The Living Ghost
| The Living Ghost | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | William Beaudine |
| Produced by | A.W. Hackel (producer) |
| Written by |
Howard Dimsdale (original story) Joseph Hoffman (screenplay) |
| Starring | See below |
| Cinematography | Mack Stengler |
| Edited by | Jack Ogilvie |
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Production
company |
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Release date
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November 27,
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Running time
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61 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Living Ghost is a 1942 American film directed by William Beaudine produced by Monogram Pictures. The Living Ghost was released on videocassette as A Walking Nightmare.
The film is also known as Lend Me Your Ear in the United Kingdom.
This is a low-budget criminal melodramatic story with faint horror movie tendencies. Lead character Nick Trayne is played by future Academy award-winner James Dunn. Nick Trayne is a slightly eccentric former private detective who has retired to pursue a more leisurely occupation gets lured back into business to investigate the disappearance of a banker - Walter Craig (Gus Glassmire). It is the banker's best friend, Ed Moline (Paul McVey) who hires him after the banker has disappeared from his home.
At the banker's estate, Nick meets his whole family, consisting of Craig's second wife Helen (Edna Johnson), his snobby daughter Tina (Jan Wiley), her fiancé Arthur Wallace (Howard Banks), Walter's nutty sister, Delia Phillips (Minerva Urecal), and her husband George (J. Arthur Young), as well as Walter's friend and former partner, Tony Weldon (George Eldredge).
Nick cooperates with Craig's cheeky secretary, Billie Hilton (Joan Woodbury), on this case. He starts out with questioning Craig's more than alarmingly suspicious friends and relatives. When Nick is busy doing his interviews the missing banker suddenly returns. Craig isn't quite himself - he is seemingly lobotomized, looking more like a zombie than anything with the slightest resemblance to a living breathing thing.
Luckily enough there is a neurologist and brain specialist at hand, Dr. Bruhling (Lawrence Grant). According to Dr. Bruhling, Craig is suffering from a paralyzed cerebral cortex. Furthermore, this state of Craig's could make him dangerous to his surrounding. Dr. Bruhling concludes that this state, this paralyzation of a portion of the brain cells in the cerebral cortex, must have been induced by another person - this is not something that Craig possibly could have brought on himself. Nick continues his investigation by hearing several of the family members, and finds out that if Craig dies, his daughter Tina will inherit everything he owns. It doesn't take many moments however, until Craig actually become violent and seemingly kills his brother-in-law. When Nick is to meet George, to question him, in the estate garden, he finds the man murdered with a knife in his back, and Craig standing by the dead body in the estate garden.
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Wikipedia