Halloween Review – “Lonesome Ghosts”

It’s Halloween, the final day of our Halloween
countdown. For something really special, we’ve
chosen to give you a complete lineup, much like you’d
get at the drive-in. First, a cartoon. Next, a
short film. Finally, things wrap up with a Halloween
double feature of full length movies. Enjoy.

Cast, Crew, and Other Info

Clarence Nash as Donald Duck

Walt Disney as Mickey Mouse

Pinto Colvig as Goofy

Directed by Burt Gillett

Complete information is available from the
IMDB
.

You can try to buy this from Amazon.com
or Amazon.ca
as a part of Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse
in Living Colour
Volume One
if you’d like, but your best bet to
get a copy is eBay.

Past movie reviews can be found here.

Premise

Mickey, Donald, and Goofy are three ghost
exterminators who are called
out by four bored ghosts.

High Point

Made in 1937, this may be the first false reflection
mirror sequence
on film. Is anyone aware of any earlier example?

Low Point

The lousy resolution.

The Scores

This seems like it really was the original
ghost busting
story. Some of the ghost pranks predate the avant
garde movement by
at least a decade, too. I give it 6 out of 6.

The effects were minimal. The auras around
the ghosts and
the transparency effects were impressive. I give it
5 out of 6.

The story has a decent set-up, some odd
middle bits that were
expected to be the three distinct sequences we got,
and one lousy
resolution. I give it 3 out of 6.

The animation was a little too loose for
Goofy. I think
Donald and Mickey worked out well, but then, I’m not
as interested in
those characters, so I’m not as attentive to the
details about them.
Goofy should be limber, but he still has clear
joints. The opening
shot of the haunted house looks very good. I give it
5 out of 6.

The emotional response is weak because the
gags were weak,
and the ending is weaker. I give it 3 out of 6.

The production was actually quite good. The
use of a
painting for the final footprints shows a time and
energy investment
that really wasn’t necessary. They could have
trimmed a few seconds
off of each of the sequences, though. It was as if
the editor felt
bad about removing frames the animators had worked so
hard on, and
left them all in. I give it 5 out of 6.

Overall, it’s decent, but far from the best
in that
collection. I give it 4 out of 6.

In total, Lonesome Ghosts recieves 31 out of
42.

2 replies on “Halloween Review – “Lonesome Ghosts””

  1. Abraca-Pocus!

    For those who prefer the Warner Bros. to the Disney ‘toons, Transylvania 6-5000 (the early 60s cartoon, not the 1980s film), while technically no match for “Lonesome Ghosts,” has quite a few laughs.

  2. False mirror sequence
    The first false mirror sequence that I’m aware of is from The Mark Brother’s 1933 film, Duck Soup. Definitely worth seeing if you haven’t, one of the Marx Bro.’s top three films.

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