Mr. & Mrs. 1SOs Not-So-Scary Halloween Weekend
Ghost Breakers I wasn't able to get a hold of The Cat and the Canary, so I went with the other comedy horror starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard. It's good, in fact better than average for Bob Hope. There are moments where you can see he's really acting and not just throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. Like Sandler in Punch-Drunk Love, this project finds a way to turn Hope's schtick into a real character. It helps that many of the jokes are thought out and witty instead of just being obvious punchlines. ("He sees the dark side of everything. He was born during an eclipse.") A couple of times Hope even keeps it serious, mentioning how it would be great if there was a joke to break the tension. (This manages to be amusing, while keeping things wound.)
Hope has a servant, played by legendary African-american character Willie Best. The performance is very stereotyped, with Willie stuttering and bugging out his eyes, but I have to say that it's also very funny. Best gets a lot of the script's funniest jokes and he has a natural chemistry with Hope. ("A lot of folks don't like you, boss. I expect one of these mornings when I come to get you outta the bed, I'll have to pull the sheet up instead of down.") I think he has more screen time than Goddard (who's fine, but not even up to Dorothy Lamour standards), and while there are some cringe-inducing lines, for the most part you're meant to laugh with him and not at him.
For a while I failed to see why this is considered a horror movie at all, but the last 30 minutes pulls out all the stops. Besides the moody lighting and creaky noises there are ghosts, witches, zombies and mummies. Much creepier than a lot of the so-called classic horror films of the 20s and 30s I watched this month, this was a nice surprise
RATING: * * *MRS. 1SOThe wife loves Bob Hope, and she had a good time with Ghost Breakers but doesn't think this one's a keeper. She thought the comedy transitioned nicely to the spooky 3rd Act, and also found Best much more funny than offensive. There was just something missing, possibly a more interesting plot or more good supporting characters for Hope to play off of. She slightly prefers Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.
RATING: * * *The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) The first of what became a 14 film series starring Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Watson. This was fun and Rathbone seems perfectly cast as England's greatest detective. Is it a horror film? Well, I could see it working as one under the right conditions, but it certainly doesn't fit the genre as well as Brotherhood of the Wolf. Brotherhood is more entertaining, though it could benefit from borrowing Hound's brisk pace and not just a few plot points. (I considered showing Brotherhood to Mrs. 1SO, but I can think of a few reasons why she wouldn't care for it.)
This is a better movie than I remembered from my childhood, with a mystery that's effortlessly involving without being all too obvious. I thought the hound was larger and more vicious, sort of like the wolf in 300. I don't like how Holmes disappears for a good stretch in the middle, but Watson is okay and there's always the mystery of the Hound to maintain interest.
RATING: * * *
MRS. 1SOThe wife though the recent Sherlock Holmes was okay, she really likes the stories by Doyle and she loves Disney's The Great Mouse Detective. She never read the original story, but she thought the movie was wonderful. She loves the intelligence of Holmes and thought Rathbone was exactly how she imagined the great detective. They dumbed down Watson, but Nigel Bruce fit her mental image precisely too. She was hooked right from the start and just had a blast. There will be more adventures with Sherlock Holmes in our future.
RATING: * * * *