Lots of folks think it's fun to be scared at the movies and a certain subgenre of scary films believes it's funny to be scared at the movies...these films are haunted by...

By STACI LAYNE WILSON

Hey, did you hear one about the young man whose father walled him up in a small room and let him starve slowly to death? Here's another knee-slapper--a courageous sea captain met his most undignified end in bed, when he accidentally kicked the gas heater on with his big toe and asphyxiated. And, a funny thing happened on the way to a lavish party--two rich, carefree and charming young newlyweds were snuffed out in a horrible car wreck.

It doesn't seem logical that the disembodied spirit of a human being who died wrongfully could really be considered funny film fodder, but in the case of the three movies I'll be taking a look at here, it is.

The ghosts of legend are those sad spirits who roam places they once knew, or the area in which they were killed, just waiting to be set free from purgatory so they can go on to their final reward (or retribution, as the case may be).

In most cases it takes mortal intervention to set these spirits free - the solving of a murder, for instance. However, in the three comedies listed below, the ghosts do a lot more meddling than the mortals. 

Long before there was Patrick and Demi, there was Rex and Gene.

When young Lucy Muir is widowed, she packs up her small daughter, her housekeeper, and leaves the stuffy in-laws sniveling behind her.

Lucy chooses to live on the coast. Like so many evocative films--The Uninvited and Vertigo come to mind--The Ghost And Mrs. Muir's sea setting is a perfect mood-setter. Gene Tierney, who starred in one of my favourite films of all time (Laura), is seamlessly superb as the feisty, self-willed, but vulnerable and beautiful young widow.

Rex Harrison, while the expression has become a school-kid giggle, can be described no better than as the quintessential crusty seaman. His voice, his bearing, his clothing--it's all, er, ship-shape. He is ruggedly handsome, and just naughty enough to make some waves at the Haye's Office.

Even though Gull Cottage is haunted, and clearly the ghost of Captain Gregg doesn't want her and her little family there, Lucy moves right in and confronts Captain Gregg on the very first night. She lays out the ground rules, and though he blusters and bellows, the Captain consents to cohabitate in peace (even if he won't rest in peace).

By and by, the ecological and ectoplasmic beings become mateys. In standard ghost-flick tradition, only Lucy can hear and see the Captain, which leads to a particularly amusing scene when those sniveling in-laws come to visit. The busybodies come to do more than just visit - they inform Lucy that she's been cut off without a cent. It's the turn of the 19th century; she's penniless. What's a young, attractive, widowed mother to do? (No, that's another movie...)

Realizing that Lucy is in dire financial need, the Captain fishes for a solution. He offers to dictate his colorful memoirs to her, becoming in effect, the ultimate ghost-writer. Of course, Lucy sells the manuscript to her friendly local publisher, and that problem is all taken care of.

However, another problem isn't quite so easy to solve - slowly but surely, Gregg has fallen in love with Lucy. And Lucy has been hooked by a man who is all wrong for her. But, just the fact that he can breathe puts him ahead of the Captain in the romance race. Gregg realizes that a life with Lucy is quite impossible. "You have made the only choice you could have, Lucia," he says, calling her by a pet name, as she sleeps. "You have chosen life. When you awake, this will all have been but a dream..."

Although it is technically a comedy, The Ghost And Mrs. Muir is as moving a romantic and tragic fantasy as the more modern (i.e., Somewhere In Time, and Ghost) twists on the tale. I'll admit it...this landlubber had to dry her blasted saltwater tears more than once while watching this one. 

Based upon the whimsical Oscar Wilde fantasy fable published in 1891, the first film version of The Canterville Ghost is updated to (then modern-day) World War II. Though still set in pastoral England, instead of an American family moving in on the ghost's familial mansion territory, it's the U.S. Troops.

The movie starts out showing how Sir Simon de Canterville, a spineless 17th century aristocrat who, after proving himself a turn-tail on the battlefield of honor, is walled up alive in his own castle by his unforgiving father.

