Hold that Ghost - Abbott & Costello

At Halloween each year we cycle through our favorite Halloween Movies. No slasher films included!  I intensely dislike slasher films. I prefer comedy films.  The Halloween films we watch are older films, back when it wasn't necessary to say the f-word every other sentence and comedy was a bit gentler.  Tonight's movie was an Abbott & Costello classic, "Hold That Ghost".

The film is basically a thinly plotted series of Abbot & Costello bits interspersed with Ted Lewis and the Andrews Sisters numbers and some action designed to advance the unlikely plot. The duo inherit a hotel from a gangster named Moose Matson who left the crypt hint that he "kept his money in his head".  The boys and an assortment of travelers including comedian Joan Davis, who does a great job of keeping up with Lou through several delightful sketches.

The two do a chaotic dance number, faint when each thinks the other is dead, and try to keep track of mysterious candles that move around by themselves.

Oh, there's gangsters, hidden treasure, romance and a lively corpse that shows up several times to make Lou faint in a funny fashion.  Several people get slapped, and Lou does his terrified attempts to call his friend Chuck, but can't get anything out except and excited bout of wheezing. It's all brought to a happy ending. The boys open a health resort in Matson's old hotel and the Andrews Sisters are back to sing a Brazilian tune called "Aurora".

It's a fun romp with just enough spookiness to make it fun for Halloween without scaring the wee bairns (or their aged grandparents).

This one gets a full plate of pineapples.

© 2019 by Tom King