When the rich and influential banker Walter Craig (Gus Glassmire) disappears his friend Ed Moline (Paul McVey) suggests the family call in a private investigator. He recommends a friend of his, Nick Trayne (James Dunn). Of course Ed needs to convince Nick to come out of retirement and take the case. To that end he brings Walter’s secretary, Billie Hilton (Joan Woodbury), along to work a little reverse psychology on the former investigator. It works. To prove that he’s not a has-been to Billie he agrees to take the case. Of course the $25,000 reward for finding Walter helps too.
Assembled at the Craig residence are Craig’s second wife Helen (Edna Johnson), his daughter Tina (Jan Wiley), her fiancé Arthur Wallace (Howard Banks), Craig’s sister Delia Phillips (Minerva Urecal), her husband George (J. Arthur Young), Craig’s former partner Tony Weldon (George Eldredge) and the family butler (Norman Willis). Nick questions everyone but gains no viable clues. Nick agrees to stay at the mansion to continue his investigation in the morning.
Late that night the household is awakened by the screams of Walter’s sister Delia. Downstairs Walter is found sitting in chair in a zombie state. The next morning the doctor is called. Dr. Bruhling (Lawrence Grant) is a neurologist. His examination reveals that Walter is suffering from a paralyzed cerebral cortex. Someone did this to him.
Later the next night Nick goes out into the garden to question George only to find him stabbed to death. Walter is found standing over the body. Not knowing whether or not Walter actually stabbed him or not a nurse is hired to keep an eye on him.
In the meantime Dr. Bruhling advises Nick that whoever did this to Walter had to know something about medicine. They needed to know what chemicals had to be mixed together to paralyze Walter’s brain.
“The Living Ghost” AKA “A Walking Nightmare” AKA “Lend Me Your Ear” was released in 1942 and was directed by William Beaudine. It is a rather obscure poverty row mystery with comic overtones from Monogram Pictures. Many attribute a horror aspect to it, but that is debatable. It is based on a story by Howard Dimsdale called “Money for What”. The film itself is not in the best of shape but it is watchable. Plus it’s only an hour long.
There are no actual ghosts in the movie. The living ghost is a reference to the zombie-like state that Walter Craig is in.
There were quite a few plot holes, hanging threads and leaps of intuition in the film. There were also an awful lot of suspects and the usual red herrings. The plot is thin but the mystery is second to the comedy anyway. James Dunn is front and center as the eccentric detective. He spars verbally with Joan Woodbury’s character in a romantic sub-plot that, at times, appears to be more important than the actual mystery. Even then the romance seems a little forced.
It’s not horrible but it’s not all that good either. The walking zombie was a nice touch but it wasn’t enough to carry the whole film. Without all the extra baggage there was the potential of a decent mystery but it never totally came to fruition.