Silent Sundays: King of Kings (1927)

“But what evil hath He done?”

            Yes, it is Easter. Yes, I am watching and writing up a Biblical film. How original I know. I thought about doing another type of silent film but when I saw King of Kings saved in my favorites folder for silent films on YouTube I could not pass it up. Plus, Cecil B. DeMille directed this film. How could I not pass it up?

            This telling of the story of Jesus begins in a royal court. Mary Magdalene. Like most people she knows she too laughs at God and gives in to whatever pleasures and vices she wants. Mary becomes upset because Judas was seen with a group of beggars led by Jesus. In a rage she has her finest things made ready so she can go and tell Jesus off. Several people in the court tell Mary she has no chance against Jesus he has changed so many.

            Judas has only joined Jesus because he thought Jesus would be king of Israel and give him high office. Spies from the High Temple have been sent by the High Priest Caiaphas to look for Jesus and hear what the people have to say about Him. These spies are a Pharisee, a Scribe, and a Temple Guard. All three try to tell the people that Jesus is not a man of God. A crier calls the Sabbath. The Pharisee turns to his other compatriots and says they will wait to see if Jesus heals on Sabbath so they have something to accuse Him of.

            The first time Jesus is seen is when a blind child opens his eyes for the first time. Jesus healed the boy of his blindness. The boy sees Jesus’ kind face, loving face surround by a holy light. It the first face he sees. Jesus lovingly embraces the boy.

            Mary Magdalene finds Jesus. She is immediately taken and disarmed by Him. He cleanses her of the Seven Sins. When she is fully cleansed, Mary covers herself with her robes and then goes to Jesus and kneels before Him.

            The Scribe, Pharisee, and The Guard return to Caiaphas to tell him that Jesus healed someone and then called God His Father. Caiaphas tells them to take the Guard Matthew to find Jesus. If He does not pay a tax He will be arrested, if He does than He will offend the people. They find Jesus and force Him to pay. Jesus has Peter and Judas pay for them.

            One day Jesus is approached by Martha and Mary of Bethany. Their brother Lazarus has died and they would like Him to resurrect Lazarus. Jesus goes to the tomb and resurrects Lazarus. Those who believe in Him look on in awe and those who do not flee.

            Jesus and his disciples next go to Jerusalem much to the annoyance of Caiaphas. The High Priest tries to think of something to do with Jesus. A woman is convicted of adultery and is the brought in to the Temple. Caiaphas has the woman brought to Jesus who if He lets the woman go can be stoned to death in her place. Jesus stops the men from stoning the woman. He tells the men if they are without sin then let them be the one to cast the first stone. When everyone leaves Jesus asks the woman if a man has accused her, she responds that no a man was not the one to accuse her. Jesus tells her to go and sin no more.

            The Temple is littered with sinners and stalls for people to sell their wares. Jesus has enough and knocks everything over and causes a stir to drive corruption from the Temple. This outburst greatly angers the corrupt Caiaphas. He sends his guards after Him. Caiaphas wants Jesus to be taken but not in the open. He has Judas tell them where Jesus is staying with the Disciples. It is the Last Supper. Jesus knows He will be betrayed and by Judas so He has Judas leave to do what he has to do. Judas lets the guards know that he will point out who Jesus is with a kiss. Jesus is arrested on Mount Sinai.

            Jesus is brought before Pontius Pilot for trial. Pilot cannot understand why Jesus is being tried since He has not done anything wrong. He lets the people and the priests determine whether Jesus should be punished so his hands are kept clean. Caiaphas orders his priests to bribe the rogues of the city to shout out that Jesus is a traitor. Pilot asks the crowd is they would rather have the murderer Barabbas released or Jesus. The crowd chants for the release of the murderer.

            As part of His punishment, Jesus is made to drag His cross through the streets. A young boy He had healed is beside himself because of what Jesus has to go through. The boy tells his father that if he were a big man he would help his friend carry the cross. The father takes to heart what his son tells him and comes to Jesus’ side when He falls and has trouble getting back up.

