Product: 13 Ghosts (1960)
Rating: 4.0
Dead Baker's Dozen?
William Castle. Can you possibly think of him with that signature cigar, that teeth-bare smile and that impish twinkle in his eyes without smiling back?Stephan Sondheim proclaimed "You've Gotta Have a Gimmick" and he may have learned that from William Castle.Thirteen Ghosts is all good fun. A family inherits a haunted house that may have a hidden treasure within. The previous owner invented some glasses that allow the wearer to see the ghosts. Are the ghosts trying to scare the family into refuting their newly acquired property, or are they trying to help the family thwart an unscrupulous intruder?Good ghosts or bad ghosts?Who cares? The plot really is inconsequential. What's important is that we get these really cool glasses with the DVD that allow US, THE AUDIENCE, to see the ghosts! Well, they don't really allow us to see anything that we couldn't already see. In fact, the glasses really don't do anything. In fact, my DVD didn't even include promised glasses, which I had planned to cherish forever. Or at least cherish for the duration of the movie.So the glasses really don't do much more than the plot. We do, however, get to see Margaret Hamilton reveling in her (second) role of a which. Or is she? Her final wink to the camera seems to indicate that she's having fun; if not with her character, then with us. After the legacy of "The Wizard of Oz", we can't help but wallow with her a bit the way a happy hog might wallow in its favorite mud.And finally, William Castle reverently gives us a tongue-in-cheek warning if we still don't believe in ghosts by the film's end. He advises that we try the glasses on when we get home. At night. When you're alone. "If you DARE!!!" It's again just good clean fun. Or if you prefer, bad clean fun. Boo.We are reduced to the mindset we had when we believed in Santa Claus. To me, it's fun to revisit that romantic part of my brain from time to time.William Castle is a comedian who laughs at his own jokes louder than anyone else does. But his laugher is infectious and we end up being thoroughly entertained by his schmaltzy antics. I would have given five stars if the glasses came with the DVD, as had been promised. This film is recommended.-Viddy