Caçadores de Fantasmas

Ghost Chasers (1951)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Funny entry in the never-ending series has Slip (Leo Gorcey), Sach (Huntz Hall) and the other boys trying to bring down a medium who is charging people large sums of money for her fake spiritual advice. These victims include Slip's neighbor who recently lost her son in the war and is now trying to get in contact with him. At just 68-minutes this movie has a few too many slow spots but overall this is one of the better entries in the series and it's certainly one of their best when it comes to mixing comedy and the darker horror elements. I think some of the funniest moments happen early on when a few of the boys are in the back of Louie's shop doing a fake séance and Louie himself walks in and gets scared out of his wits. Bernard Gorcey is again back as Louie and he has some really funny moments as the screenplay makes the right decision to include him in on some of the action and the viewer gets rewarded with some nice laughs. Lloyd Corrigan gets a rather large part of a ghost who helps Sach get out of the various bad situations he gets himself into. I thought some of the stuff between the Hall and Corrigan was funny but after a while it started to get somewhat boring. With that said, Hall certainly steals the show with his idiot character constantly doing one dumb thing after another. He gets some pretty big laughs especially during the scenes where he gets scared for the various things going on. The scene where he first sees the ghost is priceless and he certainly helps keep things moving. Leo is in fine form as well, although he's part isn't nearly as big as usual. Lela Bliss isn't too bad as the medium but it's Bernard Gorcey that really nails everything home. Fans of the series will certainly want to check this one out but I think this one is good enough to the point where even non-fans will probably find themselves laughing.

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.

When Leo Gorcey's mother's neighbor Argentina Brunetti starts spending money and borrowing from people to talk to her dead son, it becomes time for the Bowery Boys to spring into action. In their own inimitable style Gorcey, Huntz Hall and the gang track down a whole gang of these fake mediums led by Lela Bliss.

In their quest they're aided and abetted by a real ghost, a gentlemen in a Quaker suit played by Lloyd Corrigan. Corrigan also communicates to the world through a medium and the one he's chosen is Huntz Hall. He finds him an amiable fellow and one with 'a nose like Cyrano'.

Corrigan is pretty useful when the guys invade the haunted house where the fake mediums do their thing. Of course he creates some real tricks, my favorite being the creation and disappearance of doors when needed.

All in all a good Bowery Boys film, the best scenes are those that involve Lloyd Corrigan and Huntz Hall.

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.

I've seen a few of these "Bowery Boys" romps by now, and they all seem to follow a similar pattern: no matter what the plot or the (supposed) setting, they ultimately end up in a single set (after all, they were made by the infamously cost-conscious Monogram studios), where the boys chase, and are chased around, by crooks. "Ghost Chasers" is no different, except that there is a rare - if brief - dramatic component, with a mother trying to get in contact with her dead son. The film is padded and overlong (even at 69 minutes), though there is the occasional funny line, and "Edgar", the one real, friendly ghost, is amusingly played by Lloyd Corrigan. ** out of 4.