''Spooks Run Wild'' is a 1941 American

horror comedy Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three types: "black comedy, parody and spo ...

film and the seventh film in the

East Side Kids The East Side Kids were characters in a series of 22 films released by Monogram Pictures from 1940 through 1945. Many of them were originally part of The Dead End Kids and The Little Tough Guys, and several of them later became members of The B ...

series. It stars

Bela Lugosi Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), known professionally as Bela Lugosi (; ), was a Hungarian and American actor best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the 1931 horror classic ''Dracula'', Ygor in ''S ...

with

Leo Gorcey Leo Bernard Gorcey (June 3, 1917– June 2, 1969) was an American stage and film actor, famous for portraying the leader of a group of hooligans known variously as the Dead End Kids, the East Side Kids and, as adults, The Bowery Boys. Gorcey was ...

, Bobby Jordan and

Huntz Hall Henry Richard "Huntz" Hall (August 15, 1920 – January 30, 1999) was an American radio, stage, and movie performer who appeared in the popular "Dead End Kids" movies, including ''Angels with Dirty Faces'' (1938), and in the later " Bowery ...

. It is directed by

Phil Rosen Philip E. Rosen (May 8, 1888 – October 22, 1951) was an American film director and cinematographer. He directed more than 140 films between 1915 and 1949. He was born in Marienburg, German Empire (now, Malbork, Poland), grew up in Ma ...

, in his first and only outing in the series, and produced by

Sam Katzman Sam Katzman (July 7, 1901 – August 4, 1973) was an American film producer and director. Katzman produced low-budget genre films, including serials, which had disproportionately high returns for the studios and his financial backers. Ea ...

(under the company name Banner Pictures). The original script is by

Carl Foreman Carl Foreman, CBE (July 23, 1914 – June 26, 1984) was an American screenwriter and film producer who wrote the award-winning films ''The Bridge on the River Kwai'' and '' High Noon'', among others. He was one of the screenwriters who were bla ...

and

Charles R. Marion Charles R. Marion was a screenwriter. He worked on dozens of films. He married actress Elena Verdugo. They had one son, Richard Marion (1949–1999), who became an actor and director. After their divorce she remarried. Filmography *''Spooks Run Wil ...

Plot

Members of the New York City East Side boys club—leader Muggs, Danny, Glimpy, Scruno, Skinny, and Peewee—reluctantly board a bus bound for summer camp. The bus stops in the town of Hillside, where Muggs and his pals flirt with Margie, a soda fountain waitress. While they are there, a radio broadcast announces that a maniacal "monster killer" is in the area. When they arrive at the camp, the counselor, Jeff Dixon, complains to his girlfriend, camp nurse Linda Mason, that he will get no work done on his thesis because of the rowdy juvenile delinquents. One night, Nardo, a mysterious caped figure, and his dwarf assistant, Luigi, ask a local gas station attendant for directions to the hilltop Billings house, which has been deserted for years since its owner was murdered. After he leaves, another car arrives and the attendant recognizes the driver from his mystery magazines as Dr. Von Grosch. The attendant believes that Nardo is the killer and Von Grosch is hunting him, and he alerts the local constable that Nardo is a suspect. One night, Nardo and Luigi sneak into the local graveyard and are shot at by a grave digger. That same night, Muggs slips out of camp hoping to rendezvous with the soda fountain girl, and is followed by all his pals. The East Side Kids get lost in the woods, and when they wander into the graveyard, Peewee is also shot by the digger. The boys take Peewee to the nearby Billings house, where Nardo tends to his minor injury and gives him a sedative. Nardo lets the boys spend the night, but Peewee disappears while sleepwalking. The rest of the boys are unable to sleep because of Nardo's strangeness and Peewee's disappearance. Linda, meanwhile, also disappears while out searching for the boys, and Jeff goes to the police for help. When the boys confront Nardo, he claims not to know where Peewee is, but insists that the boys remain in the house. Muggs distrusts Nardo and on his command, the boys attack him and roll him into a carpet. Skinny and Glimpy disappear through a secret passage, and Scruno is spooked when Nardo reappears. At constable Jim's office, the grave digger recalls seeing the boys, and Jim believes they may have fallen into the killer's hands at the Billings estate. The boys, meanwhile, search for Peewee, but are continually being surprised by the appearance of coffins and objects that move themselves, and by the disappearance of their pals through walls and closets. Linda, meanwhile, accepts a ride from Von Grosch, who takes her to the Billings house, ostensibly to help the boys. Muggs and the boys succeed in terrifying Nardo by pretending to be a ghost, and they finally find Peewee back in bed. Just after Linda and Von Grosch arrive at the house, Von Grosch attacks Linda. The police burst in and accuse Nardo of being a killer, but Muggs has already learned that Nardo is merely a magician. When they all hear Linda screaming inside a locked room, Muggs climbs onto the roof and enters the room through a window. While he struggles with Von Grosch, who is the real "monster killer", Linda opens the door, and the police arrest Von Grosch. Later, Nardo performs magic tricks for Jeff, Linda and the boys, and when Muggs goes into a cabinet after a disappearing girl, he emerges with Scruno in his arms.

