Myron Clemons
A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.
Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin
The movie really just wants to entertain people.
Raymond Sierra
The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
JohnHowardReid
Producer: Sigmund Neufeld. Copyright 3 March 1945 by P.R.C. Pictures, Inc. No New York opening. U.S. release: 3 February 1945. Not theatrically released in Australia. 6 reels. 54 minutes.SYNOPSIS: A crooked sheriff and the local doctor employ a gang of outlaws to run homesteaders out of the valley.COMMENT: Not a single female in sight, so I think we can safely assume that this entry was wholly and exclusively intended for the moppet audiences of Saturday matinees. That's a pity, because the basic premise of the story holds more promise than the usual Billy "B", but it's largely worked out in a thoroughly bland and conventional fashion. True, Newfield's direction, complete with a few running inserts, is competent enough and it's always nice to see heavies like Charles King and Karl Hackett run through their familiar paces. And for once, St John gets a chance to shine, — in a dual role.OTHER VIEWS: Not a few directors and photographers would have grasped the opportunities presented by this entry for some atmospheric effects in the horror vein. But Newfield seems determined to play potential thrills not only as blandly as possible, but mainly to garner laughs from an easily titivated moppet audience. - JHR writing as "George Addison".
Dalbert Pringle
Released in 1945 - His Brother's Ghost is just one of many, many Hollywood B-Westerns that turned me, as a youngster, into a devoted Cowboy-Junkie as I sat for hours in front of the TV set completely fascinated and entertained by these low-budget, rip-roarin' tales of the Old West.With its simple, straight-forward story that pitted the good guys against the bad guys, His Brother's Ghost also contained elements of comedy which certainly helped to move this gun-happy tale along at a light-hearted pace.Starring ex-Flash Gordon dude, Buster Crabbe (as good guy, Billy Carson), His Brother's Ghost tells the story of a crooked gang of ruthless marauders who are terrorizing the region by systematically murdering landowners and then taking possession of their ranches and farms.When these cut-throat bandits kill Andy Jones (Fuzzy's brother), Billy Carson decides to enlist Fuzzy as the ghost of his brother in order to frighten these easily-scared bad guys off.With this plan set into motion, Billy hopes to expose the gang-leader's identity, and thus bring peace to the valley and restore the stolen property to the rightful owners.Filmed in b&w, His Brother's Ghost had a very brief running time of only 52 minutes.This poverty-row picture was directed by Sam Newfield who, throughout the 1930s & 40s, literally turned out hundreds of similar, fast-paced B-Westerns with such titles as Stagecoach Outlaws, Prairie Badmen and Thundering Gunslingers.
bkoganbing
Only an incredibly stupid piece of script that allows Buster Crabbe to walk into an outlaw trap, though he does break away prevents this from being one of the best of PRC series. His Brother's Ghost has Al St. John playing Fuzzy Q. Jones and his brother Andy. Andy dies though he takes his time doing it, expiring from a gunshot wound. But not before he sets up a plan to trap the outlaws. I haven't seen this long running a death since the serial Tim Tyler's Luck where Al Shean takes two chapters to take the big trip.Andy Jones maybe with the angels, but nobody's quite sure of that as Fuzzy starts being seen around and scaring the pants off the members of a gang trying to drive homesteaders out of the valley. Veteran western villain Charles King heads the gang which has some local so called respectable community members as part of their plot. Of course Buster Crabbe takes care of them all in the end with his usual alacrity and dispatch.If you're a fan of Al St. John's slap saddle humor than this is the film for you.
MartinHafer
During the 1930s-1950s, Hollywood made 147283401324 B-westerns--such as those with Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. However, there were many, many more B series westerns as well with the likes of Hopalong Cassidy, Lash LaRue, the Cisco Kid and many, many others.This film stars Larry "Buster" Crabbe--ex-Olympic swimming champion and low-rent actor who played Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon in serials. While few would know it today, he actually made quite a few low-budget westerns and west definitely NOT among the better movie cowboys--though he was tall and had nice clean clothes. Now considering that "His Brother's Ghost" was made by one of the crappiest of the 'Poverty Row' studios, it's actually surprisingly good--which, really, isn't saying much! After all, most of these series films really didn't have great plots nor were the actors that great either. They were simply churned out by the dozen and undiscerning audiences loved 'em.In this film, despite Crabbe getting top billing, the star seems to be Al St. John. If you don't know, St. John was one of Fatty Arbuckle's relatives and played his foil in many silent comedies. In the 1930s and 40s, St. John had re-invented himself as a cowboy sidekick and was kept very busy in this capacity.The film starts with the usual rich baddies trying to run out all the ranchers. One of the most recalcitrant of the ranchers is play by St. John and the other ranchers look to him to lead a fight against the forces of evil. But, when he is killed, the cause for niceness is given a severe blow. Crabbe, though, has an idea--to get St. John's identical twin(!) to pretend to be him! This is very contrived but also a bit funny--injecting a tiny bit of life into this otherwise routine film. While you might balk at my giving it a 3, most of these films deserved 3s as they lacked imagination and depth and were meant mostly for little kids.
