Dale T. Doll Reviews The Ghost and Mr. Chicken

Or: There Is Nothing Funny About a Haunted Organ at Midnight

There are movies that frighten you.

There are movies that make you laugh.

And then there are movies like The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, which apparently looked at those two categories and said, "Why choose?"

Released in 1966, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken stars Don Knotts as Luther Heggs, a small-town newspaper typesetter with aspirations of becoming a reporter. Luther is not what you would call fearless.

In fact, if fear were a measurable substance, Luther would probably have several barrels of it stored in his basement.

Nevertheless, Luther gets his big opportunity when he is assigned to spend the night in the old Simmons mansion—a house with a reputation for murder, ghosts, strange noises, and an organ that apparently has a mind of its own.

Naturally, Luther goes.

Because journalism.

Also because there is a girl involved.

This is where I should point out that I have considerable sympathy for Luther Heggs.

I too have encountered mysterious noises in old houses.

I too have entered rooms without knowing what was waiting for me.

And I too have occasionally discovered that the terrifying supernatural presence was actually something considerably more embarrassing.

Usually a cat.

Sometimes a machine.

Once, a microwave.

But never mind that.

The important thing is that Luther spends the night in the Simmons mansion and comes away convinced he has encountered a ghost. His newspaper story becomes a sensation, which is excellent for circulation and somewhat less excellent for Luther when the owner of the mansion decides to sue him for libel.

At this point the movie becomes something rather more interesting than a simple haunted-house comedy.

Because Luther isn't merely trying to prove that he saw a ghost.

He's trying to prove that he isn't a fool.

And there is something wonderfully human about that.

Luther is the sort of fellow who is constantly underestimated. He's nervous. He's awkward. He isn't particularly impressive. The people around him don't expect much from him.

But Luther wants to matter.

He wants to be a reporter.

He wants Alma Parker to notice him.

And, perhaps most importantly, he wants to be taken seriously.

That makes his night in the Simmons mansion more than a series of screams.

It becomes Luther's unlikely initiation into the newspaper business.

Unfortunately, journalism apparently involves ghosts.

And murder.

And lawsuits.

And organs that play themselves.

I checked.

That's not in most journalism textbooks.

The film was directed by Alan Rafkin, with Don Knotts leading a cast that includes Joan Staley, Liam Redmond, Dick Sargent, Skip Homeier, Charles Lane, Ellen Corby, and a wonderful collection of familiar character actors.

There is also something wonderfully old-fashioned about the movie's approach to horror.

The Simmons mansion doesn't need buckets of blood.

It needs shadows.

A strange noise.

A deserted room.

A portrait.

A staircase.

And, most importantly...

the organ.

There is something deeply unnatural about an organ playing by itself in an empty house at midnight.

I don't care what science says.

Science can have the organ.

I'm leaving.

What makes The Ghost and Mr. Chicken work is that it never completely abandons the possibility that something genuinely strange might be happening.

It gives us a mystery wrapped in a comedy wrapped in a ghost story.

And somewhere inside all of that is Don Knotts, sweating.

A lot.

Luther Heggs may be terrified, but he keeps going back.

That's the part I like.

He is afraid.

He is not fearless.

There is a difference.

Courage isn't necessarily the absence of fear. Sometimes courage is being absolutely certain that you should run away and going upstairs anyway because you've got a newspaper story to finish.

Which brings me to my final conclusion.

I have reviewed the evidence.

The mansion is suspicious.

The organ is extremely suspicious.

The murder is considerably more suspicious.

The ghost...

Well.

Let's just say I'm not prepared to rule anything out.

Especially after midnight.

Dale T. Doll's Official Recommendation:

Watch the movie.

Watch it after dark.

Do not watch it alone in an abandoned mansion.

And if you hear an organ playing at midnight...

don't investigate.

You're not a reporter.

You're a person who wants to live.

— Dale T. Doll

Transmission concluded.