Sir Simon's ghost is doomed to haunt the gloomy corridors of Canterville Hall until one of his descendants performs an act of bravery in his name. Three-hundred years later, the castle is occupied by a platoon of American soldiers - one of whom, is of course a distant relation to Sir Simon.

Child-actress Margaret O'Brien is charming as the little Lady who owns the castle, and Robert Young is likeable enough as the Canterville descendant, but it is Charles Laughton who steals the show. If only he was in it more. I last saw this movie as a small child, and my mind over the years obviously only retained the best parts of the film (i.e., the Laughton bits). I thought he was the star, but really he is only in it to keep the story together between long stretches of lackluster slapstick, fallow repartee and boring battle sequences (the day-for-night shots in these scenes are almost laughable... but I think Plan 9 From Outer Space has it beat in that department).

Maybe I've been watching too much History Channel lately, but I swear if I see much more on WW2, I think I'll drop another bomb myself. I found the setting pseudo-patriotic...Canterville is not truly a propaganda film per se, but there was enough gung-ho Americanism in it to make me roll my bleary red, white and blue eyes a few times.

Had Wilde's original setting been preserved, and had Laughton been allowed to really flex his incredible acting muscles, going for more than just guffaws, this film would be much better for it. As it stands, it's very dated.   (It was remade as a TV movie in 1986 with John Gielgud and in 1996 with Patrick Stewart.)

Still it is considered a classic, and while it's an entertaining enough way to pass an hour and change, I'd say it's strictly for the kiddies. (Make that the kiddies who have somehow missed Independence Day, Armageddon, The Sixth Sense...)  

The late thirties and early forties were the golden age of the "screwball comedy"--completely preposterous plots, buoyed by blinding star power, witty dialogue and not a few martini's. Remember The Thin Man? My Man Godfrey? Those are great examples of the genre, but if you like a little boo with your banter, Topper is for you.

Inspired by the Thorne Smith novel, The Jovial Ghosts, Topper was a hit that remains popular to this day. It inspired two sequels, Topper Takes A Trip and Topper Returns, and a 1950's television series. However, the movie was controversial when it made its debut in 1937. The gentle, whimsical comedy about pre-Casper friendly ghosts was scorned by the religious-right for morbidity, disrespecting the dead, and for indulging in the supernatural. In spite of this, Topper was the first feature film about ghosts that succeeded both at the box office and among critics.

Constance Bennett and Cary Grant play Marion and George Kerby, breezy, freewheeling young marrieds whose unrestrained lifestyle is the talk of the town. On a particularly wild evening, the Kerbys tool around in their gleaming new sports car; unfortunately, George, at the wheel, zigs when he should have zagged, and the roadster careens off the road and smashes into a tree, killing the capricious young couple.

But no matter--death isn’t permanent in Toppertown. Seconds later, the diaphanous duo glide from the smoking debris, behaving as if nothing had happened. Upon realizing that they're dead, the Kerbys also realize that they haven't been immediately snatched up into the big cocktail party in the sky.

Determining that they're required to perform one good deed before being allowed past the Pearly Gates, George and Marion set about to "loosen up" stuffy, dull, henpecked banker Cosmo Topper. At first he’s resistant to the charms of his invisible benefactors, and here the comedy really goes screwball. As with The Ghost And Mrs. Muir, some of the funniest scenes are those in which only the haunted can see and hear the mischievous specters.

After watching these movies as a trio, I realized that most of their stars--even Natalie Wood, who should be alive today--are ghosts themselves. Did you just hear distant laughter?

(Editor's Note: Staci is the author of Horrors Of The Holy, The Horse's Choice, and other critically acclaimed works.  She has recently reviewed the film version of American Psycho on line here.   Visit her website.)

Aw, com'on Stacy...you're just having fun with us...there ain't no such things as ghosts...say...was that a ship's bell I just heard...?

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