By Violet LeVoit
Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost
Brief Synopsis
An advertising executive and his temperamental wife investigate a haunted house.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Leslie Goodwins
Director
Lupe Velez
Carmelita Lindsey
Leon Errol
Uncle Matt Lindsey/Lord Basil Epping
Charles "buddy" Rogers
Dennis Lindsey
Elisabeth Risdon
Aunt Della Lindsey
Donald Macbride
Percy Fitzbadden
Film Details
Also Known As
Mexican Spitfire and the Ghost
Genre
Comedy
Adventure
Spy
Release Date
Jun
26,
1942
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 10m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
6,722ft
Synopsis
When Lord Basil Epping receives a telegram from his old flame, Edith Fitzbadden, notifying him that she and her nervous brother Percy are coming to visit, Epping's business partner, Dennis Lindsey, hopes that Percy will infuse their business with working capital. Epping decides to go hunting rather than meet his guests, however, and instructs Dennis to entertain the Fitzbaddens at his country house. When Dennis' snobby aunt Della warns him to keep his hot-tempered wife Carmelita away from the Fitzbaddens, Dennis takes her advice and drives to the country with Della as his hostess. They are met by Bascombe, the "real estate agent," who informs them that the servants have deserted. In reality, Bascombe is the leader of a band of gangsters who are making nitroglycerin in Lord Epping's basement. After Della calls home to instruct her huband Matt to pick up the Fitzbaddens, Matt and Carmelita pretend to be Epping's servants, Hubble and Maria, and deliver the Fitzbaddens to the country house. Upon discovering that their host is away on a hunting trip, the Fitzbaddens decide to leave until Carmelita convinces Matt to impersonate Lord Epping. Meanwhile, the real Lord Epping returns to New York and decides to join the Fitzbaddens in the country. Back at the country house, Edith flirts with Matt, posing as Epping, while Percy challenges him to a high-stakes poker game. Matt leaves the card table just as the real Epping arrives and takes his place at the table. After Epping excuses himself, Matt, as Epping, returns to the table, and Percy decides to cash in his chips. When the poker stake, which has been stolen by one of the gangsters, is discovered missing, the Fitzbaddens insist upon searching the servants, and Matt quickly hides his Lord Epping hairpiece and reappears as Hubble. After Edith searches him, Matt discovers that his hairpiece has been stolen by a dog, and he and Carmelita pretend to be cats to lure the dog from its hiding place. Shocked by the servants' caterwauling, Percy and Edith demand to see Lord Epping, so Matt dons his wig. Della watches as Matt disguises himself as Epping, and when the real Epping comes downstairs, she thinks that he is Matt and insults him. Meanwhile, Bascombe, who has been summoned by Edith to investigate the stolen money, appears and sparks an argument between Epping and Percy over Epping's ancestors, and Percy announces that he plans to leave in the morning. That evening, Epping, dressed in his nightshirt, is accosted by Della who, thinking that he is Matt, orders him to take off his "outfit" and accuses him of being crazy. Della's outburst is witnessed by the increasingly incredulous Fitzbaddens. Plotting to scare the visitors from the house, one of the gangsters dresses in armor and clanks through the hallways, driving Carmelita and Matt to visit their spouses' bedrooms and incensing the Fitzbaddens, who still believe that the two are servants. Later, Dennis tells Matt about Epping's argument with Percy, and Matt, posing as Epping, apologizes to Percy and convinces him to sign the business contract. After signing the contract, Percy meets the real Epping, who orders him out of the house. In response, Percy declares that he is leaving before he "blows up," and at that moment, the nitroglycerin in the basement explodes, prompting Matt to observe that Percy is a man of his word.
Director
Leslie Goodwins
Director
Cast
Lupe Velez
Carmelita Lindsey
Leon Errol
Uncle Matt Lindsey/Lord Basil Epping
Charles "buddy" Rogers
Dennis Lindsey
Elisabeth Risdon
Aunt Della Lindsey
Donald Macbride
Percy Fitzbadden
Minna Gombell
Edith Fitzbadden
Don Barclay
Fingers O'Toole
John Maguire
Luders
Lillian Randolph
Hyacinth
Mantan Moreland
Lightnin'
Harry Tyler
Bascombe
Marten Lamont
Harcourt
Jane Woodworth
Secretary
Julie Warren
Secretary
Richard Martin
Chauffeur
Mary Stuart
Linda Rivas
Sally Wadsworth
Crew
C. Bakaleinikoff
Music Director
Monte Brice
Original Screenplay
Carroll Clark
Art Director
Albert S. D'agostino
Art Director
Bill Dorfman
Assistant Director
Russell Metty
Director of Photography
Cliff Reid
Producer
Renie
Gowns
Charles E. Roberts
Original Screenplay
John E. Tribby
Recording
Theron Warth
Editing
Videos
Movie Clip
Film Details
Also Known As
Mexican Spitfire and the Ghost
Genre
Comedy
Adventure
Spy
Release Date
Jun
26,
1942
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 10m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
6,722ft
Articles
Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost
When that fun couple Dennis (Charles "Buddy" Rogers) and Carmelita (Lupe Velez) travel to a deserted country retreat, it turns out the house is haunted -- not by ghosts, as they suspect, but by a group of ne'er-do-wells constructing a bomb in the basement. Even by the slapsticky standards of the series, this is the least beloved of the Mexican Spitfire pictures -- but the most remembered by film historians, primarily for the way RKO paired its release in theaters with the skinned-down, 88-minute version of Orson Welles' butchered 148-minute masterpiece The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). (Ambersons was the second part of the bill, too, in the "B-movie" spot.) The tragic mishandling of Welles' follow-up to Citizen Kane is not Velez's fault, though, and in Sees A Ghost she is still her sensually wacky best, like in scenes where she and longtime conspirator Uncle Matt (Leon Errol) impersonate cats to wheedle a dog out from under a couch. When her fierce meow scares the pooch, she shrugs "That's a Mexican wildcat." Indeed.
By Violet LeVoit
By Violet LeVoit
Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost
When that fun couple Dennis (Charles "Buddy" Rogers) and Carmelita (Lupe Velez) travel to a deserted country retreat, it turns out the house is haunted -- not by ghosts, as they suspect, but by a group of ne'er-do-wells constructing a bomb in the basement. Even by the slapsticky standards of the series, this is the least beloved of the Mexican Spitfire pictures -- but the most remembered by film historians, primarily for the way RKO paired its release in theaters with the skinned-down, 88-minute version of Orson Welles' butchered 148-minute masterpiece The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). (Ambersons was the second part of the bill, too, in the "B-movie" spot.) The tragic mishandling of Welles' follow-up to Citizen Kane is not Velez's fault, though, and in Sees A Ghost she is still her sensually wacky best, like in scenes where she and longtime conspirator Uncle Matt (Leon Errol) impersonate cats to wheedle a dog out from under a couch. When her fierce meow scares the pooch, she shrugs "That's a Mexican wildcat." Indeed.
By Violet LeVoit
Quotes
Trivia
Notorious as the main feature on the double bill which also featured the original release of the Orson Welles' classic Magnificent Ambersons, The (1942). "Ambersons" was therefore relegated to "second feature" status, something usually reserved for B pictures.
Notes
The working title of this film was Mexican Spitfire and the Ghost. A Hollywood Reporter production chart adds Barbara Moffett to the cast, but her participation in the final film has not been confirmed. This was producer Cliff Reid's final picture for RKO. For additional information about the series, consult the Series Index and see entry for the 1939 film Mexican Spitfire in AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1939-40; F3.2846.
