NOTE IMDb
5,6/10
564
MA NOTE
Ajouter une intrigue dans votre langueHapless Benjamin Powell, his loving wife Kate, and their teenage son Steven rent a haunted seaside house in New England for their summer vacation, which quickly turns into a ghost-hunt.Hapless Benjamin Powell, his loving wife Kate, and their teenage son Steven rent a haunted seaside house in New England for their summer vacation, which quickly turns into a ghost-hunt.Hapless Benjamin Powell, his loving wife Kate, and their teenage son Steven rent a haunted seaside house in New England for their summer vacation, which quickly turns into a ghost-hunt.
- Réalisation
- Scénario
- Casting principal
William Castle
- Mr. Hymer
- (non crédité)
Byron Foulger
- Drug Store Owner
- (non crédité)
Harvey Lembeck
- Capt. Pederson
- (non crédité)
Avis à la une
I was sure I'd imagined this movie until I found it here. I remember watching it on TV as kid and loving it. I imagine it doesn't hold up much nowadays, though.
The theme song will ring around in my head every now and then; it was an infectuous tune with a tinkly harpsichord. "The spirit is willing... Her kisses are chilling... "The spirit is willing... But the body is weak..."
I'd love to see it again.
The theme song will ring around in my head every now and then; it was an infectuous tune with a tinkly harpsichord. "The spirit is willing... Her kisses are chilling... "The spirit is willing... But the body is weak..."
I'd love to see it again.
Nathaniel Benchley (son of humorist Robert Benchley) wrote The Visitors, a frightening novel about a ghostly haunting, which was purchased for filming by legendary Hollywood showman William Castle.
Castle, who had yet to attain respect as producer (but not director) of Roman Polanski's masterly Rosemary's Baby (1968), had recently completed a successful string of blatant imitations of Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), including Homicidal (1961) and Strait-Jacket (1964), and had stumbled with a pair of inept teen-thrillers, I Saw What You Did (1965) and Let's Kill Uncle (1966).
Evidently seeking to expand his audience while maintaining his position as king of schlock horror, Castle re-visioned Benchley's decidedly adult novel as a family comedy along the lines of his bland 13 Ghosts (1960). Unfortunately, Castle was hopeless as a comedy director, as his overly-broad Hammer remake of The Old Dark House (1963) had demonstrated. Humor had been an essential underlying element of Castle's most successful earlier films, The House on Haunted Hill (1958) and The Tingler (1959), but this had been supplied by star Vincent Price and the ironic wit of screenwriter Robb White rather than any knack on the part of the director. Castle persisted and The Spirit Is Willing descended into lazy slapstick, as did its black-comedy follow-up The Busy Body (1967), also starring Sid Caesar.
In and of itself, The Spirit Is Willing is a fun little movie which today carries an aura of tacky nostalgia, but the golden opportunity for a chilling ghostly thriller along the lines of Robert Wise's classic The Haunting (1963) was recklessly thrown away.
It behooves Dark Castle Entertainment, which has been remaking the Castle "classics", to consider a new, dramatic version of the Benchley novel. With the blockbuster success of films like The Sixth Sense, The Others and The Ring, the time is right for The Visitors to arrive.
Castle, who had yet to attain respect as producer (but not director) of Roman Polanski's masterly Rosemary's Baby (1968), had recently completed a successful string of blatant imitations of Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), including Homicidal (1961) and Strait-Jacket (1964), and had stumbled with a pair of inept teen-thrillers, I Saw What You Did (1965) and Let's Kill Uncle (1966).
Evidently seeking to expand his audience while maintaining his position as king of schlock horror, Castle re-visioned Benchley's decidedly adult novel as a family comedy along the lines of his bland 13 Ghosts (1960). Unfortunately, Castle was hopeless as a comedy director, as his overly-broad Hammer remake of The Old Dark House (1963) had demonstrated. Humor had been an essential underlying element of Castle's most successful earlier films, The House on Haunted Hill (1958) and The Tingler (1959), but this had been supplied by star Vincent Price and the ironic wit of screenwriter Robb White rather than any knack on the part of the director. Castle persisted and The Spirit Is Willing descended into lazy slapstick, as did its black-comedy follow-up The Busy Body (1967), also starring Sid Caesar.
In and of itself, The Spirit Is Willing is a fun little movie which today carries an aura of tacky nostalgia, but the golden opportunity for a chilling ghostly thriller along the lines of Robert Wise's classic The Haunting (1963) was recklessly thrown away.
It behooves Dark Castle Entertainment, which has been remaking the Castle "classics", to consider a new, dramatic version of the Benchley novel. With the blockbuster success of films like The Sixth Sense, The Others and The Ring, the time is right for The Visitors to arrive.
Certain movies can stick with you after years and years.
I've only seen "The Spirit is Willing" two or three times, probably most often on the CBS Late Night Movies. (That was way back in the Stone Age, when Carson was the only late-night talk show. I was probably in elementary or junior high school and would stay up way too late to watch the movies that started at 10:30 Central time. But enough about that.)
"The Spirit is Willing" was one of those silly, harmless comedies so fondly remembered. It had the hapless dad, the loving mother and the teenage son who was smarter than either, except when it came to the romance department.
