''The Ghost Talks'' is a 1949

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

short subject A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

, directed by

Jules White Jules White (born Julius Weiss; hu, Weisz Gyula; 17 September 190030 April 1985) was a Hungarian-American film director and producer best known for his short-subject comedies starring The Three Stooges Early years White began working in mo ...

. The stars are the American

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such a ...

comedy team

The Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared ...

(

Moe Howard Moses Harry Horwitz (June 19, 1897 – May 4, 1975), known professionally as Moe Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He is best known as the leader of The Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television ...

Larry Fine Louis Feinberg (October 5, 1902 – January 24, 1975), known professionally as Larry Fine, was an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is best known as a member of the comedy act the Three Stooges. Early life Fine was born to a Russian Je ...

and

Shemp Howard Samuel Horwitz (March 11, 1895 – November 22, 1955), known professionally as Shemp Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He was called "Shemp" because "Sam" came out that way in his mother's thick Lithuanian Yiddish, Litvak accent. He is ...

). It is the 113th entry in the series released by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

starring the comedians, who released 190 shorts for the studio between 1934 and 1959.

Plot

The Stooges are moving men assigned to move furniture out of the haunted Smorgasbord Castle. All goes well at first, outside of a few scares, until a clanking suit of armor inhabited by the ghost of

Peeping Tom Lady Godiva (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English , was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries. Today, she is mainly reme ...

(voiced by

Phil Arnold Phil Arnold (born Philip Aronoff Arnold; September 15, 1909 – May 9, 1968) was an American screen, stage, television, and vaudeville actor. He appeared in approximately 150 films and television shows between 1939 and 1968. Arnold is familiar ...

) scares the hapless Stooges. Tom manages to convince them that he is, in fact, a friendly spirit. After finally gaining their trust, Tom tells the trio his origin story of watching

Lady Godiva Lady Godiva (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English , was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries. Today, she is mainly reme ...

(

Nancy Saunders Nancy Lou Saunders (June 29, 1925 – June 13, 2020) was an American actress of film, television and the stage. Career Saunders appeared in over 20 films between 1946 and 1957. She was discovered when a talent scout was looking for attractive ...

), only to get a pie in the face. In turn, his ghost is cursed and trapped inside the suit of armor. He has been trapped for a thousand years. The Stooges, however, still have a job to do, and tell Tom that they have to move everything in the castle, including him. He instructs the boys to leave him be, as "bad luck" will be upon them if they ever try to take him away. Shemp, Larry and Moe all take turns trying to move Tom, but a series of various shenanigans spooks the Stooges. The Incidents they encounter include a frog jumping down Shemp's shirt, and an owl entering a skull and assuming the role of a

death's head Death's Head is the name of several fictional characters appearing in British comics and American comic books both published by Marvel Comics. The original Death’s Head is a robotic bounty hunter (or rather, as he calls himself, a "freelance ...

spirit. As they run into another room to escape, Lady Godiva rides up on a horse and takes Tom away. The Stooges rush over to the window to watch them depart, only to be pelted with three successive pies amidst a cheering crowd.

Cast

Credited

Production notes

''The Ghost Talks'' was filmed on August 26–29, 1947, and released 18 months later on February 3, 1949. It was

remade Bas-Lag is the fictional world in which several of English author China Miéville's novels are set. Bas-Lag is a world where both magic (referred to as "thaumaturgy") and steampunk technology exist, and is home to many intelligent races. It is inf ...

in 1956 as '' Creeps'', using ample

stock footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...

.Solomon, Jon. (2002) ''The Complete Three Stooges: The Official Filmography and Three Stooges Companion''; Comedy III Productions, Inc., Director Jules White voiced the skeleton identifying himself as "Red Skeleton", a reference to comedian

Red Skelton Richard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program ''The Red Skelton Show''. He has stars ...

. The

NBC chimes The NBC chimes are a sequence of three tones played on National Broadcasting Company (NBC) broadcasts. Originally developed in 1927 as seven notes, they were standardized to the current three-note version by the early 1930s, and possibly as early ...

are heard when Moe hits Shemp three times on his head.

References

External links