Halloween season
simply isn’t Halloween season without a regular dose of classic Universal horror (1923-1963). Every day this October, I’ll be giving you a steady IV drip of it by counting down Psychobabble’s 31 Favorite Universal
Horrors!
#14. Hold That Ghost
(1941- dir. Albert S. Rogell)
Is this reeeally a
ghost story? Yes, it is. Allow me to refer you to the moving-candlestick gag. How’s
that thing moving? Wires? Hardly! Now that your doubts are quelled, let’s just
focus on the tremendous fun abounding in Abbott & Costello’s admittedly
tentative first outing in the realm of the supernatural. The boys inherit an
old dark house from a gangster and hilarity ensues. Much of that hilarity rises
not from the team of Bud and Lou but the team of Lou and Joan Davis. She’s
spectacular in this picture. More sparks fly during her dance routine with
Costello than all of Evelyn Ankers and Richard Carlson’s forced romantic scenes
put together.
