the audience applauded

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Nick Trayne (James Dunn) is a former detective for the D.A.s' office who's now earning a living as a professional "listener". (Meaning he listens to customers voice their problems in life.) He's convinced to return to his old line of work to help solve a baffling case. A prominent financier, Walter Craig (Gus Glassmire), has gone missing. Although his family fears the worst, he later turns up alive, albeit in a zombie like condition. With the lovely young Billie Hilton (Joan Woodbury) at his side, he pursues all leads in a determined fashion.While the plot is routine stuff (with a classic, age old motivation for our mysterious antagonist), "The Living Ghost" garners most of its entertainment value through its healthy comedy quotient. Quips come flying at a rapid pace. Nick is the kind of guy with a wise ass comment for almost every occasion, but unlike Leonard Maltin, I found a lot of his dialogue quite priceless. Dunn - who later won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" - is ideal in the role of this goofy hero. He has good chemistry with many of his co- stars and there is some hilarious banter. The exchanges between him and deadpan butler Norman Willis are standouts.Don't let the title fool you into thinking this is a horror film. "The Living Ghost" barely qualifies for that genre, although there is some wonderfully spooky and atmospheric stuff that takes place in an old run down house. Director William Beaudine does a fine job with the pacing; this zippy movie only runs about one hour long. And just in case we didn't "get it", Trayne explains it all for us in the concluding minutes, just like many a mystery story through the years.And Dunn, Woodbury, and Beaudine do send us away with an amused smile on our faces.Six out of 10.

The Living Ghost (1942)If you want to be sure to see every early zombie movie (because you are obsessed, or a completist), you'll have to watch this one. Yes, this fairly low budget comedy with dramatic lighting and a murder, too. It's a common, lighthearted style from the 1930s and 40s, taking serious themes but putting a cheeky, clever lead in the middle of the situation to give it comic relief.It's not a terrific formula without some great acting and writing, and this one is a strain. The detective (played by James Dunn) is called into lair of a rich family with some mysterious doings. He's a decent comic type, always in charge and casual and a bit goofy. He's looking for a real criminal or two, however, and so there is a backdrop nights in the garden and thunderstorms in strange houses. It's really rather fun and well done in many cinematic ways. But it's too often silly and deflating, too. Lighthearted and lightheaded.The zombie part? That's for real, and if this main zombie is so normal you'll get disappointed, he's still the real thing, and could be an archetype for a shadowy kind of zombie that infiltrates normal society. He's the opposite of the "World War Z" type of superman zombie, and it's a more interesting direction. As the movie progresses the detective (and the tag-along your woman who he's in love with) encounter another zombie, and it gets creepier even as the light comedy persists.Anyway, watch if you just want a breezy fun time with lots of night and dark filming (which is rather nice overall). And a couple of zombies, more or less.

"When a banker turns up missing, former detective Nick Trayne is brought in on the case to find him. When the banker turns up but appears to be in a trance, Trayne must now try to find out what happened to the banker. A household full of suspects makes for a tough case that our crack detective must solve and bring the culprit to justice," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.This variation of the "old dark house" plot is more tired than true. "The Living Ghost" angle turns out to be a good idea, but zombie Gus Glassmire (as Walter Craig) doesn't get enough screen time to really frighten. Writers Howard Dimsdale and Joseph Hoffman do well, considering. Detective James Dunn (as Trayne) and adorable Joan Woodbury (as Billie Hilton) are a delightful couple of sleuths. The supporting roles are performed admirably - right down to Harry Depp (as Homer Hawkins). If only the production were kicked up a notch, or two… **** The Living Ghost (11/27/42) William Beaudine ~ James Dunn, Joan Woodbury, Paul McVey

How anyone can lavish even the faintest praise on this junk is baffling to me, since THE LIVING GHOST is a cliché ridden mystery with some vain attempts at humor. Furthermore, it's ineptly performed by the entire cast and appears to have been filmed on a quickie basis with no close-ups introducing the chief suspects.JAMES DUNN makes an abysmal attempt at playing detective and JOAN WOODBURY is no more successful as the lame-brained secretary of the lobotomized man at the center of the mystery. Question is: Which one in the wealthy man's household tried to do him in? None of the suspects have enough time on screen to become viable characters and it's never quite clear why Dunn takes such an immediate dislike to the poor butler whom he treats with utter contempt, even when he's being helpful.Juvenile at best, it's the kind of film the Monogram factory churned out on a weekly basis in the '40s, barely deserving a spot at the bottom end of a double feature bill.A ridiculous tax on anyone's reason or patience--mercifully, it runs only one hour.