[go: up one dir, main page]

    Release calendarTop 250 moviesMost popular moviesBrowse movies by genreTop box officeShowtimes & ticketsMovie newsIndia movie spotlight
    What's on TV & streamingTop 250 TV showsMost popular TV showsBrowse TV shows by genreTV news
    What to watchLatest trailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily entertainment guideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysSan Diego Comic-ConSummer Watch GuideToronto Int'l Film FestivalSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll events
    Born todayMost popular celebsCelebrity news
    Help centerContributor zonePolls
For industry professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign in
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

The Smiling Ghost

  • 1941
  • Approved
  • 1h 11m
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
912
YOUR RATING
David Bruce, Wayne Morris, and Alexis Smith in The Smiling Ghost (1941)
An heiress seems to be cursed as each of her intended grooms meets with a horrible end.
Play trailer1:43
1 Video
21 Photos
Dark ComedyWhodunnitComedyHorrorMysteryRomance

An heiress seems to be cursed as each of her intended grooms meets with a horrible end.An heiress seems to be cursed as each of her intended grooms meets with a horrible end.An heiress seems to be cursed as each of her intended grooms meets with a horrible end.

  • Director
    • Lewis Seiler
  • Writers
    • Kenneth Gamet
    • Stuart Palmer
    • Ben Markson
  • Stars
    • Wayne Morris
    • Brenda Marshall
    • Alexis Smith
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.4/10
    912
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Lewis Seiler
    • Writers
      • Kenneth Gamet
      • Stuart Palmer
      • Ben Markson
    • Stars
      • Wayne Morris
      • Brenda Marshall
      • Alexis Smith
    • 38User reviews
    • 12Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Original Trailer
    Trailer 1:43
    Original Trailer

    Photos21

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 15
    View Poster

    Top cast30

    Edit
    Wayne Morris
    Wayne Morris
    • Lucky Downing
    Brenda Marshall
    Brenda Marshall
    • Lil Barstow
    Alexis Smith
    Alexis Smith
    • Elinor Bentley Fairchild
    Alan Hale
    Alan Hale
    • Norton - the Butler
    Lee Patrick
    Lee Patrick
    • Rose Fairchild
    David Bruce
    David Bruce
    • Paul Myron
    Helen Westley
    Helen Westley
    • Grandmother Bentley
    Willie Best
    Willie Best
    • Clarence
    Charles Halton
    Charles Halton
    • Great Uncle Ames Bentley
    Richard Ainley
    Richard Ainley
    • Cousin Tennant Bentley
    Roland Drew
    Roland Drew
    • Uncle Hilton Fairchild
    George Meader
    • Mr. Dinwiddie
    Clem Bevans
    Clem Bevans
    • Sexton - Cemetery Caretaker
    Arthur Aylesworth
    Arthur Aylesworth
    • Justice of the Peace
    • (as Arthur Aylsworth)
    Frank Hagney
    Frank Hagney
    • Ryan
    • (scenes deleted)
    Al Lloyd
    • Briggs
    • (scenes deleted)
    Chester Clute
    Chester Clute
    • Homely Woman's Husband
    • (uncredited)
    Tom Dugan
    Tom Dugan
    • Process Server
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Lewis Seiler
    • Writers
      • Kenneth Gamet
      • Stuart Palmer
      • Ben Markson
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews38

    6.4912
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    7csteidler

    Very funny spooky house mystery

    Wayne Morris answers an ad and is inclined to accept a job offer that pays an easy $1000. He just wants to know—"$1000 to do what?" The prospective employer's answer: "To be engaged for one month to my granddaughter." –It sounds okay, but Morris isn't told up front that said granddaughter's fiancés tend to mysteriously succumb to a "smiling ghost curse."

    A fun cast hams it up in this lively and none-too-serious old dark house comedy. Morris is earnest, slightly smart-alecky, a very likable hero. Two leading ladies give spirited performances: Alexis Smith is the rich girl whose fiancés don't last long, and Brenda Marshall the intrepid reporter who shows up to snoop around.

    Willie Best, in a larger role than his usual bit part, is hilarious as Morris's reluctant assistant. Alan Hale is lots of fun as a gun- toting butler.

    The plot is not exactly original but it moves at a nice quick pace. The actors seem to be enjoying themselves and the entertaining dialog they're delivering. ("Why," Smith snaps at Marshall as they discuss their beau Morris, "every look you give him you could pour on a waffle.")

    The production values of this Warner Bros. B are a step above any number of otherwise similar Monogram pictures, but it really doesn't take itself any more seriously—which is why it works.

