Review of The Ghost and the Guest

Fans of "George Washington Slept Here" and "The Egg and I" can skip this and go right to "Green Acres" for some intelligent humor in its similar tale of a New York couple who move into an abandoned farm house, apparently once a hide-out for criminals. James Dunn and Florence Rice, from the lower ranks of "A" studios, moved just to the lower ranks for this Z-grade groaner. They are joined by the talented but misused Sam McDaniel as Dunn's wise-cracking black chauffeur, an over-the-top Mabel Todd as a typical dumb Dora, and Robert Dudley as the ridiculous former hangman who still walks around with a noose, anxious to try it out on McDaniel in a really extreme bad taste joke. There aren't even any amusing farm clichés to be found, although McDaniel does get a few witty lines, mostly concerning his unseen wife, such as "She could give an aspirin a headache." Poor camera work and slow film editing make this dull, at even just under an hour.