13 GHOSTS (1960) **1/2 William Castle sets the tone with his portentous tongue-in-cheek invocation and benediction. The action is also amplified by the now obsolete recommendations to put on, and take off, our Illusion-O glasses. It was the age of hope, and technology, and the belief in human efforts. Of course we could control ghosts if we could just see them. No idealistic tale of humble professors, haunted houses, and a boy looking for adventure could ever be complete without an evil attorney out to get all the money for himself (at least it got his hands off the daffy sister, that's a good thing about greedy lawyers). From the minute we see the profile of Margaret Hamilton's wicked witch nose we know that things are in good hands, and that she'll take over if things get too slow. Which they don't because she does. Not profound, not brilliant, only temporarily innnovative, occasionally very humorous (the lion tamer), consistently entertaining.
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