The Ghost of St. Michael's

I'm giving this seven out of ten, back as a kid it would have been a ten but this time round, well, I suppose you know you're getting old when you find yourself sympathising with Will Hay's incompetent teacher, and rather hoping the obnoxious, snotty school kids get a slap; Charles Hawtrey's smart alec schoolboy in particular seems a nasty piece of work. Otherwise the absence of Moffatt and Marriott are keenly felt, because they allowed Hay to be both blustery incompetence but also sarcastic - here he doesn't get anyone to be sarcastic or superior to, so it's a relatively one-note performance. In his earlier roles you never knew if he'd be the fool or the sarcy one at any given time, it kept you on your toes.

Huntley and Laurie would appear in the war movie The Way Ahead of course. Personally I'm not sure the plot machinations of St Michael's stand up. Was it Huntley's ink on the forged suicide note? What gives? Still, the ending has a few surprises and some genuinely sinister moments.

Will Hay was too old to serve in the armed forces during World War II, but he did his part to ease the tension in England with some comedy films until he retired in 1943. "The Ghost of St. Michael's" isn't his funniest movie, but it is a fair comedy mystery that just incidentally has to do with the war.

Again, the comical Hay takes to the classroom where he is a teacher of questionable credentials (and abilities). He plays Will Lamb. This was all shot in the Ealing Studios near London, but the setting is of a castle somewhere on the coast of Scotland. It has been converted to a school for boys (high school age) whose school has been closed during the bombing of London.

The funniest part of the film is the scene of a court being conducted in a barn. Animals keep coming and going to the consternation of the presiding judge. Ducks, pigs, a goat, a chicken and a cow all have cameo appearances. The best lines are from this scene. Here are my favorite lines.

Procurator Fiscal (played by Hay Petrie), "I put it to you, Mr. Lamb. Either you are grossly incompetent to teach chemistry, or you're making a puerile attempt to avoid an accusation of having caused the death of Mr. Humphries."

Procurator Fiscal, 'You couldn't possibly have known that I would say what I've just said." Will Lamb, "Listen, if you're trying to say that I wouldn't have said what I said I'd say, if you said what you said you would've said, well all I can say is fiddle sticks."

Will Hay was adored by British audiences who saw his seedy, doddering con man character as preferable to the brash American comics they were offered. However distribution patterns make it seems unlikely that his reputation will outlast those who grew up with it.

This is an excellent example of the cycle with the shift to Ealing providing production values - settings that are just a fraction removed from real, superior character actors and Hulbert and Hawtrey a fair swap from his old Moore Marriot and Graham Moffat sidekick team.

The film is spun off THE GHOST TRAIN with enough variation to get attention. Aylmer's school is moved to the Channel Islands during WW2 and finds itself in a castle reputedly haunted by a bagpipes blowing, homicidal phantom. Hay, doing his incompetent school teacher character, proves a hit with the boys and blunders into solving the mystery.

The film is short on the great gags you might find in a W.C. Fields movie of the kind which must have served as a model for these but the lead trio are endearing and the pacing sharp enough to keep attention. The set pieces, the police inquiry held in the local dairy at milking time and a pursuit through the castle's secret passages, are more than adequate.

Many of the other reviewers here seem pretty well versed on the star and these kind of films, but I'm approaching both Hay and British comedies from this era in general as a newbie. Judging from the plot synopsis written here, I was expecting a merging of comedy with old dark house horror along the lines of HOLD THAT GHOST (made the same year in the States), but this is pretty much just a straight comedy that happens to take place in a spooky setting. During WWII, St. Michael's school for boys has to move to a more secure location - a large, gloomy, remote, rat-infested castle located in Isle of Skye in Scotland. Staff and students show up and get settled in, and uppity, bumbling, fast-talking teacher Will Lamb (Will Hay) is immediately assigned the position of science teacher despite being grossly incompetent to handle the position. Lamb is quickly befriended by a goofy colleague (Claude Hulbert) and, because of his unconventional approach and manner, manages to win over the boys in his class. But soon enough, multiple problems arise for our hapless hero. For starters, nasty teacher Mr. Humphries (Raymond Huntley), who seems a little overly eager to climb the professional ladder, tries to convince the school headmaster (Felix Aylmer) to fire him. Secondly, because of its sordid history, the creepy castle caretaker (John Laurie) seems dead certain that the castle is haunted by a malignant spirit. Third, several people end up getting killed, with the ominous "phantom pipes" (bagpipes) signaling each death. Who's responsible; a vengeful human or a centuries-old ghost?

One noticeable difference between this and concurrent comedies from the States is the presentation of Hay's character. You didn't too often see (in American movies from this period) an authority figure/bumbling hero who flagrantly lies, is incompetent in his line of work, drinks whiskey with a bunch of underage students and acts like he's going to haul off and slap or kick his pupils when they say something he doesn't like. Yet somehow, Hay manages to come off as utterly charming and likable. You can see why the pupils take a liking to him. The entire supporting cast; particularly Aylmer and Charles Hawtrey, as the brainy and outspoken student Percy, was excellent. As far as this functioning as a murder-mystery, it does a fairly good job of that as well. There's a lively finale making good use of trap doors and secret passageways. When the killer's identity is revealed it's also a genuine surprise. Though obviously a low-budget and set-bound production, it's fairly well staged and has a decent screenplay with plenty of amusing dialogue and good comic situations to put our heroes in. All in all, it's a pleasant and entertaining way to spend 78 minutes of your time.

I like all of Will Hay's films, but apart from 'Oh, Mr Porter,' this is my favourite. It is jam packed with funny one-liners and comic situations and gives Hay full reign to play his seedy music hall schoolmaster. A wee gem of a film.