Ghosts On The Loose (1943)

A guy (Huntz Hall) and his friends decide to redecorate his sister's (Ava Gardner) honeymoon cottage as a wedding present. But the gang mistakenly enter the creepy old house next door which turns out to be the hideout of a nest of Nazi spies! Directed by William Beaudine (BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA), this lowbrow (and I do mean low) comedy is pretty dumb stuff but without the goofiness that can sometimes make lowbrow comedies fun. The tantalizing prospect of seeing Ava Gardner and Bela Lugosi (as the head of the Nazi spies) in a film together evaporates very quickly and they have no scenes together. Gardner is as bland as any ingenue and the smoldering screen presence which would make her a Star is nowhere in evidence. There's a tasteless joke on German measles as the movie's punchline. Still, it's a Monogram film, not MGM so what do you expect. With Leo Gorcey, Bobby Jordan, Rick Vallin and Minerva Urecal.