The Ghost (1963 film)
| The Ghost | |
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Italian film poster for The Ghost
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| Directed by | Riccardo Freda |
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| Screenplay by | Oreste Biancoli |
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| Cinematography | Raffaele Masciocchi |
| Edited by | Ornella Micheli |
| Distributed by | Dino de Laurentiis (Italy) |
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Release date
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Running time
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100 minutes |
| Country | Italy |
| Language | Italian |
| Box office | ₤175 million |
The Ghost (Italian title: Lo Spettro) is a 1963 Italian horror film directed by Riccardo Freda, using the pseudonym "Robert Hampton". The film stars Barbara Steele and Peter Baldwin. Other titles for the film include The Spectre and Lo Spettro del Dr. Hichcock.
In 1910 Scotland, the ailing Dr. Hichcock (Elio Jotta) presides over a seance in which his housekeeper, Catherine (Harriet Medin), is the medium. Hichcock's wife, Margaret (Barbara Steele), is having an affair with Dr. Livingstone (Peter Baldwin). She persuades her lover to murder her husband.
During the distribution of Hichcock's estate, Catherine and Livingstone receive very little. Learning that the key to the doctor's safe was buried with him, they secretly open his grave to retrieve it. The safe is empty. Margaret and Livingstone hear Hichcock's voice calling to them, and experience poltergeist phenomena. Margaret eventually learns from these encounters that Hichcock's fortune is buried beneath his coffin. She returns to the grave but only an empty box is found beneath the casket. Catherine, apparently possessed, tells Margaret that Livingstone has taken the jewels for himself. Margaret lures her lover into a cellar and murders him.
Margaret is drawn to Hichcock's room by the ringing of his carillon, where she contemplates suicide by poison. Hichcock appears, alive and well. He kills his accomplice, Catherine, leaves evidence to incriminate Margaret, and sends anonymous notice to the authorities. Believing that Margaret has poured herself a glass of gin, Hichcock drinks it and makes a toast. He immediately realizes he has poisoned himself. He begs Margaret for the antidote, but she destroys the vial. The police arrive and arrest Margaret for Catherine's murder. Hichcock seals himself inside a secret passage to die unseen.
The Ghost was shot in Rome. It is a gothic re-imagining of the film Les Diaboliques (1955).
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