            In the meantime Judas has gone mad because he has caused the blood of an innocent man to be spilled. At the trial one of the guards threw a rope in Judas’s direction. He took the rope and walked to a tree close to the hill where Jesus is set on the cross. He watches the crowd sneer and jeer at Jesus and the guards keep the faithful back.

            In the ninth hour since He was placed upon the cross, Jesus dies. God sends a storm of rain, wind, and thunder and lightning. All the non believers and evil people run away only to be killed by falling boulders and trees. Caiaphas runs to the Temple to beg God to punish him and not the people of Jerusalem. The Temple comes down on him.

            Three days later Jesus rises from the tomb and returns to his Disciples.

             I know the story of Jesus from having gone to church and Sunday school. I was worried I was going to be bored since I knew the story but Cecil B. DeMille’s direction was just amazing. It is one of those where the direction really enhanced the story. DeMille’s direction captured every single emotion be it love, faith, devotion, greed, hate, or lust his camera captured it. So many scenes were moving and beautiful. The one shot in one scene that has now become one of my favorites from a film is after Jesus and the Disciples leave the Last Supper and the camera stays focused on the chalice Jesus and the Disciples drank out of. The scenery surrounding the chalice fades to black while the chalice is lit in Holy light. I could not get over how beautiful that scene was. It is a scene I will always remember. Another scene that was perfectly filmed was Jesus carrying the cross. DeMille kept the camera focused on the end of the cross as it dragged on the ground. He not only captured the burdensome cross he also captured the people rallying either in ignorance or sadness.

            King of Kings is one of the best silent films I have ever seen. It is visually enthralling and beautiful. Knowing the story it actually took on a whole new life to me. You do not need to be religious or Catholic to see King of Kings. If you love beautiful films that are perfect from the writing to the acting to the direction to the scenery and everything else you be amazed with King of Kings

Silent Sundays: Why Change Your Wife (1920)

“When a woman meets her ex-husband she realizes all she has lost: when she meets the wife she realizes all he has lost”

            Why Change Your Wife? is the first silent film I have seen from Cecil B. DeMille. I hate to say I was expecting a better film after seeing some his later more popular films. I was also expecting a bit better because Gloria Swanson is the star and she was one of the biggest things in the silent era. The film was not totally awful it had its moments that were funny and interesting.

            Robert Gordon has been married to Beth (Swanson). Beth “gladly gave up her husband’s liberty when she married him.” The poor man is trying to shave and she just keeps bothering him. In fact Beth just bothers Robert. He tries to love her and wants her to be more of a woman rather than a dowdy one who is perfectly boring.

            One day Robert decides to buy Beth some risqué lingerie. He is embarrassed beyond belief seeing the models barely dressed. One of the models Sally Clark (Bebe Daniels) recognizes him from when she was younger back home. She puts on the most exotic of the lingerie dresses the store has as well as some exotic smelling perfume. Robert of course does not recognize her. He likes the way Sally looks in the negligee and orders one for Ruth. Sally is upset when she sees Robert write on the card “Mrs. Robert Gordon.”

            That night Robert tries to lighten the mood. He puts on a Fox Trot but Beth immediately walks over and puts an opera on. She does not want to dance with him she wants to listen to more cultivated music. The negligee comes. Robert tells Beth to put it on and come out when she is dressed. Beth in all her prudishness hates the negligee and does not want to come out. Robert is furious that she does not like it.

            The next day Robert gets tickets for a play in town. He calls Ruth to meet him in the city for dinner and the show. Ruth tells him she is having people over and some violin player will be there as well. He gets disgusted and tells her he will dine at his club that night and go to the show himself. After he hangs up Sally comes in. The store forgot to include a piece of the negligee in the box and has brought the piece. Robert takes Sally out to the show and to dinner. After the show he goes back to her apartment. They talk and listen to the latest music on her record player.

            Beth tries to wait up for Robert to come home. He had kissed Sally before he left and feels guilty for doing so. Beth wakes up when he gets home. He tells her he went out with a friend. She smells Sally’s perfume on him. The next morning Robert leaves. He tells Beth he wanted to marry a sweetheart not a judge and to live in a home not a convent.

