''The Ghost of St. Michael's'' is a 1941 British

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

- thriller film, produced by

Ealing Studios Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in west London, England. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on th ...

. Will Hay, the film's star, replaced his sidekicks,

Graham Moffatt Graham Victor Harold Moffatt (6 December 1919 – 2 July 1965) was an English comedic character actor. He is best known for a number of films where he appeared with Will Hay and Moore Marriott as 'Albert': a plump cheekily insolent street-savvy ...

and

Moore Marriott George Thomas Moore Marriott (14 September 1885 – 11 December 1949) was an English character actor best remembered for the series of films he made with Will Hay. His first appearance with Hay was in the film '' Dandy Dick'' (1935), but he ...

, from his previous film '' Where's That Fire?'' with comedian

Claude Hulbert Claude Noel Hulbert (25 December 1900 – 23 January 1964) was a mid-20th century English stage, radio and cinema comic actor. Early life Claude Hulbert was born in Fulham in West London on Christmas Day 1900. He was the younger brother of J ...

. Hay and Hulbert would act together again in '' My Learned Friend'' two years later. Typical of comedies made during the war, it has an anti-Nazi plot.

Plot

An ineffectual science teacher William Lamb is hired by a school normally located in middle England (St Michael's) recently transferred because of Second World War evacuation policy to the remote Dunbain Castle on the

Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of ...

, Scotland. Posing as (amongst many other things) an

Old Etonian Eton College ( ) is a public school providing boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated prime ministers, world leaders, Nobel laureates, Academy Award and BAFTA ...

, Lamb settles down into his new surroundings and becomes acquainted with the various local Scottish traditions and legends that abound and strikes up a friendship with one of the other masters, Hilary Tisdaile. However, shortly after his arrival an ancient curse returns to Dunbain Castle. The sound of

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, N ...

signals the death of a member of staff. Two die and Lamb is initially regarded as a suspect. With his friend appointed as the new headmaster (and the next potential victim), Lamb must solve the mystery of the mysterious murders with the assistance of mischievous know-all schoolboy Percy Thorne. A

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

spy ring proves to be behind the killings, and is defeated by a British agent hidden amongst the staff. In one of the more memorable scenes Lamb is trapped inside a secret room with the ceiling slowly descending upon him. They hide under an iron table but the legs start to bend. Mrs Wigmore (who has proved to be the traitor) tries to shoot her way to escape but the bullets bounce off the suit of armour which Tisdaile is wearing. At the very end of the film Hay can be heard breaking character and calling the character Tisdaile "Claude", the actor's real name. This may have been intentional as Hay had just told the cinema audience that it was "all clear" and that they could all go home. Note that Charles Hawtrey was 26 years old when he portrayed Percy Thorne.

Cast

* Will Hay – William Lamb *

– Hilary Tisdaile * Charles Hawtrey – Percy Thorne *

Raymond Huntley Horace Raymond Huntley (23 April 1904 – 15 June 1990) was an English actor who appeared in dozens of British films from the 1930s to the 1970s. He also appeared in the ITV period drama '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' as the pragmatic family soli ...

– Mr Humphries *

Felix Aylmer Sir Felix Edward Aylmer Jones (21 February 1889 – 2 September 1979) was an English stage actor who also appeared in the cinema and on television. Aylmer made appearances in films with comedians such as Will Hay and George Formby. Early life ...

– Dr Winter * Elliott Mason – Mrs Wigmore *

John Laurie John Paton Laurie (25 March 1897 – 23 June 1980) was a Scottish stage, film, and television actor. He appeared in scores of feature films with directors including Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, Michael Powell and Laurence Olivier, generally p ...

– Jamie MacLeod, the headmaster's assistant *

Hay Petrie David Hay Petrie (16 July 1895 – 30 July 1948) was a Scottish actor noted for playing eccentric characters, among them Quilp in ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' (1934), the McLaggen in '' The Ghost Goes West'' (1935) and Uncle Pumblechook in ''Grea ...

–

Procurator Fiscal A procurator fiscal (pl. ''procurators fiscal''), sometimes called PF or fiscal (), is a public prosecutor in Scotland, who has the power to impose fiscal fines. They investigate all sudden and suspicious deaths in Scotland (similar to a corone ...

Roddy Hughes Rhodri Henry Hughes (19 June 1891 – 22 February 1970) was a Welsh theatre, film and television actor, who appeared in over 80 films between 1932 and 1961. Selected filmography * '' Mr. Bill the Conqueror'' (1932) * '' Reunion'' (1932) * '' Sa ...

– Amberley *

Derek Blomfield Derek Blomfield (31 August 1920 – 23 July 1964) was a British actor who appeared in a number of stage, film and television productions between 1935 and his death in 1964. Career He trained at LAMDA and made his first stage appearance a ...

– Sunshine *

Brefni O'Rorke Brefni O'Rorke (26 June 1889 – 11 November 1946) was an Irish actor, both on the stage and in movies. Early life O'Rorke was born as William Francis Breffni O'Rorke at 2 Esplande Villas in Dollymount, Clontarf, Dublin on 26 June 1889, and b ...

– Sergeant Macfarlane *Manning Whiley - Stock *Charles Mortimer - Sir Ambrose *Clive Baxter - Ritzy *David Keir - Dr Ritchie

External links

* 1941 films 1941 comedy films 1940s British films 1940s comedy thriller films 1940s English-language films 1940s spy thriller films British black-and-white films British comedy thriller films British World War II films Ealing Studios films English-language comedy thriller films English-language spy thriller films Films about Nazis Films directed by Marcel Varnel Films produced by Michael Balcon Films set in castles Films set in schools Films set in Scotland Films set on islands World War II films made in wartime {{1940s-UK-comedy-film-stub