The 1940 film, The Ghost Breakers is one of a couple of horror comedies from Universal studios that paired together stars Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard. The other film was The Cat and the Canary made a year earlier. The Ghost Breakers is the third version of this film. The previous offerings, entitled The Ghost Breaker were from 1914 and 1922. With The Ghost Breakers, Universal was again showing their audience that you could make good horror comedies. It worked for The Cat and the Canary, so they went to the well again. In the late 40s there would be more horror comedies with Abbott and Costello meeting the famous Universal monsters. But for the time being, it was comedy legend Bob Hope fighting off ghosts and other spooks!
In The Ghost Breakers, Bob Hope stars as Larry “Lawrence” Lawrence a Manhattan radio commentator who finds himself on an island of zombies along with other creepy voodoo activities. After exposing a crime boss Frenchie Duval(veteran Western actor Paul Fix) on the air, Lawrence is invited to his hotel to set the record straight. In the same hotel is a woman Mary Carter (Paulette Goddard, The Cat and the Canary), who has just received a deed from a Mr. Parada(Paul Lukas, Strange Cargo) informing her that she has inherited a plantation and a mansion in Cuba. Additionally, she receives a telephone call from Mr. Mederos (Anthony Quinn, The Savage Innocents) warning her not to sell her new property to Mr. Parada and agrees to see him to discuss the matter further. Upon Mederos’ arrival he is shot by Mr. Parada. Lawrence hears the gunfire and then fires the gun he carried with him to the hotel and blasts a light above him. He sees a body laying on the floor and thinks it is one of Duval’s men who was after him. This mix up has Lawrence running and hiding as he thinks he killed a man. Fearing he is being pursued, he goes aboard the same boat that Mary is on, heading to Cuba. Larry hides in Mary’s open trunk. This is where the two plots join with Mary and Lawrence on their way to Cuba for different reasons. When they arrive in Cuba where they are greeted by Geoff Montgomery (Richard Carlson, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers) who starts telling tales about ghosts, zombies and voodoo that happens on the island. Could these stories be true, or is it a hoax to do away with Mary and have her inheritance go to someone else?
The Ghost Breakers is a solid film with a great cast in addition to Bob Hope and Claudette Goddard. Soon to be major actors Anthony Quinn(who had two roles in this film) and Richard Carlson hand in terrific performances and were on the rise, while seasoned veteran actor Paul Lukas does a great job in his role as the devious Mr. Parada. He tended to play more sinister roles in his career which he excelled at. Bob Hope had a few good one-liners, but I did not find the comedic moments to be funny other than a chuckle or two, but it was still an entertaining picture, with the spooky moments being more effective than the humor.
The Ghost Breakers arrives on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. Given a brand new 2K Master, the 1080p black and white image in HD looks pleasing overall. There is a vast amount of details to the scenery and deep textures throughout the presentation. Interiors look sharp for the most part. The greyscale is balanced, black levels look rich and bold. The picture tends to be a bit darker than the Kino release of The Cat and the Canary whereas the higher contrast made everything look bright in that movie. There are a few shots during the film that were hazy, possible due to the film elements. Film grain is also present, and no signs of DNR or other digital manipulation has been applied.
The English DTS-HD master audio 2.0 track for this offering is also fine with dialog and other noises coming in rich and clear with no distortions detected. Optional English subtitles are available as well.
In the supplemental department, there is a new audio commentary by film historian and author Lee Gambin. The commentary track by Gambin is as always worth a listen as he talks in-depth about various details about the making of the film and the actors involved.
Other extras include Trailers from Hell with Larry Karaszewski along with theatrical trailers for The Ghost Breakers, The Cat and the Canary, The Paleface, The Young in Heart, and Murder, he Says.
Kino Lorber should be commended for releasing both The Cat and the Canary, and The Ghost Breakers. Both films were highly requested ever since Kino had been dealing with Universal Studios. The Ghost Breakers is another fun film with a few cool extras. This release is a must for fans of both horror and Bob Hope.
The Ghost Breakers
Director- George Marshall
Cast- Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard
Country of Origin- US
Distributor – Kino Lorber
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date- 10/7/20