Hard-up chemical engineer Lucky Downing (Wayne Morris) is hired to pose as the fiancé of heiress Elinor Bentley Fairchild (Alexis Smith), unaware that Elinor's previous romantic interests have all met with terrible fates, supposedly at the hands of 'the smiling ghost', the spirit of the woman's first betrothed, Johnny Egglestone, who committed suicide when she broke off the engagement.
A routine comedy/'old dark house' mystery, The Smiling Ghost does everything by the book, even starring Willie Best as Clarence, Lucky's secretary, another of the actor's trademark cowardly, knee-knocking, lip-quivering, bug-eyed characters. When Lucky and Clarence arrive at the Bentley mansion, they meet the rest of the family, a bunch of eccentrics who all look more than a bit shifty.
Soon after, the smiling ghost makes an appearance, attempting to add Downing to his list of victims. Realising that he has been used as bait, Lucky decides to leave, but is eventually tempted to stay when Elinor tells him that she really loves him. Putting on a brave face, Lucky sets about trying to solve the mystery of the murderous ghost. Plucky reporter Lil Barstow (Branda Marshall) lends a hand, having fallen for Lucky.
Director Lewis Seiler lays on the clichés thick and fast, but still achieves some effectively creepy scenes along the way, most notably in a cemetery when Lucky and Lil decide to see if Egglestone's body is in his tomb. We get the usual revolving wall panels and secret passageways and thunderstorms and the villain is finally revealed to have used a Scooby Doo-style rubber mask to carry out his wrong-doings-predictable stuff, but fun nonetheless, and at just 71 minutes, it definitely doesn't outstay its welcome.
A routine comedy/'old dark house' mystery, The Smiling Ghost does everything by the book, even starring Willie Best as Clarence, Lucky's secretary, another of the actor's trademark cowardly, knee-knocking, lip-quivering, bug-eyed characters. When Lucky and Clarence arrive at the Bentley mansion, they meet the rest of the family, a bunch of eccentrics who all look more than a bit shifty.
Soon after, the smiling ghost makes an appearance, attempting to add Downing to his list of victims. Realising that he has been used as bait, Lucky decides to leave, but is eventually tempted to stay when Elinor tells him that she really loves him. Putting on a brave face, Lucky sets about trying to solve the mystery of the murderous ghost. Plucky reporter Lil Barstow (Branda Marshall) lends a hand, having fallen for Lucky.
Director Lewis Seiler lays on the clichés thick and fast, but still achieves some effectively creepy scenes along the way, most notably in a cemetery when Lucky and Lil decide to see if Egglestone's body is in his tomb. We get the usual revolving wall panels and secret passageways and thunderstorms and the villain is finally revealed to have used a Scooby Doo-style rubber mask to carry out his wrong-doings-predictable stuff, but fun nonetheless, and at just 71 minutes, it definitely doesn't outstay its welcome.