The Headless Ghost (1959)

"The Headless Ghost" is a harmless, very minor but fairly likable little comedy filmed on the cheap in Britian. Three foreign exchange students - Americans Bill (Richard Lyon) and Ronnie (David Rose) and Danish gal Ingrid (Liliane Sottane) - take in the locations of the Ambrose Estate. Ronnie wants to investigate the stories of the place being haunted for his college newspaper and the three certainly do find plenty to write about. The ghosts are real, starting with amiable, helpful Fourth Earl of Ambrose (the great character actor Clive Revill, in his first credited screen role). One of the ghosts, Malcolm, needs his body and his severed head to be reunited so he can properly rest in peace. Bill, Ingrid, and Ronnie are reluctant at first but are eventually persuaded to see this "mission" through to its end. As written by Aben Kandel and producer Herman Cohen, and directed by Peter Graham Scott, there are no real comedy fireworks here. At best, the movie does elicit some modest chuckles, but at least it's all easy enough to take. The trio of protagonists have the potential to annoy some viewers, especially Bill, but the enthusiasm of the actors' performances is effective, and that accent of Sottanes' is hard to resist. Revill scores as the easygoing ghost, and Alexander Archdale is a hoot as the fun loving spirit of Sir Randolph. One debit is that even at a mere one hour and three minutes, this definitely feels padded: better pacing and this could have run even shorter. Still, one can't completely dislike the padding, as it features some incredible dance moves by a sexy performer named Josephine Blake. The special effects aren't bad, the music by Gerard Schurmann is good, and the movie isn't totally without decent black & white atmosphere. Originally released as the second movie in a double feature with Roger Cormans' "A Bucket of Blood", this is indeed lightweight stuff, and pretty damn silly, but it's also impossible to hate. After all, it's not as if we don't know what we're in for judging by the opening credits. Six out of 10.

The Headless Ghost is set in London in England where the centuries old Ambrose Castle is a popular tourist attraction, three students Bill (Richard Lyon), Ingrid (Liliane Sottane) & Ronnie (David Rose) are taking a guided tour when talk of ghost's pique their interest. The current Earl of Ambrose (Jack Allen) claims the Castle is haunted so Bill, Ingrid & Ronnie decide to hide until everyone else has left & spend the entire night there to either prove or disprove the existence of ghost's which might make for good school work, or something like that. Once the three friends are alone in Ambrose Castle at night they quickly discover that ghost's do exist & are greeted by the ghost of the Fourth Earl of Ambrose (Clive Revill) who explains that another Earl of Ambros named Malcolm is cured to walk the Castle for eternity after being beheaded & that only the return of his skull will let the Ambrose family finally rest in peace but the evil Sir Randolph (Alexander Archdale) likes eternal 'life' & doesn't want the curse lifted at all...This English production was directed by Peter Graham Scott & is a fairly childish supernatural comedy that I felt might have been more effective had it concentrated on scares rather than laughs, the friendly ghost concept just doesn't do it for really & the three bumbling students are trapped between being painted as heroic & bumbling. Amazingly at only a brief sixty two minute duration The Headless Ghost still feels padded & I know that I was hoping for it to finish long before it actually did, there's a fair amount of padding like the totally random dance scene & the Earl of Ambrose's wife turning up to lecture him for a couple of minutes before completely disappearing & Sir Randolph the evil ghost also only appears in one scene & really doesn't get to do much at all & he makes little attempt to stop the curse being lifted despite a lot of emphasis being place on the fact that he would (the whole plot & drama of the story is supposed to revolve around it). The Headless Ghost is all rather predictable too, you just know one way or another the three teens will life the curse & everyone will live (or die) happily ever after. No surprises, nothing that I could really describe as being funny & nothing outright scary either The Headless Ghost has little to recommend it & instantly forgettable.The production values are perhaps better than the final film deserves with some good location work & sets, it's just a shame the atmospheric dimly lit Castle corridor sets weren't put to more effective use. The entire scare factor of The Headless Ghost revolves around Ingrid being scared by a Cat, a Rat & a Snake which Bill then chops up with an axe (I hope it was a false Snake but it did look quite real to me) & not much else. The special effects are quite good considering the vintage of the film, lets just say they certainly could have been worse.Written & produced by producer Herman Cohen I doubt The Headless Ghost had any money spent on it besides the sets, it looks alright for what it is I suppose. The acting is pretty bad, everyone seems embarrassed to be here & give flat wooden performances.The Headless Ghost is an OK time waster I suppose, it's not amazingly bad or anything but the uninspired natured of both the comedy & scares leaves it unsatisfying. It's predictable, it's padded & overall pretty forgettable as well. There are much better ways to spend an hour I'm afraid.

When " The Headless Ghost " was originally released in the United Kingdom it played the lower half of a double feature programme. The main feature was Roger Corman's " A Bucket of Blood ". I saw these two at the Biograph Cinema on Wilton Road, Victoria,in west London, at that time ( 1960 ), the oldest cinema in the capital. Although " The Headless Ghost " was rather tedious fare, it had an innocent charm, and I do recall the odd chuckle. The British Board of Film Censors passed the film for exhibition with a " U " certificate ( for viewing by all ages ). " A Bucket of Blood " was passed with an " X " certificate, for viewing only by those over 16 years of age. As a consequence, no young children were able to enjoy the ghostly delights in this particular double-bill, which, at a little over two hours, must rank as one of the shortest programmes ever. Give " The Headless Ghost " a chance. Play it with the Corman film and try to imagine what it must have been like sitting in a smelly flea-pit, located in a run down part of London, way back half a century ago.

This ghost tale is a horror flick that is mostly mediocre comedy. Director Peter Graham Scott doesn't really seem too have much to work with. Three exchange students and beginner ghost hunters visit an old English castle that the Earl of Ambrose(Jack Ellen)has turned into a tourist trap by purporting that the castle is haunted. Before closing time the three decide to hide and stay the night to see for themselves if the castle is really haunted. They are shocked when a spirit from one of the many portraits gives the scared trio a personal guided tour. He than asks if they would aid him in helping another ghost locate his missing head.The list of players include: Richard Lyon, Liliane Scottane, David Rose, Clive Revill and Mary Barday.