Cast

The East Side Kids

as Muggs * Bobby Jordan as Danny *

as Glimpy * Sunshine Sammy Morrison as Scruno *

David Gorcey David Gorcey (February 6, 1921 – October 23, 1984) was an American actor and the younger brother of actor Leo Gorcey. Gorcey is best known for portraying "Chuck Anderson" in Monogram Pictures' film series The Bowery Boys, and "Pee Wee" in i ...

as Peewee *

Donald Haines Donald Haines (May 9, 1919 – February 20, 1943) was an American child actor who had recurring appearances in the ''Our Gang'' short subjects series from 1930 to 1933. He appeared in ''Our Gang'' during the early sound days along with Nor ...

as Skinny

Additional Cast

as Nardo * Dave O'Brien as Jeff Dixon * Dorothy Short as Linda Mason * Dennis Moore as Dr. Van Grosch * P.J. Kelly as Lem Harvey *

Angelo Rossitto Angelo Salvatore Rossitto (February 18, 1908 – September 21, 1991) was an American actor and voice artist. He had dwarfism and was 2'11" (89 cm) tall, and was often billed as Little Angie or Moe. Angelo first appeared in silent films opp ...

as Luigi *

Guy Wilkerson Guy Owen Wilkerson (December 21, 1899 – July 15, 1971) was an American actor, known primarily for his roles in Western B movies, who with his tall, lanky frame, he often played sidekick or comedy relief parts. Biography Wilkseron was ...

as Constable Jim * Slim Andrews as Hank (uncredited) * Jack Carr as The Hillside Mayor (uncredited) * Pat Costello as Bus Driver (uncredited) *

George Eldredge George Edwin Eldredge (September 10, 1898 – March 12, 1977) was an American actor who appeared in over 180 movies during a career that stretched from the 1930s to the early 1960s. He also had a prolific television career during the 1950 ...

as Policeman (uncredited) *

Joe Kirk Ignazio "Nat" Curcuruto (October 1, 1903 – April 16, 1975), better known by his stage name Joe Kirk, was an American radio, film, and television actor who was best known for playing the role of Mr. Bacciagalupe on ''The Abbott and Costello S ...

as Camp Counselor (uncredited) * Rosemary Portia as Margie (uncredited)

Overview

Since the series inception in 1940, the East Side Kids films had been, for the most part, a well balanced mix between comedy, drama, and social relevance. Following Huntz Hall's introduction into the series with 1941's ''

Bowery Blitzkrieg ''Bowery Blitzkrieg'' is a 1941 film and the sixth installment of the East Side Kids series. The film "introduced" Huntz Hall in his first of the East Side Kids film series. It was released in the United Kingdom under the title ''Stand and Deliv ...

