Ghost Chasers

I watched Ghost Chasers (1951) on TCM this morning. Whitey takes Sach to a meeting of mediums at a mansion and they watch a seance. Meanwhile, Slip learns that Mama Parelli is being billed out of $100 by a phony medium. Mama wants to contact her son, who was killed in the war. Slip decides to use Louie as bait to trap these crooks. Louie wants to contact his dead uncle to,find out wheee he hid all the money that he owed Louie before he died. When the BBs converge on the mansion, Sach meets a friendly ghost named Edgar who only he can see. Edgar is able to perform all types of supernatural tricks. Eventually, the Boys confront the phony mediums, but Routine 5 is stoped cold by mass hypnotism. It's up to Sach and Edgar to save the day, with help from Louie's new counter girl, Cynthia, and her private detective boyfriend, Jack Eagen.

This Bowery Boys entry is pretty dull. There's little action and the script is mostly unfunny. Not much slapstick, either. Whitey, Chuck, and Butch are much more prominent in Ghost Chasers than they have been in the recent movies. But Sach and Slip are in very few scenes together. At first, it's Sach and Whitey, and then Sach and Edgar interacting. Slip operates mostly on his own. This BB movie is disjointed from the start and it doesn't improve as it goes along.

The boys get mixed up with a gang of phony spiritualists, at the same time Sach gets some special help.

What a hoot when Slip gives elocution lessons "how now brown cow" to coarse-talking Cynthia (Kayne). That's like Attila the Hun giving nice-nice lessons to Ghengis Khan. The pace really picks up once the boys invade Margo the phony Medium's house. Along the way, Sach picks up an impish ghost Edgar (Corrigan) that only he can see. It's a funny schtick since Edgar does all kinds of magic that confounds the disbelieving gang. Then too, catch that fractured Shakespeare Sach starts speaking after listening to the high-brow Edgar. Corrigan and Hall really work well together and Hall is livelier than in many of the other entries.

In fact, there are several centers of comedy, including Slip and the gang, and pint-sized Louie (B. Gorcey) doing his midget brand. And I hope they paid the boys extra for holding those frozen poses as well as they did, especially when they get lifted up. Also, I like the way Edgar "breaks character" and talks to the audience. Here, it's a rather charming touch. Of course, no one expects high-brow humor from these grade school drop-outs, but this entry is more imaginative and livelier than most.

"Ghost Chasers" surprised me, as it's a very enjoyable Bowery Boys film...something I just didn't expect...especially when I learned that the picture was shot in just 6 days!!!

The story involves some phony psychics who are bilking customers out of their money with promises they can talk to their dead loved ones. Oddly, the only one who doesn't fall for any of this is Slip...and he's an idiot! Well, the story gets very strange when Edgar, a 300 year-old ghost shows up because he, too, is mad about the phony psychics and offers to help Sach uncover the gang's dirty tricks. However, no one else seems to be able to see Edgar and you can only assume he appears to REALLY dumb folks!

Overall, this is actually a rather cute installment of the series. Edgar is a very likable character and I loved when he stopped to talk to the audience early in the story! In addition, the film offers some nice twists and kept my interest. Is it brilliant entertainment? Certainly not but it is a very watchable B-movie--and better than you'd expect.

While loquacious Leo Gorcey (as Terence Aloysius "Slip" Mahoney) tries to teach a girlfriend English diction ("How, now, brown, cow…"), simple-minded Huntz Hall (as Horace De Bussy "Sach" Jones) joins "Bowery Boys" William "Billy" Benedict (as Whitey), Buddy Gorman (as Butch), and David Gorcey (as Chuck) in a séance. The spirit world isn't really contacted, but Mr. Benedict remains a believer; he invites Mr. Hall to join his ghost-contacting group, which intends to contact a dead magician named "Leonardi".

The group turns out to be a racket, as Mr. Gorcey suspects. Gorcey decides to expose the group by persuading fatherly "Sweet Shop" owner Bernard Gorcey (as Louis "Louie" Dumbrowsky) to contact his debtor uncle "Jake" through "Margo the Medium" (Lela Bliss). Hall, meanwhile, befriends 300-year-old pilgrim Lloyd Corrigan (as Edgar Alden Franklin Smith), who steals the show. Edward J. Kay's finely-tuned musical direction, and Mr. Corrigan's spirited mission, help make "Ghost Chasers" an above average series entry.

***** Ghost Chasers (4/29/51) William Beaudine ~ Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey, Lloyd Corrigan

GHOST CHASERS is a whole lot of fun as the gang exposes a fake spiritualist racket, headed by Margo the Medium! You may notice the bad guys mansion (complete with sliding doors and hidden rooms) is the same old dark house used in SMUGGLERS COVE a few years earlier.

Also a super gag running through the film where Sach (and only Sach) can see and hear Edgar the ghost, who is just hanging around the mansion. Edgar is played by none other than popular character actor and director Lloyd Corrigan.

This episode also features some solid supporting players, like Philip Van Zandt as a phony doctor, Robert Coogan (Jackie's brother) as goofy detective Jack Eagan, Argentina Brunetti as Mama Parelli (Slip's neighbor who is being duped by the ghost racket) and Lela Bliss as Margo. Best line department: the gang is locked in a room that is flooded, to which Slip yells, "I think the walls are sweating!"

This was one of the first Bowery Boys to be released on vhs in 1992. Remastered via Warner Brothers dvd box set in 2012. The sets generally contain eight episodes each. Check out the classic color covers and movie posters.