The Ghost Walks

{{short description|1934 film by Frank R. Strayer}} {{More citations needed|date=June 2019}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox film | name = The Ghost Walks | image = Poster of the movie The Ghost Walks.jpg | caption = | director = [[Frank R. Strayer]] | producer = [[Maury M. Cohen]] | writer = [[Charles Belden (screenwriter)|Charles Belden]] | narrator = | starring = {{Plainlist| * [[John Miljan]] * [[June Collyer]] }} | music = | cinematography = [[M.A. Anderson]] | editing = [[Roland D. Reed]] | studio = Invincible Pictures Corp. | distributor = [[Chesterfield Pictures]] | released = {{Film date|1934|12|01}} | runtime = 69 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = }} '''''The Ghost Walks''''' is a 1934 American [[Comedy film|comedy]] [[mystery film]]<ref>{{cite news|date=January 20, 1935|title=Loew's Offerings|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/hartford-courant/151003144/|newspaper=[[Hartford Courant]]|location=Hartford, Connecticut|page=2E|access-date=July 9, 2024|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> directed by [[Frank R. Strayer]] starring [[John Miljan]] and [[June Collyer]].

==Plot== On a stormy night, a theatrical producer, his secretary, and playwright Prescott Ames are stranded when their car skids off the road and gets stuck. The three take refuge in the nearby home of Dr. Kent, a friend of Ames's. One of Kent's patients, who is staying at the house, is acting strangely, and the others in the house tell the newcomers that she is behaving this way because it is the anniversary of her husband's murder. At dinner, the group begins exchanging accusations about the murder, when suddenly the lights go out, and soon afterwards comes the first in a series of mysterious and fearful events.

The producer thinks all the strange occurrences are part of a ploy to get him to produce a play for Ames: One of the other characters exclaims, "These fools think we are putting on a play for their benefit!" The dinner-party was a scene from Ames's play, but when a madman sneaks into the house and tries to graft different body parts on the theatrical producer and his secretary, they realize it isn't a play.

==Cast== * [[John Miljan]] as Prescott Ames * [[June Collyer]] as Gloria Shaw * [[Richard Carle]] as Herman Wood * [[Henry Kolker]] as Dr. Kent * [[Johnny Arthur]] as Homer Erskine * [[Spencer Charters]] as a Guard * [[Donald Kirke]] as Terry Shaw aka Terry Gray * [[Eve Southern]] as Beatrice * [[Douglas Gerrard]] as Carroway (billed as Douglas Gerard) * [[Wilson Benge]] as Jarvis * [[Jack Shutta]] as Head Guard * [[Harry Strang]] as Guard

==Reception== Wanda Hale of the ''[[New York Daily News]]'' gave the film two out of four stars, highlighting "several funny scenes, with Johnny Arthur and Richard Carle as the comics. Then, too, there is the suave John Miljan and the lovely June Collyer and Eve Southern to add romance to the horrors."<ref>{{cite news|last=Hale|first=Wanda|date=March 30, 1935|title=Criterion Presents Thrills and Chills|url=https://www-newspapers.com/article/daily-news/151002745/|newspaper=[[New York Daily News]]|location=New York, New York|page=29|access-date=July 9, 2024|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>

In 1997, author Michael R. Pitts complimented the plot element of the dress rehearsal in the film's first act, and wrote: "While the remainder of the film does not quite live up to these early scenes, it is a well-modulated melodrama which never seems to take itself too seriously."<ref>{{cite book|last=Pitts|first=Michael R.|year=1997|title=Poverty Row Studios, 1929-1940: An Illustrated History of 55 Independent Film Companies, with a Filmography for Each|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F8OSCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA102|edition=2005 reprint|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|page=102|isbn=978-0786423194}}</ref>

==See also== * [[List of ghost films]]

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb title|id=0025169|title=The Ghost Walks}} * {{TCMDb title|76230}} * {{Internet Archive film|id=the_ghost_walks|name=The Ghost Walks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghost Walks, The}} [[Category:1934 American films]] [[Category:1934 English-language films]] [[Category:1930s comedy mystery films]] [[Category:1930s mystery comedy-drama films]] [[Category:1930s mystery thriller films]] [[Category:1934 films]] [[Category:1934 comedy horror films]] [[Category:1934 mystery films]] [[Category:American black-and-white films]] [[Category:American comedy mystery films]] [[Category:American mystery comedy-drama films]] [[Category:American mystery thriller films]] [[Category:Films directed by Frank R. Strayer]] [[Category:Chesterfield Pictures films]] [[Category:English-language comedy horror films]] [[Category:English-language mystery comedy-drama films]] [[Category:English-language mystery thriller films]]