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Don Knotts definitively demonstrates that "calm and murder" don't go together in this 1966 comedy, which, along with The Incredible Mr. Limpet, ranks as his best. Certainly, of all his films it is the one most fondly remembered by baby boomers. Knotts is in peak pipsqueak form as small-town "boob" Luther Heggs, the put-upon typesetter at a small-town newspaper, who yearns to be a reporter. But to get a front-page byline, he must spend the night at the local "murder house," the scene of a grisly, unsolved crime that took place 20 years before. Knotts is at his bug-eyed best as he navigates the house's various terrors. When his incredible reports of ghostly organ music and a bloodstained portrait are discredited by the scheming heir who wants to demolish his family's infamous abode, Luther rises to the occasion, solves the mystery, and even gets the pretty girlfriend (Joan Staley, the November 1958 Playboy Playmate of the Month!) of his taunting rival. Look early on for Hal Smith, who played Otis the town drunk on The Andy Griffith Show. And if the home looks eerily familiar, there is a reason why: It was the stabbing grounds of Norman Bates in Psycho. Talk of murder-suicide may be inappropriate for younger viewers, who might quake along with Luther, but older kids should scream with laughter. Donald Liebenson

All Movie Guide

Luther Heggs (Don Knotts) is a typesetter at a newspaper who longs for a chance to be a reporter in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken. Editor Beckett (Dick Sargent) gives Luther his big break and assigns him to spend the night in a house generally considered to be haunted. The situation allows a broad canvas for Knotts to react to sight gags with the special brand of eye-popping nervousness that made him a star. Former Playboy Bunny Joan Staley plays the pretty girlfriend of star reporter Ollie Weaver (Skip Homeier). Dan Pavlides

Product Details

• UPC: 025192354427
• Source: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Cinemascope (2.35:1)
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Language: English
• Subtitles: Français, Español
• Time: 1:30:00
• Sales Rank: 1,419

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• Don Knotts: Reluctant Hero Pack

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