Crazy Knights
Cast & Crew
William Beaudine
Billy Gilbert
Shemp Howard
Maxie Rosenbloom
Tim Ryan
Jayne Hazard
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Circus performers Dave Hammon, Billy Gilbert and Shemp Howard are en route to the next town with their trained gorilla act when they are nearly run off the road by a car driven by Maxie Rosenbloom, the chauffeur to Mr. Gardner. Inside the car, Gardner, his niece Joan and secretary Ralph Williams are discussing a recent threat made on Gardner's life. When Williams asks Maxie to stop so that he can retrieve his hat that has blown out the window, the secretary steps out of the car and immediately afterward, the engine catches fire and explodes. Spotting the stranded vehicle, Dave offers to drive the occupants home. Upon reaching her family's gloomy country estate, Joan invites the three in for a drink. Frightened by the cemetery in the front yard, Shemp and Billy are eager to leave, but Dave, who is attracted to Joan, accepts the invitation. Mrs. Benson, the Gardner's sinister housekeeper, ominously questions Joan's motive for returning to the house after "what happened to her mother." Later, when the lights go off, Joan glimpses a man with a disfigured face, screams, then faints, after which Dave volunteers to search the house and grounds for the man. After Mr. Gardner is struck on the head by an intruder, a terrified Joan asks Dave and his friends to spend the night. As strange voices emanate from thin air, Billy and Shemp witness a ghost frolicking in the front yard near the cemetery and go to investigate. When a tombstone slides over and reveals the mouth to a tunnel, Billy and Shemp hurry to summon Joan and Dave, but by the time they return, the tombstone has slid back to conceal the opening. Soon after, Grogan, a private detective hired by Mrs. Benson, comes to investigate. Gardner, meanwhile, warns Joan to be wary of Williams, who may be trying to frighten her to gain control of her inheritance. Later, chaos erupts when the gorilla escapes from his cage and Joan is kidnapped by a shrouded figure. Hearing Joan's screams, Dave, Shemp and Billy scour the house and find Williams' dead body. As Dave searches the cellar for the murderer, Billy, Shemp and Maxie return to the graveyard to look for the phony headstone. When the stone slides open once again, the three discover a tunnel. Dave, meanwhile, has just located the door leading to the tunnel when his friends open it and burst into the cellar. Struggling to free herself from her abductor, Joan also scrambles through the doorway, followed by the shrouded figure. When Mrs. Benson knocks the figure unconscious with her broom handle, they pull back the shroud and unmask Gardner. Grogan then explains that Mrs. Benson suspected that Gardner had devised the ruse to eliminate Joan, so that he would be awarded control of the money she had inherited.
Director
William Beaudine
Cast
Billy Gilbert
Shemp Howard
Maxie Rosenbloom
Tim Ryan
Jayne Hazard
Tay Dunn
Minerva Urecal
John Hamilton
Bernard Sell
Betty Sinclair
Buster Brodie
Art Miles
Dan White
Crew
Dick Currier
Jack Dietz
Lewis Dow
John Fuller
Art Hammond
Sam Katzman
Edward Kay
Marcel Le Picard
Ray Mercer
Tim Ryan
Barney Sarecky
Frank Webster
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was Murder in the Family. The picture was later reissued as Ghost Crazy, the title of the viewed print. Billy Gilbert, Shemp Howard and Maxie Rosenbloom had previously starred together in the 1944 film Three of a Kind (see below). Art Miles also portrayed a gorilla in the 1939 film The Gorilla (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40; F3.1688.)
