava Gardner and the gang wants to give him a token of friendship. However, Bela Lugosi appears talking about being surrounded by imbeciles. No spooks, but some WWII spies. An early version of the Bowery Boys, this film is silly entertainment. Gorcey, Hall, Jordan, and Billy Benedict are more youthful, which adds to the escapades. 2 out of 4 stars

It is wrong to critize this film, it was a funny and enjoyable movie in the 1940's and it will remain a classic film in our libraries for many generations to come.

Bela Lugosi played a straight role as a Nazi, which he was proud of performing instead of his Horror roles. Ava Garnder received her first film credit and looked slim and trim and gave a great performance, the East Side Kids gave this film class all by itself, they are a talent to be long remembered.

The main problem with "Ghosts on the Loose" is that it's outdated. Today's audience doesn't know the norms of 1943 society so we can't fully appreciate when the East Side Kids break these rules with their comical lines and antics. The characters use a lot of slang and terms that are over 60 years old. We can't get the full impact of these lines. Things really weren't the same back then. We can still get quite a bit of humor out of this movie but unless we were alive during that time, I don't think we can possibly catch everything. I still found this to be an entertaining movie and still funny. What I liked the most was seeing this film in a historical perspective. I'd like to get a few "East Side Kids" films under my belt and see the comedy of the 40s. It's always interesting to see anything with Bela Lugosi in it and he does have a staring role in this. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that this is one of Ava Gardner's early movies. As entertainment I would have to say that "Ghosts on the Loose" is an OK movie. It lost a lot of its appeal over the years but is still good for a few laughs. As an historical piece of cinematic history, it's priceless.

This was another East Side Kids movie that was pretty funny from beginning to end, largely due to the antics of Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall as well as Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison. This was Bela Lugosi's second appearance (after Spooks Run Wild) in a film with this gang though he rarely has any scenes with any of them. This was also one of Ava Gardner's early roles in the movies and she's not in it much, either. As the title implies, this takes place in a supposed haunted house with strange things happening. So on that note, I recommend Ghosts on the Loose. P.S. It's amusing that New Orleans native Morrison says "Who Dat!" at one point since that's now the rallying cry for that Crescent City's NFL football team, the Saints. Also loved it when Glimpy asks "Who?" before Muggs says, "Who is on first."

I've tried to like this film, but at best it's merely tolerable. I thought that there would be more to it. There are basically two parts to the film: 1)Ava Gardner and Rick Vallin's wedding 2) At the two country houses. The first half of "Ghosts on the Loose" is a total gyp. It's got nothing to do with ghosts (neither does the second half) and is frankly quite boring. The only pluses in this half of the film are the moments with young Ava and her fiancé/husband Rick. The second half of the film is a let-down. The East Side Kids arrive in the country and spend many dull moments redecorating what they think is the honeymoon couples house. They move furniture around while the most awful, dreary canned background music is played (the same awful music that was used in "The Ape Man" and other Monogram films). By the time a printing press starts getting moved around from house to house this film almost becomes a sleep inducing bore. What a shame! If Monogram had used better background music I would have added a star to my rating. Lugosi has very little time on screen here. Like others have said "Spooks Run Wild" is the better of the two Lugosi-East Side Kids outings...much better!