"Whispering Ghosts" was an odd movie because although it stars Milton Berle, he isn't very much like you'd expect. While this comedian made his name on stage with his almost encyclopedic knowledge of jokes (a few were even his own), here he isn't exactly doing comedy. And, in fact, sometimes he seems more like a macho hero type! This was definitely NOT what I expected to see!The film is a murder mystery film--very much a staple of B movies of the era. In this case, H.H. Van Buren (Berle) has a radio show and through it ends up getting caught up in a murder mystery and hunt for stolen diamonds aboard an old, possibly haunted, boat. On hand to help him is Willie Best--who played pretty much the same sort of role in a similar film, Bob Hope's "Ghost Breakers". The only problem is that while Best's character KNOWS bad things are afoot, Van Buren actually thinks it's all an act and that he's not in any danger at all.Overall, this is a mildly interesting film but mostly of interest as a curiosity because it stars Berle...even if he doesn't seem much like Berle here. Nothing outstanding in any way...just a very typical B- mystery with an atypical sort of leading man.

Whispering Ghosts (1942) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Radio host H.H. Van Buren (Milton Berle) does a weekly show where he introduces a cold case and then the following week gives away the real murderer. With the latest mystery expected to bring him a ton a new listeners he realizes that he really doesn't know who the killer is so he heads out to a creepy boat where he comes under attack from a man with a hatchet.WHISPERING GHOSTS is a comedy that has several of the "old dark house" elements thrown in for fun. Of course, the biggest difference is that they involve a ship instead of a house but for the most part this Fox comedy is entertaining enough if you enjoy these old time mysteries. It certainly helps that you've got a pretty good cast of characters and plenty of horror elements.We should be honest that the entire story isn't anything too great but at just 75 minutes the director and cast get enough out of it to make for an entertaining movie. Berle appears to be having fun playing this wannabe detective and he and Willie Best actually have a very good chemistry together. Their work certainly brings a few laughs from the screenplay. Also on hand is Brenda Joyce as the new owner of the ship of John Carradine gets to play a weird man who ends up on the ship.The horror elements are a plenty as there's a lot of fog, mysterious figures walking around, scary glowing eyes and other items. WHISPERING GHOSTS certainly isn't a masterpiece but it's a solid entertaining.

Obviously made as an attempt to cash in on similar themes (comical radio show host solves mystery), this enjoyable comedy replaces Bob Hope (who made similar themed movies with "The Cat and the Canary" and "The Ghost Breakers") and Red Skelton (the "Whistling" series) with Milton Berle whose early film career was a brief blip in his over-all list of works. He's trying to solve an old murder on a seemingly haunted ship, left to pretty Brenda Joyce by her late great-uncle whose mysterious death remains unsolved. Most of the action takes place on this ghost ship, filled with all sorts of creepy people, including two eccentric characters (John Carradine and Renie Riano) who are almost ghost-like in their creepy demeanors.Berle gets in a few good wisecracks at Riano's expense (refering to her as "Moronica Lake"), but his slurs towards valet Willie Best (obviously spoofing Eddie "Rochester" Anderson's relationship with Berle's "friendly" rival Jack Benny) are quite racist, even if on occasion quite funny. One gag between Berle and Best is obviously lifted straight from the Humphrey Bogart comedy thriller "All Through the Night", taken from a scene where Bogart's valet (Sam McDaniel) is amusingly confronted for wearing Bogart's clothes. Best takes each stereotype tossed at him in stride, making his cowardice hysterically funny even if it tears away at his dignity. While I wish these actors had been treated better in playing less dignified parts, I have to give them credit for their personal integrity in adding a soul underneath the writers' interpretations of these parts, sometimes adding in a silent look or attitude that makes their obvious intelligence come through even in spite of the deliberate slurs tossed their way.As for who the guilty party is in the gruesome murder (involving a hatchet), there are so many red herrings that it is surprising that the water surrounding the ship doesn't look like blood. One funny theory is thought of with the suicide of the victim (how does one stab themselves in the back with a hatchet? Toss it up in the air and bend over so their back will catch it?) John Shelton is wasted as Joyce's love interest who seems to be the obvious killer, while funny man Grady Sutton has some amusing lines as a milquetoast visitor on the boat who seems to really have no reason for being there. The rapport between Berle and the detective (Arthur Hohl) investigating the case is also amusing. While this is certainly an overall enjoyable comedy thriller, it is the chilling photography and eerie atmosphere which makes it work and makes it more than just another rip-off of a plot line you've seen many, many times.

Whispering Ghosts boasts some interesting credits, among them screenwriter Lou Breslow, who had a flair for offbeat comedy, journeyman director Alfred Werker, who made some decent films, B producer Sol Wurtzel, and star Milton Berle. Miltie was still a few years away from his his great television success, and here plays a radio actor out to solve a murder mystery aboard a pirate ship. The supporting cast, as is so often the case in this kind of lighthearted borderline horror fare, is first rate: Brenda Joyce, John Carradine, Edmund McDonald, and another Milton, Parsons, without whom this kind of movie wouldn't seem complete. This is an agreeable comedy, not so much hilarious as pleasingly familiar in nearly every respect, as everything about it feels recycled, including the sets, and this is not in itself a bad thing, as Hollywood excelled at this kind of formula in the forties, and handled it better in this sort of cramped, intimate second feature than in bigger budgeted films. This one's done just right, not too big, not too small.