            On the day the divorce goes through Beth goes out dress shopping with her aunt. Beth overhears two of the shop girls talk about her how she dressed more like Robert’s aunt than his wife and did not play with him like she should have and he wanted her to. Beth gets furious and rips up all her old clothes. She wants all her clothes to be indecent now.

            Robert marries Sally. He is stuck in the same pattern with Sally. He tries to shave without ripping his throat open and his wife is right there bothering him. Sally asks him to take her on vacation to Atlantic City for a few days. They get to the hotel and they see men flocking around a woman. Robert comes to find the woman all the men are breaking their necks to get a look at is Beth. She has had a great make over both physically and in attitude. All that night and the rest of the vacation his mind is on his former wife.

            To make a ridiculously long story short Robert and Beth do get back together and do get remarried.

            Gloria Swanson was twenty-one when she made this film. She looked stunning. Even as the frumpy wife at the beginning she just captures your attention and does not let go. I loved the scene where Beth realizes she needed to change. Swanson played that very well. Bebe Daniels was alright. I liked her more at the beginning of the film than throughout the rest.

            Why Change Your Wife? was alright. I got bored with it pretty quick. I really liked seeing all the clothes it is fascinating to see what was fashionable in the 1920s (and come on who does not like the style of the 1920s?). DeMille’s direction is nothing to write home about. The title cards were are worth a ton mentions. They were hysterical and extremely witty. Why Change Your Wife? is worth seeing at least once. It is available to view on Youtube. 

Reap the Wild Wind (1942)

I am a big fan of Paulette Goddard… not like crazy obsessive fan when I say “big fan” I mean I adore her and love seeing her in any film she is not matter how bad it is (I sat through Paris Model and Vice Squad which were terrible but she was fabulous in her scenes in those films). In so many of her films I have seen Goddard is a spunky modern fast talking woman with a quick clever wit. When I found out that Goddard was in Reap the Wild Wind which a period piece I had to do a double take. Paulette Goddard this late thirties/1940s smart as a whip woman was in a period piece?! A period piece with Ray Milland, John Wayne, and Susan Hayward and directed by Cecil B. DeMille no less. I HAD to see this it was too interesting to pass up.

            The film is set in the south in the mid-late 1800s in the Florida Keys. Off the coast of the Keys many ships have crashed off its reefs during storms or heavy fog. Special schooners go out to the wrecked ships and salvage them. One man named Cutler has been making these wrecks happen to salvage and make a profit off them.

            One night a storm comes through and brings a ship to the reef. A young woman named Loxie Claiborne (Goddard) is on the roof of her house looking through her telescope at the ship. A man named Captain Phil comes to get her. Since her father died Loxie has taken on his business and became a salvager herself. She dons pants, a hat, a sweater, and rain gear and heads out to the wreck. Cutler and his men have beaten Loxie and Phil to the boat and her cargo but he says they can have the human cargo. The ship’s captain Jack Stuart (Wayne) was hit on the head and he cannot remember how or why he was. Loxie really likes Jack and he likes her too. A few days later he says tells Loxie that he is being sent away for a month and then dock at Charleston. Loxie is going to Charleston she can meet them there. Jack’s dream is to captain a ship called the Southern Cross for a man named Commodore Deveraux but a lawyer and the Commodore’s right hand man named Stephen Tolliver (Milland) stands in his way.

            Loxie and her cousin Drusilla (Hayward) from Havana stay at the home of their aunt Henrietta (Hedda Hopper). At a party Loxie is asked to sing a Key West song. Loxie is a nice girl but she is not as proper as the Charleston girls so when she is asked to sing a Key West song she sings an old racy sea song that has some of the girls and their mothers on edge. The only one who likes the song and is completely entranced by Loxie is Stephen Tolliver who stands over the piano with dog in awe of her. When she learns who Stephen is she decides to play him up to get favor for Jack. Loxi and Stephen see each other a lot. One day she begins to bring up Jack and his captaining the Southern Cross but he stops her and says he wants to marry her and has already spoken to her aunt.

