User Reviews

"The Ghost Talks", directed by Jules White, is a really good Three Stooges short starring Shemp, Larry, and Moe. Working for the A to Z Express Company, the boys are hired to remove certain pieces of furniture from a haunted castle. Among the requisite items is a suit of armor, where the spirit of Peeping Tom (voiced by Phil Arnold) has rested for one thousand years.

My favorite scenes from "The Ghost Talks" include the following (DON'T read any further if you have not yet seen this film). After Moe gets doused by the rain on Shemp's umbrella, he attempts to whack Shemp in the face with it, but he whacks Larry instead. Watch Moe's hair-raising reaction to the talking armor. A frog jumps down Shemp's back, causing him to gyrate wildly and do Curly's famous shoulder spin. Shemp plays on Larry's and Moe's apprehensiveness by adapting a creepy radio voice telling of "strange happenings", and then he becomes scared of his own mirror reflection. The two skeletons playing chess are a nice touch, too.

I personally think "The Ghost Talks" is one of the best two-reelers Jules White directed with the Shemp/Larry/Moe ensemble. There are even a few thrown pies to boot! A wonderfully spooky short to watch during the Halloween season, or ANY season, for that matter.

"The Ghost Talks" is an American 16-minute black-and-white short film from 1949, so this one will soon have its 70th anniversary. When you read the names of director White and writer Adler and know a bit about the 40s (and 50s) in filmmaking, then maybe you also know already that here we have another of the many many Three Stooges short films. Curly was already out at this point due to his worsening health and Shemp took over for him. This is one of the spookier Stooges works, but that is just side action of course. At the very core, this is all about the comedy like all the other Three Stooges works, even if there are actually invisible supernatural creatures part of this. While back in the Curly days, the gang tried to have him at the center of their films, this quickly changed afterward and with Shemp, they are more like going for the team effort. Even Larry has a lot of lines in here. But while I don't mind Shemp like many of the others, I still cannot say I enjoyed the watch too much here. But this may also have to do with me not liking the Stooges' slapstick approach to comedy too much. Lets be honest, it's close to being the same in all their works and the story lines, if you can even call them like that, are never memorable. This one here gets another thumbs-down. No need to watch it. Let alone remake it. Not recommended.