The Ghosts of Buxley Hall

I only watched this movie to get it out of my recommended list on Disney Plus. This movie is long and boring with the same schtick over and over again. There really isn't even a plot. It's not scary, it's not funny, and it's not a drama. It just sits there like a pile of crap.

I caught this one SEVERAL years ago on the Disney Channel. I remember originally seeing it on the Wonderful World of Disney in 1980(I think WWOD was on CBS at the time;but I was only 4). Buxley Hall Military Academy for Boys is steeped in tradition, founded by Gen. Eulace Buxley in the 1800's and now run by his relative. The problem is enrollment is way down, it owes money and the bank wants to foreclose. The only way to save Buxley is to make it co-ed with a girl's school. Of course Col. Joe Buxley hates the idea and doesn't warm up to the house mother or the noisy girls. In comes Jeremy Ross who lost his parents. Jeremy's uncle would like to enroll him and if Jeremy likes it, the uncle will pay off the school's debt. The problem is Jeremy's leech of an aunt and her gigolo husband are fighting Jeremy's uncle for custody(which includes the boy's sizable inheritance). If they can secretly make his life miserable at school, he'll beg to leave and they can offer him a more "stable" home than his single uncle can. But that's not going to happen soon because Jeremy finds a friend in young Posie(who despises the military school's stiff rules). Jeremy is also protected by the GHOSTS of Gen. Buxley, his wife Bettina and Sgt. Chester Sweet. Together the ghosts plot to save Buxley from demolition and Jeremy from his relatives.

Overall a fun, kid friendly movie with plenty of the common, goofy sight gags involving ghosts. Character actor Guy Raymond plays Ben Grissom the drunken caretaker who often see's ghostly activity but no one behind it. Coincidentally Raymond played Ed Peavey in the TV Show "The Ghost & Mrs. Muir" and had many of the same reactions. You can catch Monte Markam in a post "The New Perry Mason" role and Victor French in a pre "Little House on the Prarie"/"Highway to Heaven" role. Also memorable, character actor Vito Scotti playing another accented character(at least he plays an Italian) and actress Ruta Lee in an over the top comical performance. Another coincidence, Rad Daly who played Jeremy and Tricia Cast who played Posie, appeared together a year earlier in the TV version of the "Bad News Bears." Rad played Josh Matthews the snobbish baseball player of the elite team always razzing the bears and Cast played Amanda Whirlitzer.

I think that The Ghosts Of Buxley Hall might have been a big screen project for Dean Jones. Certainly Monte Markham plays a most Jones like character as the head of the military academy that is about to go coed. But Jones might not have been available so this was relegated to the made for TV status.

Poor Markham is beset by the fact that women with their own dean and chaperon are about to invade his male domain. More opposed to it than Markham is the founder of the academy Dick O'Neill who together with his wife Louise Latham and his sergeant Victor French roam the Academy halls as spirits. As ghosts they do their business to scare that notion out of everybody.

One of the new students is orphan millionaire Rad Daly whose aunt Ruta Lee and uncle Vito Scotti are trying to get control of his millions. The ghosts, particular Victor French take an interest in his situation.

In fact by the time of the climax everyone realizes that it's to their rational self interest to stop Lee and her machinations. Ruta Lee is having a ball in this role playing her own version Cruela DeVille.

This is a nice easy to take Disney film and does credit to all involved.

Vintage Disney plot. Pleasant time. No violence or foul language. No politics. Plus Monte Markham for goodness sake. And the actor from McHales Navy using the Italian accent. A great trip down memory lane. The ghosts are delighted. It's Disney, remember. Classic actors Victor French. Dick O'Neill. Remember when academics were being made to be coed. Seems slight, but there was a time. The young lady cadet is memorable. Poise. She went on to work on probably one of your favorite soaps.

Love Bettina the Ghost. Plotting to give the general his comeuppance for his lack of empathy. Watching a Ghost go through a door was a cinematic accomplishment at one time. Simpler times. Not necessarily better, but still good, and should be respected. Thank you Disney Plus for letting me enjoy some good memories.

My God. As a grown man who's seen plenty of scary films, I didn't think a movie could affect me like The Ghosts of Buxley Hall. My wife and I were not prepared for this film in any way. Yes, we expected to be scared, but we were not expecting to question our own sanity. From the moment the Civil War soldiers come down off the paintings to put a stop to the unthinkable concept of girls being admitted to their beloved Buxley Hall school for boys, the psychological siege on the viewer does not let up. But the moment you fully comprehend that you are watching a true masterpiece of horror is the scene where the hapless janitor witnesses a floating hair dryer (handled by the old timey lady ghost who had never seen a hair dryer before...nor had she heard the sounds of modern disco). It's a scene that stays with you for weeks.

No matter how big a horror fan you are, think twice about watching The Ghosts of Buxley Hall. And please, do NOT watch it alone. If you are under 30 years old, do not watch it al ALL. You're not ready for this yet.