            Jack has come back. His hopes of captaining the Southern Cross come crashing down when Deveraux says that he will not be on the ship because of the wreck of the Jubilee. It is brought to Deveraux’s attention that Cutler has been causing trouble in the Keys and purposely wrecking ships. A man from the US navy is there but he says he needs proof of Cutler’s crimes. Stephen says he will go and he has to take Jack with him.

            At a party that night Loxie sees Jack for the first time in a month. He tells her he is to be second mate on a ship heading down to the Keys with Stephen. She is furious at Stephen and asks to see him out on the balcony. She asks him in front of her aunt and her aunt not knowing the situation gets excited and let’s slip that Stephen has asked to propose to Loxie. The rumor spreads through the whole party. Loxie lets Stephen have it and says that she loves Jack not him. Stephan then grabs her and spanks her behind! She runs into the party and everyone is congratulating her on her engagement. Stephen comes in too and everyone congratulates him as well. Loxie is upset so she stands on a sofa and announces the only man she will be marrying is Jack Stuart. She runs away with Jack and almost marries him on the ship but Stephen comes to break things up before she can say “I do.”

            Jack has gotten down to the Keys by himself while Loxie and Drusilla have traveled with Stephan. Before Stephen even steps off the boat Cutler is already trying to have him killed. Cutler has a plan in place to have Stephen shanghaied - drugged, kidnapped, and put on board a ship that will be away for years- to a whaler. Jack and Loxie hear of the plan and get to Phil (who is also going to be kidnapped) and Stephen who are on a schooner. Cutler has his men attack the boat so the whaler can come and take them away. Cutler’s men come aboard but Jack, Stephen and with a little help from Phil hold them off. When the whaler comes Stephan sells the men to him for fifteen dollars each. Loxie and Jack find a letter in Stephen’s jacket pocket signed by Deveraux saying that Jack is to captain the Southern Cross. He gets mad at Stephen for holding this news back and punches the lawyer out. That night Jack goes to have it out with Cutler but Cutler plays mind games with Jack saying that the Deveraux has died and now there is no way h will ever captain the Southern Cross with Stephen the head of the company. Jack makes a plan to take the Southern Cross and wreck her.

            Stephen figures out that something is going to happen to the Southern Cross which is currently in Havana. He figures because the price of good the ship would be carrying goes up as if there was a sinking already. He has Phil commandeer the Claiborne, Loxie’s ship so they can get down to Havana in time to stop Jack. Loxie is on the ship as well. She will not listen to Stephen when he says Jack is planning something. She refuses to believe the man she loves would ever purposely sink a ship. Loxie goes crazy and cuts down the ropes to the masts setting the ship back a few hours.

            Meanwhile down in Havana, Drusilla is desperate to get back to a man named Dan in Florida who happens to be Cutler’s brother. She asks Jack if she can go on his ship but he says he is not taking passengers. Desperate to get back to Dan she stows away without Jack knowing she is on board.

            Out at sea, Phil and Loxie hear the horn of the Falcon Cutler’s ship standing by waiting for the Southern Cross to crash on a reef. Loxie, Phil, and Stephen see the beautiful ship crash and sink. Loxie with all her might and love calls out to Jack begging him not to do it.

            Jack is put on trial for salvaging and is represented by Cutler and Stephan represents his company. The trial goes all over the place. A key witness is murdered by one of Cutler’s men so Stephan calls in another witness that no one knew about. He was a freed colored man who worked on the Southern Cross. He says he was below deck when the ship the reef and that he heard the scream of a woman. They come to figure out that Drusilla was a stow away on the ship and was killed. Dan is furious that the woman he loves was killed and almost fully testifies against his brother. Stephen and Jack are sent to dive down to see if they can find proof that Drusilla was on the ship.

            Cutler wants Jack to Stephen when they get down into the ship. Phil knows Cutler is planning is something to get rid of Stephan and has eyes all over Cutler. Down in the ship Jack almost goes through with killing Stephan until a giant squid comes (yes you read right a giant squid) and almost takes Stephen away. Jack winds up saving Stephen’s life.

