Too much of everything

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

I really wanted to like this film. I really did. It sounded like it had so much potential. A ghost story, a comedy. Another "Ghost Breakers" or "Cat and the Canary", or "Hold that Ghost", I thought. No such luck.I started to loose focus after about 20 minutes but I stuck with it for 45 before I finally called it a night. I thought maybe I just wasn't in the right mood and since I had recorded it on my DVR I decided I'd try again in a few days. The second time around I didn't even make it to 45 minutes.The problem, at least for me, was Arthur Askey. I found myself repeating the words, "God, what an obnoxious ham". I tried to see past him, but he's in every scene, and every scene he's in .. he ruins. I realize that other reviewers seem to think he's great. I guess it's a perfect example of "different strokes".I can't help but wonder what fun this movie could have been with Bob Hope or Abbott & Costello.

There's no getting around the fact that comedian Arthur Askey will probably not be for everyone's taste ( it occurs to me that he could have been the prototype for Archie Rice in The Entertainer), but if you take him as representative of a type of English music hall comic of the time, he often is pretty funny. The fact that he is frequently referred to by other characters as an " annoying little man" indicates that most of his exasperating antics were quite intentional, and not simply the result of changing tastes in humor.The setting of the almost abandoned railway station at night, with a thunderstorm drenching the stranded passengers, is quite effective. The assorted English types and their interactions are quite delightful, from the tippling Professor to the glum engaged couple, the irritable athlete, the quiet spinster who becomes very lively after agreeing to take a little brandy for medicinal purposes, etc.It may not be a masterpiece, but it has an English charm that is unique to British productions of this period; somewhat recalling Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes, or an Agatha Christie mystery story.If you like old movies and British comedy, this is recommended for a nice time.

Ghost Train, The (1941) ** (out of 4) British comedy/horror film has comedians Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch among a group of people who misses their train at an old station. The group have to spend the night there when they learn of a mysterious ghost train, which apparently appears at night with the souls of people who were killed on it forty-years earlier. This is a rather strange film that once again follows that "old dark house" theme and tries to mix the horror and comedy elements. These types of films always depend on whether or not the comedians make you laugh and the team here didn't do that for me. For the most part Askey takes the lead with Murdoch only throwing in a few lines and it got to the point where it was really hard to tell that they were actually working as a team. Askey's brand of humor just wasn't for me, although I did find myself laughing at a few jokes but overall he just struck me as annoying. What does work however are the horror elements, which are pretty thick and contain some wonderfully dark atmosphere. The film reminded me a lot of the Val Lewton produced horror films that would follow within the next few years. The horror elements are all right on the mark but for the most part the film goes for all laughs. This certainly isn't a bad movie and I'm sure many will enjoy it but it didn't quite do the trick for me. Future director Val Guest is credited with the dialogue.

In the colonies we're not all that familiar with Arthur Askey, so I nearly skipped this film (which had its TCM preview recently) on account of the negative comments here on his appearance in "Ghost Train" -- which I expected to be thoroughly annoying. Instead I was pleasantly surprised to find myself laughing audibly. The physical aspects of Askey's comedy and his timing when delivering a line suggest what you'd get if Charlie Chaplin and Woody Allen had a baby. There is no comparing him to Bud Abbott or any of the other usual purveyors of comic relief who turn up in films of this genre. One can feel, moreover, the thread connecting Askey to British comedy 30 years later; at least it is clear from an American point of view that he has more in common with the Monty Python troupe than with any of his counterparts over here. As for the rest of the film -- the more movies you've seen, the more likely you'll guess at the ending, but it is still quite entertaining and atmospheric and worth waiting for its next appearance.