The Smiling Ghost (1941)

“Boss, if you hear something whizzing by you, it’ll be me”, 28 April 2020

Lucky Downing is offered a job paying $1,000 if he can act as a young woman’s fiancé for one month. The problem for Lucky is that the young woman, Elinor Bentley Fairchild, is also known as the Kiss-of-Death Girl. It seems she had three previous potential husbands and each met with tragedy before they could be married. Is Lucky to suffer the same fate or can he break the curse?

Bottom line - The Smiling Ghost sure is a lot of fun. Here’s a laundry list of what I liked:

Most of the Cast: Helen Westley, Brenda Marshall, Alexis Smith, and Alan Hale are all absolutely fantastic. In fact, some of the catty scenes with Marshall and Smith are highlights of the movie for me. The two women play off each other perfectly.

The Old, Dark House; The setting in The Smiling Ghost couldn’t be more perfect. I love a big old creepy house, complete with secret passages, a raging thunderstorm, and filled with shifty characters.

Willie Best: I really hate that Best had to play to the stereotypes of the era, because he shows what a comedic genius he was. His comic timing is as good as you’ll find.

Special Effects: I would normally never mention this in a comedy/mystery, but the titular Smiling Ghost make-up is especially creepy. And the decision by director Lewis Seiler to play the Smiling Ghost as a sinister entity and not part of the comedic hi-jinks was brilliant. The fact that the ghost is a credible threat adds to the overall atmosphere.

As for things I didn’t care for, well, there are really only two that stand out. One, Wayne Morris in the lead role didn’t really work for me. In reading other comments, I know a lot of people enjoyed his performance. For me, he was too wishy-washy to be effective. Two, a lot of the plot is horribly predictable. The mystery isn’t really all that mysterious. I think I knew the killer’s identity the moment they appeared on screen. And the plot twists involving the relationships were as obvious as the nose on your face. Still, The Smiling Ghost wasn’t meant to be a thoughtful piece of film. It’s meant to be entertaining and, at that, it’s successful.

7/10