            The story was not my cup of tea but it was good. I am not a fan of period pieces they bore me something fierce… except for Gone With the Wind that is something else entirely. Films that take place out at sea in the 1800s really do not have too much appeal to me. Actors or actresses I like have to be in period pieces for me to sit down and watch them… case in point this film.

             I have no complaints about the acting everyone was perfect. Paulette Goddard I was worried about but she was great. Goddard was this close to having the role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind and it is not hard to see why (apparently she could not produce a marriage certificate saying she was married to Charlie Chaplin at the time and once Vivien Leigh came on the scene no actress stood a chance). Loxie is another Scarlett O’Hara in attitude. Her modern spunkiness and feisty attitude fit Loxie perfectly. No one but Goddard could have played Loxie Claiborne better.  John Wayne was not a good guy in this film. He started off nice and sweet and once he went with Cutler he turned into an idiot. But nevertheless Wayne was great. I really liked him and Paulette Goddard together there was something about them that worked as a couple. Ray Milland I am liking the more films I see him in. He was a good dramatic actor as well as a comic actor. He and Goddard made four films together some of which I have seen and they have very good chemistry together they were very popular together. Susan Hayward was ridiculously outrageously adorable. She was twenty-five and really just starting her major film career. This was not Hayward’s first film but it probably gave her career a huge push. Hayward would be paired with John Wayne in two more films The Fighting Seabees and the god awful and terribly hilarious The Conqueror.

            Cecil B. DeMille is in no doubt one of the greatest directors ever. For 1942 this film was no small feat. But this type of epic film was probably nothing new for DeMille who directed great epics like the original Cleopatra and the original silent version of The Ten Commandments.

            Reap the Wild Wind is a very good film even if I am not too crazy about period pieces. The story was good, the acting was great and you cannot go wrong with the direction. Besides the story being a period piece I have no complaints about Reap the Wild Wind. If you happen to catch it on TV or know where to find the film I recommend seeing it.  

Four Frightened People (1934)

Now I have an odd opinion about Four Frightened People… it was not terrible the story was interesting but the characters and the acting got on my nerves so bad that I wanted to punch my computer! I was hoping for it to be a good film because, one, it is a Cecil B. DeMille film and the guy made great films and, two, Claudette Colbert is one of the lead characters and the films I have seen her in so far I adore her. I did not have any expectations going into the film, well maybe I did to some extent, but I felt a little let down when it ended.

            A ship traveling from the tropics has become infested with the bubonic plague. Two men happen to have overheard some of the crew talking about how two other crewmen have already died. Arnold Ainger (Herbert Marshall), a rubber scientist, and Stewart Corder (William Gargan), a newspaper reporter, are the two men and they manage to get a small boat. They take along an older woman named Mrs. Mardick (Mary Boland) who speaks the native language fluently. They had to grab a young school teacher named Judy Jones (Colbert) who almost had a screaming fit and created a panic.

            The “four frightened people” land on an island. Each of them needs to get back to New York within a certain amount of days. They learn from a native named Montague who speaks English that he can get them through the jungle to the other side to a ship in three or four days. Stewart, Arnold, Mrs. Mardick, and Judy walk and crawl through the treacherous jungle. For the first day and a half things go somewhat smoothly. Then things go from bad to worse and what was supposed to be a three or four day walk turns into weeks. The group comes up against dangerous animals and even more deadly natives.

            As with all films from the 1930s and classic Hollywood the story does end happily if incredibly cheesy.

            The biggest issues I had with the film was the acting and the crappy romantic story with Colbert and Marshall’s characters. The acting was so over dramatic it just got in the way and made the whole film laughable. As I said I love and adore Claudette Colbert but she was so bad! There were a few scenes where she had to be scared and sad and what she came up with was just a mess. Then to top the whole bad-acting bit off was the ridiculous romantic handle between Judy and Arnold. Blah! I mean I understand they each found a new confidence in themselves and the two had that in common but it was so silly. The very ending was a load of garbage. Oh and I also cracked up with how Colbert's clothes were all matronly and by the time they got out of the jungle she was sexily clad in animal skins. 