    A worthwhile 70 minutes, especially for connoisseurs of the comedy-mystery B picture genre.
    7AlsExGal

    A fun little thriller from Warner Brothers

    Wayne Morris, known from 1950 on for his Westerns, here plays Alex "Lucky" Downing, a man with more than a few odd dilemmas, each one causing the next. First, he is a chemical engineer at the time right before America entered WWII during the biggest industrial build-up of the last century who oddly enough cannot find a job of any kind and therefore is literally under siege by creditors. This causes him to put an ad in the paper making himself available for work - any kind of work. The job he gets is to pretend to be the fiancé of an heiress he has never seen for the sum of one thousand dollars, which is a princely sum in 1941. Fortunately the girl turns out to be very attractive (Alexis Smith as Elinor Bentley). His next dilemma, unknown to him at first, is that he is being used as bait by the Bentley family to try to draw "The Smiling Ghost" out into the open. The Smiling Ghost is a name given to whoever or whatever it is who has killed or maimed each and every one of Elinor's fiancés, three so far. Downing's final dilemma is that he has two girls competing for his affection - first the heiress Elinor is beginning to fall for him. Secondly there is a female reporter interested in the story of the smiling ghost (Brenda Marshall as Lil Barstow) who is also attracted to our hero.

    This film has plenty of comedy, with Alan Hale as a detective under cover as a butler who from the first time you see him doesn't act or speak like a butler, not to mention Wayne Morris' likable every-man style. It also has plenty of atmosphere with the spooky dark Bentley mansion, fog in the graveyard at night, and a rather strange member of the Bentley family whose hobby includes collecting shrunken heads.

    The only real negative in the film is the use of racial stereotypes as humor in the person of Clarence (Willie Best), Alex' assistant and friend. Clarence is portrayed as being superstitious and cowardly comic relief, and it's sad but not the least bit atypical for movies made at this time to put African Americans into such roles. At any rate, I hope Mr. Best laughed all of the way to the bank.

    Besides that one negative, I'd rate it as one of the better B comedy/thrillers made in the 40's, especially when you realize that it was made at Warner Brothers, which wasn't a studio particularly well known for that genre.
    8sdiner82

    Dandy comedy-thriller. Swift, spine-tingling fun.

    Among all the Hollywood studios of the '30s and '40s, Warner Bros. excelled at churning out slick, swift, polished 'B' comedy-thrillers (see the 4 Nancy Drew treats for further evidence). "The Smiling Ghost" is a perfect example of this genre. This nifty, nutty 1941 charmer packs more entertainment value into 71 minutes than most of today's films do in 2-hours-plus. The ever-gorgeous Alexis Smith plays a wealthy heiress whose fiances have always met with ghastly fates before the nuptuals. In a plot to unravel the killer's identity, poor Wayne Morris is duped into impersonating her new betrothed. All the standard ingredients are hauled out and refreshened--a gloomy dark mansion, secret passageways, sliding panels, and, as the title promises, the genuinely eerie apparition of a "smiling ghost." Done to a turn by an engaging cast, one wonders why the handsome, appealing and wryly comic Wayne Morris never achieved full-fledged stardom, and why did it take another 30 years for the dazzling Alexis Smith to be duly celebrated (on Broadway in 1971's "Follies")?
    8monsterlover58

    A Nice Gem From Warner Bros.

    This is one of those films you dont hear alot about...but that said this is one GREAT! little film...Wayne Morris absolutely shines as the comic hero "Lucky Downing" and Willie Best give his usual excellent performance as Luckys Valet Clarence...It,s all about an heiress whos lost a few beau,s to shall we say "misfortune" Lucky answers an ad in the paper by the young ladys Grandmother.. Soon he and Clarence are enveloped in a mystery set in an old spooky mansion..with a cast of family characters who are all kooky or sinister in some fashion....Not a film that takes itself seriously, this is one of those comedy-horror gems that you can really enjoy on a dark night or a rainy day....definitely give this an 8******** on a 10 scale..try it you wont be dissapointed.
    dgwyn66

    I saw this film 58 years ago

    I saw this film 58 years ago so don't expect any vivid detail but as I saw it with a group of my contemporaries i recall the atmosphere of the occasion with great clarity. It was a "B" feature(something that has disappeared from the cinema now)a filler before the main film and it was an example of a genre very dear to our hearts at the time-the comedy thriller.Very much in the mould of The Cat and the Canary(I refer to the Bob Hope version of course) it was chock full of one-liners,sliding panels and eccentric characters not the least of whom was the wonderful Willie Best.Even after all these years I can still remember his words when he catches sight of the eponymous apparition.Overtaking a galloping horse he wails "Move over horse.Make way for someone who can really run".It gave us all a lot of fun then and some recollected pleasure now for me anyway.

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Wayne Morris' last movie before he went off to World War II. He would go on to become an ace U.S. Navy fighter pilot. He was awarded four Distinguished Flying Crosses and two Air Medals. He wouldn't appear in another film until 1947 in Le repaire du forçat (1947).
    • Goofs
      The iron lung was not turned on. If on, the membrane around the man's head would be pulsating in and out.
    • Quotes

      Clarence: [Carrying bags up the stairs] What do a valet do?

      Norton: [Also carrying bags up the stairs] You mean you don't know?

      Clarence: No, sir.

      Norton: Then that makes two of us don't know.

    • Soundtracks
      Bridal Chorus (Here Comes the Bride)
      (1850) (uncredited)

      from "Lohengrin"

      Written by Richard Wagner

      Hummed by Wayne Morris

      Played on piano by Lee Patrick at the wedding

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 6, 1941 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Verlobung mit dem Tod
    • Filming locations
      • Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA(Studio)
    • Production company
      • Warner Bros.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 11m(71 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb App
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.