That's the Spirit

Gene Lockhart (Mr Cawthorne) is a very strict father to June Vincent (Libby). She has never experienced laughter and goes to a Music Hall to experience what it's like. Well, she loves it and she also falls in love with performer Jack Oakie (Slim) much to the fury of her father. However, at the birth of their daughter, the Angel of Death comes calling and someone is taken away only to return as a spirit years later to help daughter Peggy Ryan (Sheila) in her pursuit of happiness.

This film was a pleasant surprise as it had the potential to be awful. It delivers a sprinkle of everything – comedy, scariness, dancing & singing. And the cast are alright. We get a ghost who returns to Earth with squeaky shoes, some great dancing by Peggy Ryan and her boyfriend Johnny Coy (Martin Jr), a great song – "How Come You Do Me Like You Do?" I must add at this point that the other songs are all rubbish. We also get a genuinely scary Angel of Death as played by Karen Randle. She turns up more than once and each appearance is frightening stuff. Very atmospheric.

It's a comedy that mostly entertains. We get a few misses, especially the sequence where Lockhart reverts to childhood antics but there are many sequences that offset this blip.