'', which made famous the Gorcey/Hall banter, producer

decided that the seventh film in the series would not only be a change of pace, but, would also be one of the biggest East Side Kids extravaganzas yet. With that in mind, Katzman enlisted the screen writing team of Carl Foreman and Charles R. Marion to pen the screenplay, which would feature Monogram's two most popular draws for the first time together on screen: Bela Lugosi and the East Side Kids. Foreman was paid $25 for his original story and $200 for the script.Tom Weaver, ''Poverty Row Horrors! Mongram, PRC and Republic Horror Films of the Forties'', 1993 p 45-52 The film was originally known as ''Trail of the Vampire'' then ''Ghosts in the Night''., In April 1941 Monogram announced that Lugosi would make two starring vehicles for the studio, ''The Night of Horror'' and ''Kiss of Death'' and would also appear with the East Side Kids in ''Ghosts in the Night''. At the last minute, with ''Bowery Blitzkrieg'' director

Wallace Fox Wallace Fox (March 9, 1895 – June 30, 1958) was an American film director. He directed more than 80 films between 1927 and 1953. He was born in Purcell, Oklahoma, and died in Hollywood, California. Selected filmography * ''Trail of Cour ...

already attached to Columbia's

The Lone Star Vigilantes ''The Lone Star Vigilantes'' is a 1942 American Western film directed by Wallace Fox and written by Luci Ward. The film stars Wild Bill Elliott, Tex Ritter, Frank Mitchell, Virginia Carpenter, Luana Walters and Budd Buster. The film was releas ...

, Katzman hired Russian-born director Phil Rosen, who had just finished filming Monogram's "The Deadly Game" to helm the production.

was based on the strength of his performance in '' Hellzapoppin'''. ''Ghosts in the Night'' began filming in early August 1941, around the same time as ''Bowery Blitzkrieg'' was making its way into theatres. By the time filming wrapped only a week and half later, the film's

working title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...

was changed to ''Spooks Run Wild'' and hit theaters on October 24, 1941, just in time for Halloween. Dave O'Brien had begun the series as Knuckles Dolan, in this film he would play a different role. The following year he would team up with

Guy Wilkinson The Venerable Canon Guy Alexander Wilkinson (born 13 January 1948) is an Anglican priest who was Archdeacon of Bradford from 1999 to 2004. Wilkinson was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge and ordained after an earlier career with the Eu ...

Producers Releasing Corporation Producers Releasing Corporation was the smallest and least prestigious of the Hollywood film studios of the 1940s. It was considered a prime example of what was called "Poverty Row": a low-rent stretch of Gower Street in Hollywood where shoest ...

for the Texas Rangers Western film series. It would be East Side Kid

' last film. Haines enlisted as an

aviation cadet A flight cadet is a military or civilian occupational title that is held by someone who is in training to perform aircrew duties in an airplane. The trainee does not need to become a pilot, as flight cadets may also learn to serve as a bombardie ...

for the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

during this period and was later killed in action in 1943.

Reception

The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' said that "for some fans it will lack the usual spontaneity of these pictures, even though there's a fair measure of laughs." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' said the script "must have been the distillate of some addled witch's brew. The sum total as represented... is less horror than horrible."

Follow up

Lugosi and the East Side Kids were later reteamed in ''

Ghosts on the Loose ''Ghosts on the Loose'' is a 1943 American comedy horror film and the fourteenth film in the East Side Kids series, directed by William Beaudine. The picture co-stars horror film icon Bela Lugosi as well as Ava Gardner in one of her earliest rol ...

'', which was also originally known as ''Ghosts in the Night''.

References

External links

* * * * * {{East Side Kids 1941 films 1941 horror films 1940s comedy horror films American comedy horror films American black-and-white films Films directed by Phil Rosen Monogram Pictures films Films with screenplays by Carl Foreman American haunted house films Films produced by Sam Katzman Films about summer camps East Side Kids 1940s English-language films 1940s American films