ThiefHott Too much of everything

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Nigel P Since his ground-breaking turn as Count Dracula in what I think was the first talking horror film ten years earlier, Bela Lugosi had endured peaks and troughs in his professional life. The ban on horror films in 1936/7 all but wiped out the career of a man who seemed every inch the star. After the resurrection of Universal Films' horror output with 'Son of Frankenstein (the 1939 chiller in which Lugosi all but stole the show as disfigured Ygor)', he was soon appearing in low-budget 'quickies' like this for the Monogram company.Let's get the screamingly obvious out of the way first: there is no ghost here, unless it truly is invisible and no-one knows about it! You could be forgiven for thinking there is an invisible ghost however, for Bela, as Doctor Charles Kessler, addresses his dear departed wife regularly. "You are looking more beautiful than ever," he addresses an empty chair. Oh dear, the old boy's clearly as mad as a sponge. But kindly, it seems.His daughter Virginia is concerned, as is the maid. "This is a crazy house," she says. "And what about those murders? Jools says there's been a lot of them." Jools the gardener is more concerned with stealing scraps of food and wine, which he takes to the garden shed - a place where it seems no-one else ever seems to go. Inside, resides Doctor Kessler's wife, alive but mentally broken. Her distraction is worrisome, but quite why she is kept willing prisoner here presents a mystery (Jools clearly feels he is protecting her). All this happens in the first ten minutes! When Mrs Kessler (Betty Compson, who is extremely good in a baffling role) leaves the shed and goes for a little walk past her husband's window, the sight of her puts him in a strange trance. Her words "I can't come home; he'd kill me. He'd kill anyone," turn him into exactly the kind of sneering killer Lugosi excels at, before he returns to his kindly self, with no knowledge of what has happened. It makes no sense, but the scenes are quite effective and well played. Shockingly, Virginia's beau Ralph is found guilty of the murders, and executed. Soon, his brother Paul turns up vowing revenge.Ralph and Paul are both played by John McGuire. It would be unnecessary to put forward the opinion that McGuire's talents, bless them, were sorely stretched playing one character, let alone two. Luckily, apart from having different names, they are utterly identical. Twins, you see.Evans (Clarence Muse) is spared the usual wide-eyed eccentricities most black butlers from this era are afforded. He emerges as possibly the best played character, and rather than being a comedy foil, is the one who stumbles across various killings.Director Joseph H. Lewis keeps the pace running briskly during the first half. Understandably, things slow down after this as the police arrive and try to catch up with events we already know. Lugosi is very good in this, communicating Kessler's confused state, as well as his befuddlement and longing when he spies his dishevelled wife. He only lapses into ham when stalking the house under her influence, arms outstretched. The ending is quite tragic, although in-keeping with the spirit of the preceding 66 minutes, could have benefited from some extra explanation. As Kessler is lead away by the police, try not to imagine how the bizarre evidence will be presented against him.

bkoganbing Invisible Ghost is yet another example of how Bela Lugosi felt it was necessary to keep working no matter what he was asked to appear in. This one is from Sam Katzman at Monogram Pictures and it definitely shows all the Katzman touches from incoherent story, zero production values, and pedestrian acting.Bela Lugosi is a man who lives with his daughter Pollyanna Young and a staff of various servants. Several years ago his wife Betty Compson ran off with another guy and this unhinged Bela. He believes Compson dead along with her paramour in an automobile accident.Only Compson is still alive unhinged herself and being taken care of by the estate gardener Ernie Adams. Only every now and then she gets out and appears at Bela's window trying to get back in.This is where Lugosi goes off his rocker. One sight of her turns him into homicidal strangler and since he can't reach her he strangles whoever is available. No one catches on, they even arrest John McGuire and send him to the chair for Terry Walker's murder.All I can say is that this is such utter nonsense even Lugosi's most nondiscriminating fans will either laugh or be bored.Not quite Ed Wood, but Invisible Ghost comes close.

kapelusznik18 ***SPOILERS*** Bela Lugosi sleepwalks in this role as a mind controlled Zombie as the unfortunate Mr. Kessler who's weak mind is controlled by his wife , Betty Compson, who disappeared from sight three years ago. Were never told of the circumstances of Mrs. Kessler's disappearance and strange actions and it's hinted that her husband had something to do with them. Which made her through mind control have him commit a number of murders in the movie that he had no idea, in him being hypnotized, that he committed.It's after the the new maid Cecile, Terry Walker, is found murdered that Kessler's daughter Virginia, Polly Ann Young, boyfriend Ralph Dickson, John McGuire, is arrested in her murder in that he had a spat with her over him leaving Cecile for Virginia the day before. We in fact see that it was indeed Kerssler, while under hypnosis, who did Cecile in but had no knowledge of his actions. Poor Ralph is arrested convicted and executed in record time, about two minutes, for what was a murder that he didn't commit. With Ralph's twin brother, also played by John McGuire, showing up from far off South America he's now determined to clear his brother's name as well as restart his romantic involvement with Virginia.***SPOILERS*** It's the police lead by the cigar chomping Let.Wiliams, George Pembroke,who seems to have am unlit Churchill-size cigar permanently attached to his mouth who messes up every clue they come across in the murders, three by the time the movie is over, committed by the zombiefied Kessler. It's finally when Mrs. Kessler, who was thought to be dead, shows up unsuspectingly raiding the refrigerator that the truth comes out. It's then that the clueless Kessler, while under hypnosis, suddenly freaks out and attempts to strangle Let. Williams that exposes him as the real murderer. Nowhere as good as Logosi's previous Monogram Picture hit "The Devil Bat" the best of the nine films he made for the studio but still it had the same soundtrack in it.

Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki I loved the high, wide-angel shots looking down a flight of stairs, overlooking the foyer, and the great set designs and lighting in the dark, old house. One cannot miss, nor forget, the shot of Lugosi menacingly staring out the window just before 14 minutes into film; and Lugosi being filmed through the burning fireplace, giving him an even more devilish look. Sometimes harsh black-and-white photography mixes quite well with the more subdued, almost washed-out look the film has during some calmer, tranquil scenes. Well done camera-work and lighting, and impressive set designs, are assets to the film as well as Lugosi's always entertaining presence, in a (sort of) out-of-type character for him. Instead of playing a quieter villain, here, his character is a kindly old man who is completely unaware of the crimes he is committing under hypnosis. I have not mentioned the plot of this film for a reason: it's quite confusing, inconclusive, and at times, downright silly: Lugosi is a sleepwalking killer, who has murdered women in a similar fashion in his dark, old house, after the sudden loss of his beloved wife.Yes, well, I said it was confusing and inconclusive. It's worth a look for Lugosi fans, but film is far from his best, and non-Lugosi fans will be quickly bored with it.