Three college age kids decide to spend the night in a gloomy old country British castle and end up in a comic mystery where they help the other worldly residents in their desire to move onto the next world. It's an amusing but inconsequential little B movie bought by American International for release in the United States, but has a charm that cannot be denied. The three intruders (Richard Lyon, Liliane Sottane, David Rose) act with tongue in cheek, making it obvious that they were having a ball making this, and each of the ghosts gets their own personality. In a sense, it reminded me of "The Canterville Ghost" and brought back ghostly memories of the opening sequence of a Betty Grable musical, "That Lady in Ermine", where a bundle of undead nobility sing about the desire to protect the castle they've been haunting from a foreign invader.If I had been one of the college age kids acting in this film, it would be a difficult task in keeping myself from laughing at the antics of the hilarious character actors playing the castle phantoms. The headless ghost itself isn't credited, even for their voice, but they get a delicious sense of humor of the fate, while the first phantom seen (Clive Revill) is a noble soul throughout. Even the worst of the lot, a ghost whose desire to stay put where he is, isn't all scary, so this is a film that kids can enjoy, that is if they can get past some British cultural references and the black and white photography. In a sense, this could be compared to a Laurel and Hardy film or the Abbott and Costello film, "Hold That Ghost", where everybody is having fun, and the screenwriter's tongue distinctly inserted in cheek. There's even a "kooch dancer" ghost, giving a performance that must have even had the headless ghost's head spinning.

Coming down with a nasty cold,I started looking round for an easy- going film to view.With having originally watched the movie for IMDbs Classic Film boards beast of 1959 poll,I decide that it was the perfect time to go ahead and meet the headless ghost again.The plot:Planning to write a paper based on a haunted castle,Ronnie and his friends Ingrid and Bill decide to take a tour of the castle.Reaching the end of the tour,the trio are told that the ghosts come out at night.Hiding in the castle until all the tourists have gone,Bill,Roonie and Ingrid soon uncover a curse that has been touring the castle for centuries. View on the film:Before getting to the movie,I have to mention that Network have given the title an excellent transfer,with the soundtrack allowing the viewer to hear every ghostly scream,and the clear picture allowing the viewer to see a headless ghost dart across the screen.Running at a trim 60 minutes,the screenplay by Herman Cohen & Aben Kandel offers a delightful mix of light comedy and horror,as the ghostly events of the castle are joined by the "Aww shucks" of the trio.Locking the ghosts in the castle,the writers give each of them unique,funny features which go from the unlucky 4th Earl to the playful Sir Randolph.Uncovering the secrets hidden in director Peter Graham Scott's shadow-filled castle,the alluring Liliane Sottane gives a terrific performance as Ingrid,with Sottane giving Ingrid a real sense of excitement over solving the curse,the gang start to get a head of the headless ghost.

The Headless Ghost is set in London in England where the centuries old Ambrose Castle is a popular tourist attraction, three students Bill (Richard Lyon), Ingrid (Liliane Sottane) & Ronnie (David Rose) are taking a guided tour when talk of ghost's pique their interest. The current Earl of Ambrose (Jack Allen) claims the Castle is haunted so Bill, Ingrid & Ronnie decide to hide until everyone else has left & spend the entire night there to either prove or disprove the existence of ghost's which might make for good school work, or something like that. Once the three friends are alone in Ambrose Castle at night they quickly discover that ghost's do exist & are greeted by the ghost of the Fourth Earl of Ambrose (Clive Revill) who explains that another Earl of Ambros named Malcolm is cured to walk the Castle for eternity after being beheaded & that only the return of his skull will let the Ambrose family finally rest in peace but the evil Sir Randolph (Alexander Archdale) likes eternal 'life' & doesn't want the curse lifted at all...This English production was directed by Peter Graham Scott & is a fairly childish supernatural comedy that I felt might have been more effective had it concentrated on scares rather than laughs, the friendly ghost concept just doesn't do it for really & the three bumbling students are trapped between being painted as heroic & bumbling. Amazingly at only a brief sixty two minute duration The Headless Ghost still feels padded & I know that I was hoping for it to finish long before it actually did, there's a fair amount of padding like the totally random dance scene & the Earl of Ambrose's wife turning up to lecture him for a couple of minutes before completely disappearing & Sir Randolph the evil ghost also only appears in one scene & really doesn't get to do much at all & he makes little attempt to stop the curse being lifted despite a lot of emphasis being place on the fact that he would (the whole plot & drama of the story is supposed to revolve around it). The Headless Ghost is all rather predictable too, you just know one way or another the three teens will life the curse & everyone will live (or die) happily ever after. No surprises, nothing that I could really describe as being funny & nothing outright scary either The Headless Ghost has little to recommend it & instantly forgettable.The production values are perhaps better than the final film deserves with some good location work & sets, it's just a shame the atmospheric dimly lit Castle corridor sets weren't put to more effective use. The entire scare factor of The Headless Ghost revolves around Ingrid being scared by a Cat, a Rat & a Snake which Bill then chops up with an axe (I hope it was a false Snake but it did look quite real to me) & not much else. The special effects are quite good considering the vintage of the film, lets just say they certainly could have been worse.Written & produced by producer Herman Cohen I doubt The Headless Ghost had any money spent on it besides the sets, it looks alright for what it is I suppose. The acting is pretty bad, everyone seems embarrassed to be here & give flat wooden performances.The Headless Ghost is an OK time waster I suppose, it's not amazingly bad or anything but the uninspired natured of both the comedy & scares leaves it unsatisfying. It's predictable, it's padded & overall pretty forgettable as well. There are much better ways to spend an hour I'm afraid.

I've just watched The Headless Ghost for the first time and quite liked it, even though I'm not a huge fan of comedy. This had a little drama with it two.A coach load of tourists arrive at the haunted Ambrose Castle and three of these, two Americans and a young Dainish woman decide to stay behind for the night to see if it really is haunted. It isn't long before strange things start to happen and one of the ghosts appears from a painting and later, they confront the Headless Ghost of the title and end up helping him to get reattach his head to his body and achieve this at the end.Despite it being a comedy, The Headless Ghost is rather creepy and atmospheric at times.Watch it if you get the chance. Great fun. Rating: 3 stars out of 5.