This is no great work of art but once you've watched this for five minutes, even if your dog starts to recite Shakespeare whilst riding a unicycle around your living room, you will not be able to avert your eyes from this wonderful nonsense.
Henry Kendall who was marvellous in Hitchcock's superb subversive RICH AND STRANGE is just as marvellous in this. He plays a what wound be called a bit of a nerd today. He's so absurdly fuddy duddy that he's far too silly to be believable but that really doesn't matter. This is just a daft, fun adventure story, it's not meant to be an Scarface! The brilliant voice he does is reminiscent of Harry Enfield's Mr Cholmondley-Warner if anyone remembers that great 1990s sketch show? He's very amusing but more importantly, he's very likeable.
Ida Lupino is also lovely in this even though she was just fifteen years old! She's such a good actress and with Henry Kendall being rather scatty, it's down to her to hold this all together. Who says kids grow up faster these days! Considering some of the appalling acting around in this era both here and in Hollywood Ida Lupino is outstanding - and just fifteen as well!
Director Bernard Vorhaus was constantly frustrated making the quota quickes where the objective was to provide reels of film to the cinemas at less than £1 per foot! Twickenham Studios' boss Julius Hagen therefore let him experiment as much as he could within budget and even allowed him to take his own camera home at weekends to get some location shots. With THE GHOST CAMERA, Vorhaus had fun and turned what should have been a cheap, bland, mundane hour and a bit of wallpaper viewing into a cheap but thoroughly enjoyable, professionally and imaginatively produced piece of entertainment.
