Ghosts on the Loose ** (1943, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Bela Lugosi, Ava Gardner) – Classic Movie Review 5666

‘The EAST SIDE KIDS vs. the Man of a THOUSAND HORRORS!’ Director William Beaudine’s modest 1943 East Side Kids comedy suspense thriller teams Bela Lugosi together with the boys for a second (and last) time.  It is mildly amusing and enjoyable enough, and does at least have the novelty of casting Lugosi in a straight, non-horror role as a Nazi – and it has Ava Gardner in her first credited role.

This time, in Kenneth Higgins’s original screenplay, Muggs (Leo Gorcey), Danny (Bobby Jordan) and Glimpy (Huntz Hall) battle a nasty Nazi called Emil (Lugosi) and his cohorts, and help the US war effort.

Ava Gardner makes one of her earliest appearances, aged 21, as Betty, but alas she is hardly around on screen long enough to make the impact her talent and beauty deserve.

When Glimpy’s sister Betty goes on her honeymoon with her new husband, young engineer Jack (Rick Vallin), the East Side Kids decide to fix up their new bargain suburban house but accidentally pick the ‘haunted’ house next door, occupied by mystery men using the trapdoors, secret passages and moving bookcases.

Also in the cast are Sunshine Sammy [Ernest] Morrison, William ‘Billy’ Benedict, Stanley Clements, Bobby Stone, Minerva Urecal, Wheeler Oakman, Peter Seal, Frank Moran, Jack Mulhall, Bill Bates, Harry Depp, Tom Herbert, Snub Pollard and Blanche Payson.

It is also known as The East Side Kids Meet Bela Lugosi.

Lugosi also co-starred in the 1941 East Side Kids effort Spooks Run Wild.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5666

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