Invisible Ghost (1941)

Good movie but grossly overrated

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Well, the title doesn't make any sense. Aren't all ghosts invisible? Either way, there are no ghosts in this movie, transparent or otherwise. The film is about Charles Kessler (Bela Lugosi) who unknowingly commits a series of murders after his wife seemingly dies in a car accident. This is a fine effort for a cheap Sam Katzman production. Most of the performances are good, and Clarence Muse steals the show as Mr. Kessler's butler, Evans, who gets a decent amount of screen time, lines, and isn't too stereotypical. Muse doesn't portray Evans as the typical "Oh Lawdy" scared black servant that was popular in old dark house horror movies at the time. Something in his facial expressions and delivery gives him a sarcastic and humorous edge. Unfortunately, this isn't one of Lugosi's best performances. He is so expressionless throughout, it's hard to tell when he is or isn't in a trance. However, he still has that certain something that always makes him fun to watch.The story also leaves something to be desired. Unless I missed something, I don't think it ever explains why he killed anyone. I must say though, it does have some artful cinematography and lighting. The scenes where Kessler sees his "dead" wife through the window are expertly shot. Overall, I have to say this is fun rainy day entertainment. If you have a tolerance for low budget 40s horror movies, you just might have a good time watching this one. Also, watch for the scene in which Lugosi has his butler serve him and an empty place for his wife at the dinner table. Definitely the eeriest scene in the film.

Invisible Ghost is yet another example of how Bela Lugosi felt it was necessary to keep working no matter what he was asked to appear in. This one is from Sam Katzman at Monogram Pictures and it definitely shows all the Katzman touches from incoherent story, zero production values, and pedestrian acting.Bela Lugosi is a man who lives with his daughter Pollyanna Young and a staff of various servants. Several years ago his wife Betty Compson ran off with another guy and this unhinged Bela. He believes Compson dead along with her paramour in an automobile accident.Only Compson is still alive unhinged herself and being taken care of by the estate gardener Ernie Adams. Only every now and then she gets out and appears at Bela's window trying to get back in.This is where Lugosi goes off his rocker. One sight of her turns him into homicidal strangler and since he can't reach her he strangles whoever is available. No one catches on, they even arrest John McGuire and send him to the chair for Terry Walker's murder.All I can say is that this is such utter nonsense even Lugosi's most nondiscriminating fans will either laugh or be bored.Not quite Ed Wood, but Invisible Ghost comes close.

Not only is "Invisible Ghost" one of the most unusual crime dramas I've ever seen - it would certainly puzzle even the most experienced psychiatrist, and the average crime movie fan sooner or later starts to doubt his own sanity - but it's also one of Bela Lugosis best and unusual performances. Although it gets far too little attention today, this film goes deep into the analysis of psychology, love and hatred, and crime; and NO one could have played such a rare case of schizophrenia caused by the fact that his beloved wife ran away with another man like Bela Lugosi did.A most gentle, sweet, caring man with a deep sorrow in his heart - that's how he is when he is 'himself'. BUT at night, his wife's 'ghost' turns up in the garden below, and as soon as he sees her figure from the window, he turns into a somnambulist murderer... A very tragic film (with the hint, by the way, that the American 'Justice' DOES makes mistakes: they send an innocent man to the electric chair for one of the murders!) that weighs heavily on the audience (another example for Monogram's ability to produce films way beyond the usual 'Poverty Row' level) - but it gives Bela a GREAT opportunity to show ALL his immense repertoire of emotions; and in the end it makes us feel more sympathy for his tragical character as ever. A really high-class, serious movie that makes one think - something that by far not every product of Hollywood's 'dream factory' achieves...

Back in the day, horror just didn't get the respect that it would today, kind of relegated to the back of the bus with all the other social reprobates. However this one is a gem, if not in the story line then certainly in the acting. Bela Lugosi is excellent as Mr. Kessler, the urbane and courtly widower somewhat befuddled by the recent loss of his wife in a tragic accident. Clarence Muse is excellent too as the butler, who in the role of black servant is not played mainly for comic effect, although he does have one funny line. At one point says "Do I look pale? I feel pale", when he sees Paul Dickson, who is the image of his dead brother Ralph.As with most horror mysteries, there is a lot of darkness and strange occurrences. Never mind that much of it isn't adequately explained, it keeps the viewer going. The police are clueless and seem always to be the dumbest ones in the room. The rest are either insane or hapless witnesses and victims. Considering the frequency of murder taking place in this house, the occupants seem strangely unconcerned and Mr. Kessler has no problem hiring new domestic servants to replace those who have been murdered.What is unexplained (and here be the spoiler) is why his gardener, Jules is providing shelter and allowing Mr. Kessler's wife {supposedly dead), who is also not quite right apparently, to hide somewhere nearby. Also why does she prowl the night and look in windows, in all weather, and what DSM-IV classification could possible exist to explain why this triggers in Mr. Kessler his slow trance-like stalking of victims in his house late at night? Mr. Kessler and his wife seem to be made for each other, since both are crazy as loons. All I can say is, it is probably a good thing that would-be son in law Ralph never gets a chance to reproduce with Kessler's daughter. The genetic consequences would not have been pretty.