Invisible Ghost (1941)

Murder by the Stars
The Phantom Killer

Cast:

Bela "A chiropracter will replace me in what movie?" Lugosi is Charles Kessler
Polly Ann Young is Virginia Kessler
John McGuire is Ralph/Paul Dickson
Clarence "I was Sam in the televison version of Casablanca" Muse is Evans the Butler
Terry Walker is Cecile Mannix

What the box says:

Lugosi plays a kindly scientist whose wife hypnotizes him to commit murders.

Plot:

Charles Kessler comes downstairs and is talking to his wife. However, no woman is there. Charles has Evans the butler serve her first.

Charles’s daughter, Virginia, lets in her smarmy boyfriend, Ralph. He sees the dinner with the missing woman. Virginia explains that is how Charles celebrates his wedding anniversary. Several years ago, he discovered his wife was cheating on him with his best friend. There was a car accident. While everyone believes her to be dead, Charles can’t accept that fact.

As Virginia and Ralph leave, Cecile casts eyes at Ralph.

Cecile, the maid, tries to get the cook and Evans to explain about the murders.

The gardener, Jules, sneaks off with some food. He takes it into the cellar of the barn. Mrs. Kessler has been living there. She rambles on about the car wreck and can’t go back to Charles. Jules leaves her there.

Jules arrives home. Apparently, he has been keeping Mrs. Kessler from Charles. Jules’s wife ponders if Mrs. Kessler is involved in the murders.

Ralph returns Virginia from their ride. As he’s leaving, Cecile talks with him. Evans spots them from a Bette Midlerian distance. Cecile is positive Ralph is for her. She won’t let him marry Virginia. Ralph won’t let anyone stand in the way of his happiness.

Virginia professes to her father she’s in love before calling it a night.

Mrs. Kessler wanders outside while Charles is reading. He sees her outside. She can’t come home. He’d kill her or kill anyone. Charles blacks out. Mrs. Kessler disappears, and Charles begins to sleepwalk out of his room.

Charles walks into Cecile’s room. She doesn’t start screaming when a wild eyed Bela Lugosi wanders into her room.

His discount prices on cars are insane... He chokes her with his jacket.

In the morning, Evans can’t wake Cecile. Entering her room, he finds the room ransacked and her dead. Evans tells Charles about the murder.

The police arrive on the scene. Evans mentions how Cecile talked with Ralph.

Newspaper article fu ensues. Ralph tells Virginia and Charles what happened.

In the trial, Charles, Jules, and Evans testify.

More article fu proclaims that Ralph will be executed. Virginia and Charles aren’t able to convince the governor to give a stay of execution.

Ralph is read his last rites and walks the final mile.

Virginia and Charles are at home when they get the call.

Paul, Ralph’s brother, arrives to talk with Charles and Virginia. Evans is almost in shock at seeing Ralph again or Ralph’s identical brother.

Paul wants to find the maid’s killer to prove his brother’s innocence. Charles offers to let him stay at the house.

Mrs. Kessler gets out again.

Paul calls it a night.

Charles is reading when he spots Mrs. Kessler outside again. Let the sleepwalking Bela Lugosi begin. He follows but loses the butler. In the kitchen Charles chokes Jules.

Later, Evans discovers Jules and calls the cops.

Cops check out the crime scene. They are shocked to by Ralph’s brother.

The police haven’t found any clues. Paul learns there have been other murders. The police have been trying to convince Charles to leave the mansion, but he refuses to and believes his wife will return someday.

Charles has to see to Jules’s wife. At the morgue, she wants to see her husband alone. Screaming, she claims Jules is alive. Somehow, his eyes are open. Charles rushes in to help. Jules dies seeing Charles to keep any characters from knowing who the killer is too soon.

Paul learns that all the murders happened at night.

Evans has a hard time convincing the new cook to stay.

During a thunderstorm, everyone goes to their bedrooms. Virginia does a little writing before hitting the sack. Paul is reading. Charles zones out after seeing Mrs. Kessler again. Sleepwalking Charles ensues. He goes to the second floor and can’t get into Paul’s room. He heads for Virginia’s room next. Readying his coat, Charles approaches his daughter when a large burst of thunder snaps him out of his trance.

Paul spots Charles go downstairs. He checks to see how Kessler is doing. He feigns off everything by claiming to sleepwalk. Paul; heads back to his room.

Charles spots Mrs. Kessler outside again. Fugue and killer Bela Lugosi ensues.

the next morning, the painting of Mrs. Kessler has been slashed. Charles can’t find the cook at first.

the police stop by for a visit. No one came in the house throughout the night. However, they find another dead body.

The cops question the cook who mentions about the disappearing food.

Paul found some thread in the painting. The cops search and find the robe in Evan’s room. Paul wants to give Evans a psychiatric test first.

Power flickers on and off.

Charles lets Evans talk with the psychiatrist. Everyone in the room is staring at the butler. The shrink asks him if Charles is insane.

