Fantasmas da Fuzarca

1944's "Ghost Catchers" remains a seldom seen musicomedy from Universal's busy wartime era, the third of four titles made there by the almost forgotten team of Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson. As near as I can figure, the pair were so similar in appearance that you can only tell them apart by the fact that Olsen was taller, with Johnson most often howling at his own antics. While I truly enjoyed their previous feature, 1943's "Crazy House," I was frankly bored with this one, way too much music taking up screen time for the first half of a brief 67 minute film that seemed much longer. They had only one interesting moment, a little dig at Abbott and Costello (done before in "Crazy House"), who had a huge success with 1941's "Hold That Ghost," one of their finest films (the same running figures used during the opening credits for both features). Here, we have a Southern Colonel (Walter Catlett) and his two singing daughters (Gloria Jean and Martha O'Driscoll), who rent a house haunted by a tap dancing ghost, played in his one sequence by perennial drunk Jack Norton. While the invisible spectre is not malevolent, there are others trying to scare away our protagonists, even murdering the caretaker (Alec Craig); gangsters hoping to make off with their hootch. The two most noticeable crooks are Lon Chaney (in a bear costume) and Andy Devine (in a horse's head), while cult favorite Tor Johnson can be spotted among the rest (among the musical guests are Morton Downey and drummer Mel Torme). While Devine gets to indulge a little, poor Chaney is completely wasted, enjoying better roles in his forthcoming Abbott and Costello movies. A better ounce of trivia involves the criminal mastermind wearing one of Chaney's Mummy masks (looking most like the one from the still forthcoming "The Mummy's Curse"). The adorable Gloria Jean does get to show off why she was Deanna Durbin's main competition at Universal, and lovely Martha O'Driscoll would see more of Lon Chaney the following year, in "Here Come the Co-eds" (with Abbott and Costello), "The Daltons Ride Again," and her most famous credit, "House of Dracula." Olsen and Johnson would do one more feature in 1945, "See My Lawyer," before returning to the stage, where they continued performing for the rest of their days (Bela Lugosi appeared in one of their early talkie films, 1931's "50 Million Frenchmen," shot in two strip Technicolor).

Without a doubt, this film is O & J's best film! A Colonel (with 2 daughters) move from Ga to NYC for the girl's Carnegie Hall debut.

The house they choose is haunted....by gangsters AND a REAL ghost!

Great O & J slapstick comedy, Swing dancing, and music ("Blue Candlelight" is the showstopper).

Plus, the ghosts (real & fake) are CREEPY!

"Last the best of all the game"!

In honor of today which is Halloween, I decided to watch various comedy teams' movies which has some scary stuff. This is the first of the Ole Olsen & Chic Johnson movies that I've seen and are now on YouTube. They play themselves as entertainers whose nightclub is next to a haunted house. That's all I feel I have to explain since the plot is pretty much ripped to shreds not only by their act but also by some singers like Gloria Jean, Morton Downey Sr., and Ella Mae Morse of which the last one provides some swingin' Big Band entertainment while the other two are more romantic ballad-like. I think I like Ms. Morse's numbers better than the other two though, really, there's too much of them. And while there are some funny punchlines and amusing visual bits, as well as an early thrill at the beginning, the whole thing was just too silly for my tastes. I did like the appearance of both Andy Devine and Lon Chaney Jr. as a horse and bear, respectively. So on that note, Ghost Catchers is worth a look at least once. P.S. Yes, this Morton Downey Sr. was the father of the late notorious talk show host, Morton Downey Jr.

Olsen and Johnson did four pictures for Universal, with diminishing returns each time. Hellzapoppin is an underrated masterpiece. Crazy House was fun but a big step down from Hellz. Then this one which feels like a pedestrian Abbott and Costello knock-off. They even reference that more successful Universal comedy duo in one of the film's meta jokes. Olsen and Johnson were basically a blend of A&C, Hope & Crosby, and the Marx Bros. I'm no film historian so I won't say who was first at any of the comedy devices employed by these teams. I do know who was best, at least onscreen, and it wasn't this pair. That being said, I have enjoyed their movies.

They aren't the biggest issue here anyway. The problem is the lame musical numbers. This is a common complaint today about many comedies from back then. The studios didn't seem to trust a comedy to sustain itself so they added romantic subplots and musical numbers. The best comedies rose above but this is not the best. The supporting characters are duds with some truly horrendous accents going on ("I'm a little sick of side pork and chitlins honey chile"). Lon Chaney Jr. Is wasted here in a throwaway goon role at a time he was the star of their monster films. The funniest scene in the movie involves "a horse." It's really not great but also not unwatchable. I feel like it's one of those movies I'm being too harsh on and after some repeat viewings I might feel better about it.

Olsen and Johnson never achieved widespread success in films...they were definitely niche comics. When I've seen their films recently, I was surprised by this as I think some of their films are every bit as good as the best comedies of the era...especially "Helzapoppin". In many ways, they were a bit like Abbott and Costello combined with the zaniness of the very early Marx Brothers films (before they came to MGM and were given MUCH tamer material). Is "Ghost Catchers" among the team's better films?

Early in the film I noticed some good things and some bad. On the good side, Olsen and Johnson are given good support with the likes of Walter Catlett, Lon Chaney Jr., Leo Carillo and Andy Devine. Also, the film is weird....something you want in their films. But on the negative, the comics are stuck with lots of unnecessary and comedy-killing musical numbers. This wasn't uncommon in this era.... Abbott and Costello's early films had singing from the Andrews Sisters and the Marx Brothers always provided their own musical number. But the numbers in "Ghost Catchers" really were pretty dull and really derailed the comics' momentum...plus there was just too much singing. For this reason alone, I much prefer "Hellzapoppin".

As for the plot, a woman and her father have rented a place that ends up being haunted. The rental agent won't budge when they refuse to stay...demanding they honor the lease. So Olsen and Johnson arrive with some friends to try to drive away the ghosts...and there really DO seem to be some ghosts!

The film has laughs...but just too many musical numbers for my taste. Still, it is funny and has the weird sense of humor fans of the team enjoy....well worth your time.