The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (Sous-titres français) Phil Arnold (Actor), Don Knotts (Actor), Alan Rafkin (Director) LOOSE DVD

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (Sous-titres français) Phil Arnold (Actor), Don Knotts (Actor), Alan Rafkin (Director) LOOSE DVD

Loose DVD (No Cover) An example of the cover only

Don Knotts' slapstick comedy overpowers one of the best haunted house movie plots ever written. So much so that the ending is a bit of a disappointment, leaving too many loose ends for the sake of comedy. "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" is reminiscent of the early Abbot & Costello horror genre films, also shot at Universal. The best of these is "Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein." By today's standards the comedy is too simple to be funny and when we saw this as kids, we were far more interested in the mystery story than the slapstick. The scenes in the diner and the park are just padding and have nothing to do with the main plot. The romantic sub-plot works only to the extent that it gives the film a surprise ending, but otherwise we never believe these two could be romantically involved. Liam Redmond is the standout here. His reading of the legend of the old house is absolutely chilling. Dick Sargent as the newspaper publisher phones in a wooden performance, clearly having no interest in the proceedings. Reta Shaw, as a spiritualist, gives the biggest laughs, along with Nadia Westman and Jesslyn Fax who have small but memorable bits as residents in Knott's boarding house. "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" was inspired by an early episode of "The Andy Griffith Show," which had featured Knotts, but the plots bear little resemblance. The reason this plot works so well is that it has some basis in realty, where most of these old dark house movies have some kind of supernatural explanation that defies logic. But perhaps the biggest mystery of this movie is why they didn't use the Psycho house on the Universal lot instead of an old Victorian in the middle of a residential suburb (Colonial Street on the Universal Lot) 

BARGHAIN BIN # 2