            Besides the over acting in moments of calm the acting was not bad. Colbert was great at the beginning when she was this nerdy, timid woman who never lived her life. It was a shock to see her look so demur and timid after seeing her as the seductive Cleopatra and the feisty Ellie in It Happened One Night. Herbert Marshall I have seen in other films and to me he always seems to be the gentleman who just stands aside or gets walked all over. Seems to me that every classic film needs to have that one obnoxious woman who has an annoying voice and constantly talks about nonsense. Four Frightened People has Mary Boland as Mrs. Mardick. Boland was not incredibly annoying she was actually good and her character was interesting to some extent. All I think of her as is one of the yappers in The Women. William Gargan fit his role of a tough newspaper reporter perfectly.

            Four Frightened People is not one of Cecil B. DeMille’s greatest films. Compared to his epics and other well known films this is very tame. As I started off this post I have a weird opinion of the film. I did not necessarily love it or really hate it but for some reason I wanted to punch it… it is better not to ask, it is just how I feel. If you ever happen to come across Four Frightened People I say watch it but do not expect anything too great. 

Cleopatra (1934)

“Together we could conquer the world.” 

            When I think of Cleopatra I think of a woman who was outrageously intelligent, who stood tall, and knew how to use her sexuality to get what she wanted. How else could this woman have made a powerful man like Julius Caesar become weak with love and bring Marc Antony to his own destruction Watching Cecil B. DeMille’s 1934 pre-code version of Cleopatra you see this strong intelligent and incredibly seductive woman come to life through Claudette Colbert.

            Now hopefully you all know your ancient history to some extent or have at least heard of the Egyptian queen at some point in your life because I am not going to summarize the story. If you do not know the story look it up.

            When I was little I had this weird obsession with Ancient Egypt. Cleopatra was always my favorite to read about. I have also loved stories with a lot of drama and her story is full of drama so I guess that is why I adore her so much. I know the film versions are dramatized but this version is how I picture the great woman. Elizabeth Taylor may have been gorgeous in her version but she was in no way seductive or exuded an incredible confidence. Claudette Colbert’s Cleopatra kicks the crap out of Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra. First of all this a pre-code film and almost every film was about a strong woman using her beauty to get what she wants from men. From the moment Colbert rolls out of the carpet she is nothing but sexy and confident. We know right away that the men in her life are doomed to fall at her feet and bring their empire with them.

            This was the perfect film to do during the pre-code era and the 1930s with its risqué subject matter and extravagance. Several of the costumes Colbert wears are just pieces of cloth wrapped around her chest with just a long skirt on. Some of the lines are wonderful- “Why do you laugh Charmion?” “I laugh at wondering how Caesar will be unable to unclasp your dress” (paraphrasing that one); Antony going to Cleopatra for his men and she tells them they fell asleep “You mean they are drunk?” “No… awfully drunk.” The sets (along with the costumes) are gorgeous Art Deco and extravagant. They are some of the most lavish I have seen besides the 1963 version.

            The first time I sat through this film I was so happy that it did not run as long at the 1963 one. I love how this one showed the important points of the story instead of showing the details. All we need to see is how Caesar fell for her and died for it and how Marc Antony loved her so much he was willing to be the enemy of his own country we do not need to see everything in between.

            Cecil B. DeMille was a genius. His whole style of directing is awe inspiring. The best directed scene was when Caesar is being killed and the camera goes to a point of view angle of the senators and Caesar.

            Cleopatra is one of the best films to have come out of the 1930s. It leaves you on the edge of your seat not only with the action but with the way Claudette Colbert plays the seductive intelligent queen. You can see it in her eyes what she wants and that once they have been laid on her prey there is nothing that will loosen her grasp. This version of Cleopatra needs to be seen and known and spoken about by more people for its all around brilliance and its pre-code. 

The Ghost Breakers (1940)

“Are you the one advising Miss Carter to sell the castle?”
“No, my advice is keep the castle and sell the ghosts.”

