Three college students, Americans Bill (Richard Lyon), Ronnie (David Rose) and Danish Ingrid (Liliane Sottane) are on holiday in Great Britain. Bill and Ronnie are friends and are interested in the pretty Danish girl. They have seen various sites and are now visiting Ambrose Castle in Scotland. The castle has been around for over 600 years and is reported to be haunted. Bill is a reporter for his university paper and is interested in the ghost stories. Ronnie doesn’t believe in ghosts and Ingrid keeps an open mind.
The current owner and tour guide of the castle is the Sixteenth Earl of Ambrose (Jack Allen). After touring the castle and seeing the portraits of several of the previous inhabitants the students learn that some of them had rather violent deaths. One in particular, Malcolm, had been beheaded. The students ask the Earl if the castle is really haunted. He assures them that it is. The three students decide to stay after the tour bus leaves and spend the night in the castle hoping to find a ghost.
During the night the students come face to face with the Fourth Earl of Ambrose (Clive Revill). He tells them that he and the other ghosts are doomed to wander the castle until Malcolm is reunited with his head. He asks the students to help. In order to free the ghosts, they need to find a pouch that is hidden in a secret chamber. The pouch is to be thrown at the portrait of Malcolm while an incantation is spoken by someone who is living. After talking with the Fourth Earl the students decide to help free the ghosts from the curse that keeps them contained by searching for the hidden chamber. Their task turns out to be a little harder than they hoped for.
“The Headless Ghost” was released in 1959 and was directed by Peter Graham Scott. It is a British comedy horror film and a low budget quota quickie.
This wasn’t exactly thrilling. The only real good part of the movie is Clive Revill as the fourth Earl of Ambrose. His Shakespearian training was put to good use here as a 600-year-old Scottish ghost. Everything else was slow and the plot was really thin. It was basically a time waster.
Many of the sets used were the same ones used for “The Black Museum” 1959. The film was made right after and was on a double bill with “The Black Museum”. Producer Herman Cohen often did two films as a double bill package for distribution.
The incantation: The wing of a bird whose song was never heard, The snout of a toad that perished in our road, The scales of a fish all burned in a dish, Gathered in a pouch of leather, Hurled in stormy weather, To set him free, To set him free.
The name of the cat that frightened the kids was Smokey.