The Ghost of St. Michael's (1941)

Touches You

Just what I expected

Excellent but underrated film

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The fact that Will Hay is playing an incompetent school teacher isn't much of a surprise. After all, he played this sort of guy in several films. However, what makes this one unusual is that the comedy becomes a murder mystery!When the film begins, Will Lamb (Hay) is on his way to a boys school in Northern Scotland. This actually makes a lot of sense, as children throughout England were either sent abroad or to the most rural portions of Britain in order to avoid the German blitz. In this case, an entire school has been packed off to an old castle on the Island of Skye...about as remote a location as you can get! However, very soon it's apparent that Lamb is an idiot and can't teach much of anything well but before he can get the sack, the headmaster is dead--either a suicide or murder. The new headmaster knows Lamb and his incompetence and his first act is to fire Lamb. But, very soon after, this new headmaster is also dead...poisoned just like the first one. So, Lamb, one of the professors and some of the students decide to investigate. But they are warned repeatedly about some sort of ghost and some bagpipes...and what do they have to do with any of this?!This is a pretty good film, though compared to some of Hays' other films, comedy is less important to the film and the murder mystery often takes precedence. And, considering it was made during WWII, the Nazi angle didn't come as much of a surprise. Definitely a product of its times but a good one as well...one that stands up pretty well today.By the way, Hay playing an incompetent science teacher is rather funny, as in real life he was, in addition to being an actor, an engineer and astronomer!

Will Hay is back as a hapless teacher, this time he is William Lamb, who is hired to teach on the remote Scottish Isle of Skye. Whilst there, Lamb is informed that the school is haunted by a legendary ghost and that with each sighting, and the sound of the eerie bagpipes, comes death to a member of staff.This was Will Hay's second film for Ealing Studios and the significant leap in production quality from his Gainsborough Pictures works is very noticeable. Once again Marcel Varnel gives his tight and steady directing to a Hay picture, but the once golden team of Hay, Moffatt and Marriott had become no more. Feeling that as a trio they had gone as far as they could, Hay split the scene, leaving Moffatt and Marriott working at Gainsborough with the likes of Arthur Askey.So in this first comedy for Ealing, Hay was effectively breaking in new comedy sidekick in the form of Claude Hulbert {Hulbert would make one other film with Hay, the darkly humorous My Learned Friend}, while Charles Hawtrey was making his third appearance of the four films he made with the erstwhile Hay. Tho the absence of Marriott and Moffatt is sorely felt, The Ghost Of St. Michael's stands up on its own two feet as a comedy of note. The writing from John Dighton and Angus MacPhail is lean and resplendent with comedic moments, whilst Ealing have really managed to capture that creepy comedy setting with John Croydon's production team on tip top form. Full of secret rooms and mysterious goings on, and even offering up a nice who done it finale, it's a film for all the family to enjoy. 8/10

Many of the other reviewers here seem pretty well versed on the star and these kind of films, but I'm approaching both Hay and British comedies from this era in general as a newbie. Judging from the plot synopsis written here, I was expecting a merging of comedy with old dark house horror along the lines of HOLD THAT GHOST (made the same year in the States), but this is pretty much just a straight comedy that happens to take place in a spooky setting. During WWII, St. Michael's school for boys has to move to a more secure location - a large, gloomy, remote, rat-infested castle located in Isle of Skye in Scotland. Staff and students show up and get settled in, and uppity, bumbling, fast-talking teacher Will Lamb (Will Hay) is immediately assigned the position of science teacher despite being grossly incompetent to handle the position. Lamb is quickly befriended by a goofy colleague (Claude Hulbert) and, because of his unconventional approach and manner, manages to win over the boys in his class. But soon enough, multiple problems arise for our hapless hero. For starters, nasty teacher Mr. Humphries (Raymond Huntley), who seems a little overly eager to climb the professional ladder, tries to convince the school headmaster (Felix Aylmer) to fire him. Secondly, because of its sordid history, the creepy castle caretaker (John Laurie) seems dead certain that the castle is haunted by a malignant spirit. Third, several people end up getting killed, with the ominous "phantom pipes" (bagpipes) signaling each death. Who's responsible; a vengeful human or a centuries-old ghost?One noticeable difference between this and concurrent comedies from the States is the presentation of Hay's character. You didn't too often see (in American movies from this period) an authority figure/bumbling hero who flagrantly lies, is incompetent in his line of work, drinks whiskey with a bunch of underage students and acts like he's going to haul off and slap or kick his pupils when they say something he doesn't like. Yet somehow, Hay manages to come off as utterly charming and likable. You can see why the pupils take a liking to him. The entire supporting cast; particularly Aylmer and Charles Hawtrey, as the brainy and outspoken student Percy, was excellent. As far as this functioning as a murder-mystery, it does a fairly good job of that as well. There's a lively finale making good use of trap doors and secret passageways. When the killer's identity is revealed it's also a genuine surprise. Though obviously a low-budget and set-bound production, it's fairly well staged and has a decent screenplay with plenty of amusing dialogue and good comic situations to put our heroes in. All in all, it's a pleasant and entertaining way to spend 78 minutes of your time.

Just a couple of points: the school is moved to Skye in the Hebrides, Scotland, NOT the Channel Islands.Also, I would not say it is a take on The Ghost Train: that would be Oh Mr Porter, surely.But certainly one of the most watchable of Will Hay's films.It is amazing to see people like John Laurie, who went on to play Private Frazer in Dad's Army on TV, and, of course, Charles Hawtrey.Did any of the other schoolboys go on to feature or star in other films?Anybody know?If you do, let us know