Mrs. Kessler raids the fridge.

One of the cops catches Mrs. Kessler.

The shrink even asks Evans about the sanity of the head cop.

Mrs. Kessler is taken upstairs.

Evans is asked about the robe.

Charles sees Mrs. Kessler. Everyone sees him zone out. She talks about how Charles would killer her and anyone else. Sleepwalking Charles ensues.

They follow him out of the room. Charles lunges at the cop.

Mrs. Kessler collapses, dead.

Suddenly, Charles quits attacking the cop.

Charles learns he is the killer.

As he is taken away, he is glad to finally be united with his wife.

What I say:

Rogue Reviewers Roundtable

Can it be time again for another Rogue Reviewers Roundtable? Well, it is. This time, we're covering movies that go bump in the night. I looked through my piles of movies I want to review and had it narrowed down to about 3 movies. One seemed a bit too Crow-like. The other is a far more bizarre movie I'm saving for a more special occasion. So that left me with one movie. Invisible Ghost may be one of the biggest cases of false advertising in titles I' ve seen in quite a while. Nothing is invisible. There isn't a ghost. So, ergo, there can't be an invisible ghost.

For one of the cheap Bela Lugosi movies, the Invisible Ghost is better than Apeman or Devil Bat. It is sad fact by the early 1940s, Bela seems to have begun his spiral into cheaper and lower budget movies. He was also sinking lower and lower into drug addiction. Eventually, he was able to start to make something of a comeback in his roles in Ed Wood movies. It is a terrible a shame for such a talented actor to have sunk so low. Remember him from White Zombie or in as the hero in Black Cat.

I still have a hard time accepting the fact of everyone in he movie considers Bela Lugosi as a kindly man. For the most part, he played the mad scientist. I could accept Boris Karloff easier in this type of role. Bela has a sinister vibe that just makes him seem evil in the roles where he isn't. Plus, the man was normally better as the mad scientist than the kindly doctor or businessman.

Bela's wife was in a car wreck. The gardener cared for her and kept from telling anyone but his wife about it. Bela gets awfully fruity about his wife. She pops up outside every so often. The mere sight of her compels Bela into a sleepwalking state where he must kill someone. He isn't evil or conducted some research with experiments that drove him to murder. The police eventually find his wife who promptly dies. They wheel Bela off to jail. I don't think I've ever seen such a well deserving case of insanity in a movie.

Why didn't the gardener's wife mentioned that Bela's wife was alive? Well, the woman probably was in a deep state of shock for seeing her husband start moving after she thought he was dead who dies immmediately afterwards. Who was going to believe her is she started saying Bela's wife was actually alive years after the car wreck that everyone assumed killed her? It would have been nice if those facts were acknowledged to some degree.

This may be one of the few movies that has a woman teaming up with fiancee's brother to solve a murder and not fall in love in the process. Normally, the woman is on the rebound and promptly falls in love with the rugged guy determined to solve the mystery. I'm sure the reason they had the guy play twins was one paycheck for both payroles.

The trial and execution of Ralph doesn't help the movie anyway but tack a few more minutes of running time onto the movie. Normally, this kind of plot would have the girl struggle to find a way to save her boyfriend and barely get the govenor in time to call the prison for a stay of execution. However, the guy gets an all-expenses one-way tcket to the barbeque chair where the taxplayers splurged on the switching hitting exta-crispy.

The few cartoons that had characters sleepwalk had to be more realistic than Bela Lugosi. He just has his arms out vaguely at an angle and walk stiffly. Sleepwalking has always had the portrayers with outstretched arms and walking like a zombie.

Clarence Muse may not be an actor you recognize by name. He will seem familiar if you've seen some older movies. In fact, he also appeared uncreditied in on of the superior Bela Lugosi movies: White Zombie as the cab driver. A lot of the humor would have been at the black servant's expense. However, for the most part, he plays it very straight. There is one joke which is understandable. The "Do I look pale to you?" His reaction to seeing Paul who looks identical to the now-dead Ralph.

Sit back for another of my pointless autobiographical stories. In college, I was taking a computer programming class. One day, I ran into a girl from the class in the computer lab. I talked with her for a few minutes. However, she acted like she didn't know me. The very next day in class, the teacher mentioned he didn't know that the girl had a twin sister. While, it may not have been as shocking as running into somebody's identical sibling who wasn't dead. It as a good a story as I have that somewhat relates.

The DVD revolution has brought a large number of almost forgotten movies out to a new audience. They may not have extras or be scratch-free. The pops and scratches give the movie some character. The Invisible Ghost may not be Bela's best work. However, it isn't his worst.

Quotable Dialogue
"She's still dazed from the accident."
"Nothing's going to stand in the way of my happiness not even you."
"Where were you on the night of January 13th?"
Morals of the Story
One can murder quite effectively while sleepwaking.
Identical brothers don't mention each other.
Soaking wet missing wives are not to be acknowledged to anyone.