THE GHOST OF ST. MICHAEL’S (1941)
Article #884 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-16-2003
Posting Date: 1-13-2004
Directed by Marcel Varnel
Featuring Will Hay, Claude Hulbert, Charles Hawtrey

An incompetent teacher takes a position at a school in Scotland, where the courses are being held in an old supposedly haunted castle.

Will Hay is apparently better known in England than he is here in the states, and I will admit that he is amusing enough here. The only cast member that I recognized immediately, though, was Charles Hawtrey, who would go on to make several CARRY ON… movies. The fantastic content is largely tied to the aforementioned ghost, and since it never appears physically, you may be excused for suspecting that the truth is somewhat less supernatural; certainly, nobody in the movie (except a superstitious caretaker) really believes a ghost is at work, and since mention is made of Nazi spies at one point…., well, I’ll leave it to you to decide how you think it’s going to end up. For my part, I will only say that the fantastic content consigns this one to the realms of marginalia.