            The Ghost Breakers is not a typical ghost story. It is a comedy film starring two very funny people, Paulette Goddard and Bob Hope. The film has its silly moments just like all old comedies but the silliness does not go over the top here. There are many small, sneaky jokes that you have to sometimes listen for carefully.

            Goddard plays Mary Carter who has just inherited an old family castle called“Castillo Maldito” on an island off of Cuba. She is repeatedly warned with death threats against going to the mansion but curiosity and, in a way, a sense of family pride gets the better of her and she decides to go anyway. Hope plays a radio host named Larry Lawrence (“Your name is Lawrence Lawrence?” “My parents had no imagination.”). He gets into trouble with a crime boss after he does an expose on him. The crime boss calls Larry to the hotel where he lives and where Mary also happens to be staying. The hotel experiences a blackout along with the rest of the city during a lightning storm. Larry jumps at the sound of a gunshot and accidentally fires his own gun. When the lights go on there is a body on the floor and he thinks he shot the man lying on the floor.

            Mary hears the shot as well and opens the door. Larry comes into Mary’s room. She had just been listening to his broadcast on the radio and takes a liking to him. The police arrive and knock on Mary’s door; they have to search every room on the floor. Larry hides in Mary’s luggage case. Before she can open the case to let Larry it is taken away to be boarded on a ship to Cuba.

            On the boat, Larry and Mary as well as Larry’s friend Alex learn that Larry was not the killer someone else killed a man named Medereo who was supposed to be taking Mary to Cuba. Larry and Alex act as Mary’s bodyguards keeping watch on her door and outside on the ship’s deck. A man named Geoff Montgomery who Mary knows said that he knows Cuba inside and out and he could be her guide around the island. 

            On the night the group arrives in Cuba, Larry and Alex go to the castle leaving Mary behind so nothing will happen to her but she comes by later on determined not to be left out of the action. They come across strange goings on and a killer no one saw coming.

            Paulette Goddard and Bob Hope were so adorable together. This was their second film together they had made a film called Cat and the Canary before this.  Their camaraderie is perfect they just worked so well off of each other. Both actors did wonderfully in their parts. One scene I really enjoyed between Goddard and Hope was when Larry was trying to comfort Mary after someone had posted a death threat on her door. Larry starts pretending to be a society person saying how he would like to take Mary to a dance and Mary plays right off of him and does the same thing. I give Goddard so much praise for her comedic timing she was very capable and able to keep up with Hope and deliver her lines perfectly.

            As I said in the beginning, there are many funny lines where if you are not listening carefully or paying attention you will miss them. I found many of the line quiet clever. In the castle Larry and Alex fight off a zombie. The zombie put on armor to hide so he could attack the two men. Larry yells out as he is fighting the zombie “Quick get the can opener!” When Mary got to the castle she ripped her bathing robe (she swam up to the castle when she got off a small fishing boat) on the stairs after something frightened her. She finds an old dress in the trunk and puts it on. When she comes down the stairs after changing Larry and Alex have just finished fighting off the zombie. The zombie opens the door and scares Mary into Larry’s embrace. Larry likes this reaction and jokingly tells Alex to open the door again.

            This was the third time The Ghost Breakers was made into a film. The story originally appeared on Broadway then as a film in the years 1914 and 1922. The 1922 version was directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Unfortunately both original prints of the films are considered lost. In a scene in this version before the boat pulls into harbor, Larry comments on the history of the castle saying “Sounds like a Cecil B. DeMille script.”

            Iconic movie costume designer Edith Head designed the clothing worn in the movie. Her costumes were a great touch of chic.  

            No “scary” movie would be complete with a little zombie action. Larry and some of the other character mention how there is voodoo being done around the castle and a zombie is said to roam the grounds. They talk about how horrible it must be to not have a mind of your own like a zombie. This reminded me a bit of the film I Walked With a Zombie.

            The Ghost Breakers is a good old comedy film that is guaranteed to make you laugh. What is so great about this film is that something like this was not done before. To this day The Ghost Breakers is still fresh and funny.