What teenage boy wouldn't want to live in a house with a beautiful and sexy blonde ghost?! Oh, and of course, he had a beautiful blond girlfriend who looked just like the ghost!!
This is a movie the way they used to be made! Not hilarious, but definitely funny ... a guilty pleasure. (Now if only it would be re-released!)
I've only seen "The Spirit is Willing" two or three times, probably most often on the CBS Late Night Movies. (That was way back in the Stone Age, when Carson was the only late-night talk show. I was probably in elementary or junior high school and would stay up way too late to watch the movies that started at 10:30 Central time. But enough about that.)
"The Spirit is Willing" was one of those silly, harmless comedies so fondly remembered. It had the hapless dad, the loving mother and the teenage son who was smarter than either, except when it came to the romance department.
What teenage boy wouldn't want to live in a house with a beautiful and sexy blonde ghost?! Oh, and of course, he had a beautiful blond girlfriend who looked just like the ghost!!
This is a movie the way they used to be made! Not hilarious, but definitely funny ... a guilty pleasure. (Now if only it would be re-released!)
I noticed a lot of people wishing there was a way to purchase a copy of this movie. I found a site online that sells rare and classic movies and stuff like that...and they carry this one. Plus, the DVD is only like $12.
Go to - http://store.thesmallscreen.org/spiswi19dvd.html.
Plug that URL into your browser and see for yourself.
I saw the movie when I was really really little and had just written it off as my imagination until I found it here. It combines two things little kids are understandably intrigued by: ghosts and sex. It's comforting to know that I was not simply too imaginative as a child, that the things I swear I remember weren't just fantasies! IMDb validated me just a little.
I wish I was alive in the sixties. Because according to these people, the greatest problem of THEIR time was "the sex lives of ghosts," not crime and poverty. Nice.
Go to - http://store.thesmallscreen.org/spiswi19dvd.html.
Plug that URL into your browser and see for yourself.
I saw the movie when I was really really little and had just written it off as my imagination until I found it here. It combines two things little kids are understandably intrigued by: ghosts and sex. It's comforting to know that I was not simply too imaginative as a child, that the things I swear I remember weren't just fantasies! IMDb validated me just a little.
I wish I was alive in the sixties. Because according to these people, the greatest problem of THEIR time was "the sex lives of ghosts," not crime and poverty. Nice.
I saw this on late night TV as a teenager, and remember certain cast members. That was the only way I was able to find this film in the database. I cross referenced Mary Wickes with the butterfly collector on a Gilligan's Island episode. His name escaped me then, but it is John McGiver. Recently I bought a copy of the original book, and it was well written. The basic plot is the same, but Castle's comedic treatment did take away from the scarier aspects of the story. Incidentally Nathaniel Benchley, the author of the book was the father of Jaws author Peter Benchley. Humorist Robert Benchley was Nathaniel's own father. I keep requesting this to play on Turner Classic Movies to play it, but I doubt it is classic enough. Maybe if they do a b-series of William Castle gimmick films it will fit the format. Paramount handles distribution of it. Maybe it will come out on DVD some day...
***Update*** I bought the eastern European import DVD from a Florida company, and watched it today. It is as amusing as I remember -- very much in the "spirit" of the madcap sixties decade in which it was made.
As is often the case, it pales in comparison to the original media. But that argument is so old its cliché. I'd like to see the book made into a true horror movie, but that's for a different forum than this. If this movie ever is released on DVD in the USA, I expect it to go straight to the $5.50 discount bin. But I do bet it gets snatched up by people like us. Us being the people that look up this movie on IMDb.
***Update*** I bought the eastern European import DVD from a Florida company, and watched it today. It is as amusing as I remember -- very much in the "spirit" of the madcap sixties decade in which it was made.
As is often the case, it pales in comparison to the original media. But that argument is so old its cliché. I'd like to see the book made into a true horror movie, but that's for a different forum than this. If this movie ever is released on DVD in the USA, I expect it to go straight to the $5.50 discount bin. But I do bet it gets snatched up by people like us. Us being the people that look up this movie on IMDb.
Le saviez-vous
- AnecdotesThe novel this movie was based on, "the Visitors" by Nathaniel Benchley, was published with art by Charles Addams, whose "Addams Family" comics were the basis for the TV series which made "Spirit is Willing" co-star John Astin a star. Furthermore, director William Castle previously worked directly with Addams, as the cartoonist provided drawings for Castle's 1963 film "The Old Dark House".
- GaffesWhen Ben is in the bathroom preparing to go to bed the first night, he walks out wearing slippers, when he enters the bedroom he is bare foot.
- Citations
Ben Powell: Look, you can't afford a new car.
Steve Powell: But dad, neither can you but you drive one.
Ben Powell: I'm too poor to drive an old car.
- Crédits fousThe people in this movie are fictitious. Only the ghosts are real.
- ConnexionsReferenced in All the Way Down (1968)
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- How long is The Spirit Is Willing?Alimenté par Alexa
Détails
- Date de sortie
- Pays d’origine
- Langue
- Aussi connu sous le nom de
- The Spirit Is Willing
- Lieux de tournage
- Société de production
- Voir plus de crédits d'entreprise sur IMDbPro
- Durée1 heure 40 minutes
- Mixage
- Rapport de forme
- 1.78 : 1
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By what name was Trois fantômes à la page (1967) officially released in Canada in English?
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