The Live Ghost

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Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel in The Live Ghost (1934)

A gruff sea captain, who absolutely detests the word "ghost," is having trouble manning his ship because of the rumor it's...well...haunted. He inveigles Stanley and Oliver into helping him ... Read allA gruff sea captain, who absolutely detests the word "ghost," is having trouble manning his ship because of the rumor it's...well...haunted. He inveigles Stanley and Oliver into helping him shanghai a crew from the sailors at a dockside bar. The comic duo accomplish this by using... Read allA gruff sea captain, who absolutely detests the word "ghost," is having trouble manning his ship because of the rumor it's...well...haunted. He inveigles Stanley and Oliver into helping him shanghai a crew from the sailors at a dockside bar. The comic duo accomplish this by using one of the funniest devices ever put into a movie, and of course it all goes wrong. Once ... Read all

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IMDb RATING

7.3/10

1.6K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos24

Top cast21

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Stan Laurel

Stan

Oliver Hardy

Ollie

Mae Busch

Maisie the Vamp

Walter Long

Captain

Arthur Housman

Drunken Sailor

Harry Bernard

Joe - Bartender
(uncredited)

Baldwin Cooke

Sailor
(uncredited)

Hubert Diltz

Sailor
(uncredited)

Dick Gilbert

Sailor
(uncredited)

Pete Gordon

Chinese Cook
(uncredited)

Charlie Hall

Sailor at Table
(uncredited)

Jack 'Tiny' Lipson

Sailor
(uncredited)

Sam Lufkin

Sailor
(uncredited)

Peter Potter

Sailor
(uncredited)

John Power

Sailor
(uncredited)

Art Rowlands

Sailor
(uncredited)

Margot Sage

Young Woman
(uncredited)

Mary Sage

Young Woman
(uncredited)

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
This airs on CW network in the U.S. every Thanksgiving morning, after March of the Wooden Soldiers (1934).

Goofs
The whitewash trough was too shallow to cover the drunken sailor with whitewash just by his falling into it face-down. In the first shot of him falling, the whitewash doesn't splash much onto his back side, but in the next shot, he is covered all over in whitewash.

Quotes
Oliver: [Ollie politely but firmly refuses the Captain's offer of a job on his sailing ship] No, sir, thank you, but we don't like the ocean.
Captain: Why, what's th'matter with it?
Stanley: Well, I heard the ocean's infatuated with sharks.
Oliver: Not infatuated. He means 'infuriated'.

Connections
Edited into Dance of the Cookoos (1982)

User reviews26

Review

Featured review

8/10

Better Than Most

I've been watching (or re-watching) many of Laurel and Hardy's films, and having just seen "The Live Ghost" for the first time, I can say with certainty that it's one of their better efforts I think. Perhaps not top shelf, but better than most.

Plot In a Nutshell: Two friends (Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy) help a ship's captain kidnap unwilling sailors to fill out his crew, then find themselves onboard that same ship...and it's rumored to be haunted!

Why I rated it an '8': Well, to sum up succinctly, it was funny! When Stan is trying to subdue Charlie Hall so that he can be kidnapped, but winds up clanging everyone on the head with a frying pan, it felt like he was channeling the best of Harpo Marx. Good stuff. When the boys think they've killed a bunkmate...as morbid as that sounds...well, how they handle it....that's funny too. But my favorite scene was Ollie's reaction when he realizes the guy next to him in his bunk is not Stan but....a ghost? That was so good I had to rewind and watch it again lol.

"The Live Ghost" contains "some exceptionally good individual sequences" and has "some good, lively slapstick" as well, according to William Everson, who penned a filmography of L&H's work. I agree with most of his assessments, and this one, too. "The Live Ghost" is a keeper!

8/10. The ending does contain a recycled joke that had been previously used in "Going Bye-Bye!," which was a little disappointing. But otherwise this was a pretty good one from the boys!