The Smiling Ghost (1941)

Wayne Morris is dodging collection agencies, with the help of his valet, the inimitable Willie Best. Then an ad he placed in the paper yields results. He is hired by an elderly woman for one month to be engaged to her granddaughter (Alexis Smith). All her other fiancees have died. Brenda Marshall is a reporter doing stories about a man in a artificial lung machine. He tells her that The Smiling Ghost does exist, and every fiancee of Smith dies, as he will. He asks her to get in contact with Morris and warn him. She tries to get a picture when Smith and Morris first meet, but fails to warn him. They arrive at the mansion, greeted by butler Alan Hale. Smith introduces Morris to the family. Great-uncle (Charles Halton) shows him his collection of shrunken heads. He lacks one head of "a negroid type," setting up a hilarious on-going interaction between Halton and Best. In fact, Best is in rare form throughout the movie, getting most of the funny lines, just as he did in The Ghost Breakers.

Marshall shows up at the mansion to try to warn Morris, but it turned away by Hale. Morris switches rooms with one of the drunken cousins, since it had been the cousin's room. A man in a smiling mask comes through a panel and tries to murder the cousin. Hale accomplishes a Hollywood rarity, breaking into the room on the first try instead of the third, but the room is empty. Morris goes outside, where Marshall takes his picture and introduces herself. She then tells him about The Smiling Ghost and The Kiss of Death Girl (Smith). Morris and Best pack up to leave. He stops by Smith's room to tell her he is leaving, and she tells him she has fallen for him and kisses him, so he changes his mind and stays. He goes to see Marshall to get her not to publish her story, and she takes him to see David Bruce, the previous fiancee who is in the lung machine. He tells Morris about his own experience with the ghost. He claims he can reveal the identity of the ghost - one of the  other fiancees, Eggleston, who comes back from the dead to get vengeance on anyone who tries to marry Smith.

Marshall and Morris to go the crypt of Eggleston to see if he is really dead. As she and Best go for the caretaker, Morris goes into the crypt alone, where the ghost waits. As he is trying to open the coffin, the ghost jumps him. Best and Marshall find him in the coffin. Morris and Smith, plan to get married that night to draw out the ghost. Naturally, there is a thunderstorm that night. In her room, Marshall sees the ghost and is kidnapped. Morris discovers the secret panel that is the key to the whole thing, and goes exploring. He finds Marshall, tied up. Morris and the ghost fight, and he turns out to be Bruce. Morris says that he is now in love with Marshall.

This is Willie Best at his best. If you have never seen a movie with him having a substantial part, you have missed one of the best parts of old movies.

"I ain't afraid, but my feets ain't goin' to stand around and see my body abused." - Willie Best




Smith


Hale