Hillbillys in a Haunted House

Of the 13 feature films in which John Carradine and Lon Chaney both appeared, 1967's "Hillbillys in a Haunted House" was not only the last, it was one of the few where they actually shared any scenes (shot under the working title "Ghost Party"). Joined in villainy by a game, 74 year old Basil Rathbone, the three actors offer the only real novelty to this tired rehash of old dark house clichés, dragged down by its abundance of country music. A sequel to the successful "Las Vegas Hillbillys" (note the spelling!), retaining stars Ferlin Husky and Don Bowman, but replacing the absent Jayne Mansfield with the equally photogenic Joi Lansing. En route to Nashville for a good old fashioned jamboree, the trio break down and have to spend the night in a house that's not really haunted; its actually the home base for spies trying to steal a top secret formula from a local rocket base. John Carradine alternately scowls and grimaces as Dr. Himmil, when he's not mercilessly teasing the gorilla Anatole belonging to Lon Chaney's Maximillian, who goes undercover by getting past an unsuspecting janitor (all he gets for his trouble is a formula combining nitroglycerin and antihistamine!). As Gregor, Basil Rathbone shares most of his scenes with Carradine, using phony ghosts and noises to try to scare off their dimwitted intruders, whom they mistake for agents from M.O.T.H.E.R. (Master Organization to Halt Enemy Resistance). A genuine ghost closes out the spy stuff at 67 minutes, leaving the final two reels open for yet more musical numbers. Chaney is clearly having a grand time, and Rathbone too, while poor Carradine has to remain sullen for the most part, fewer opportunities to be funny (he did enjoy stealing Anatole's banana!). As bad as the film's reputation is, consider how much worse it would have been without its heavyweight cast of screen villains.

I've wanted to see HILLBILLYS IN A HAUNTED HOUSE for nigh onto half a century, since I first noticed it in Steven Scheuer's (sp?) movie guide and saw that it starred Sherlock Holmes! By which I meant Basil Rathbone. I wanted to see it because.... well, to understand how Basil Rathbone could be in a movie called HILLBILLYS IN A HAUNTED HOUSE. To my youthful mind, full of 1960s idealism and similar nonsense, it all seemed as unlikely as.... well, as Basil Rathbone being in a movie called HILLBILLYS IN A HAUNTED HOUSE, if not more so. Doubtless, since he was Sherlock Holmes, he would explain and it would be obvious ever after.

Well, decades have passed and I have become wiser -- some would say more cynical, but that's just the attitude I've come to expect from the 'oi polloi. Many other people have played Holmes, although none so entertainingly, and still my interest in seeing HILLBILLYS IN A HAUNTED HOUSE has not slackened, until this evening, when I came home from the barber, freshly shorn, to find on my dvr....guess what?

If you guessed HILLBILLYS IN A HAUNTED HOUSE, then you've guessed correctly and you must explain how you did it. Once upon a time I would have found it awful beyond words, but time has taught me many words, -- most of which I cannot use here -- the meaning of Ham & Bud and Paulie Shore, and I've seen Buster Keaton in THE GHOST IN THE INVISIBLE BIKINI, and Mickey Rooney reduced to a bit part in NIGHT IN THE MUSEUM 2, and Maya Angelou in CALYPSO HEAT WAVE, a Sam Katzman movie. So, after noting that 1960s pop/country is not one of my preferred genres, that the cobbled plot of hillbillies, haunted houses and spies is just as unimportant as all the other movies which serve to string together teenage songs in sub-AIP fare, I will note that Lon Chaney Jr., John Carradine and Basil Rathbone perform their scene with a guy in a gorilla costume as well as they can be expected to and it is simply average awful. Even if I think Don Bowman, playing Jeepers is just how I would have imagined a character named Jeepers in 1967.

HILLBILLYS IN A HAUNTED HOUSE (1967) * (D: Jean Yarbrough) A terrible film, badly directed by Yarbrough. His last film, and possibly Basil Rathbone's too (or perhaps AUTOPSY OF A GHOST). Lon Chaney Jr. and John Carradine can't help matters either - all three are wasted. They should have been put to better use even taking into account the low budget. Rathbone in particular appears disinterested (and who can blame him?) Just barely tolerable to see the three actors, but for completists only. Many awful tunes.

In his day, Director Jean Yarborough worked with all the big names in bad movies (Abbott & Costello, The Bowery Boys, Rondo Hatton and Bela Lugosi.) He even did an unacknowledged adventure series with Mantan Moreland battling Nazis in the tropics (KING OF THE ZOMBIES, LAW OF THE JUNGLE.)Capping off his film career with the ignominious twilight of performers like Carradine, Rathbone and Chaney Jr. seems like a destiny chosen for him by the gods of the B-Movies. Is there something of Greek tragedy in this ending, or is it merely poetic justice? At any rate, it was good to see three actors who had all seen much better days putting in one more turn as despicable villains, and it was a fitting coda for a director whose career was always more remarkable for determination than artistry.

I visited Nashville in 1998 and paid my respects to the great and the good of country music by spending an afternoon in the hallowed precincts of the Country Music Hall of Fame ,where one exhibit was devoted to the movies featuring the great names of the genre . I was left reflecting that by and large the movie industry has not been kind to country music and that most of the movies given exhibition space were low budget productions from poverty stricken regional studios ,rather than the big Hollywood companies . This lame brain picture exemplifies the kind of no brain movies they turned out and the patronising stance of such studios to their audience and the music it contained ,being a parade of stereotypes which pokes fun at country people and their music of choice Ferlin Husky plays a country singer who is stranded for a night in the eponymous house alongside his " girl singer " and business manager .It is a suitably creepy place -festooned with cobwebs and adorned with secret passages .It also happens to be the base for a spy network headed by a mysterious Oriental lady and her henchmen -slumming horror greats lon Chaney ,John Carradine and the wonderful Basil Rathbone .Not to mention a gorilla ! Do the musical trio triumph over their adversaries and make it to the big Nashville show ? Well , if you like country music and admire the work of the veteran actors I name checked earlier its just about worth watching to find out . By any objective standards this is dreadful but at least Rathbone and Carradine are worth watching although somewhat the worse for wear physically.However it is the presence of country music great Merle Haggard doing two numbers and the involvement of lesser but talented artists like Sonny James and Molly Bee that are mainly instrumental in sustaining interest

The last 20 minutes are devoted to a concert that has nothing to do with the plot and is unimaginatively staged and shot but whose peformances are historically fascinating and help make me like the movie more than it really deserves . Now will someone in the movie industry treat this great music -The true national music of America -with the respect due to it ?