Movie Type: Heavenly Comedy, Family-Oriented Comedy
Themes: Pirates, Ghosts, Fish Out of Water
Main Cast: Peter Ustinov, Dean Jones, Suzanne Pleshette, Elsa Lanchester, Joby Baker
Release Year: 1968
Country: US
Run Time: 107 minutes
Plot
Blackbeard's Ghost was one of the first Disney productions released after Walt's death. Peter Ustinov stars as the eponymous wraith, who returns to Earth to come to aid of his descendant, elderly Elsa Lanchester. The villains want to kick Lanchester and her friends out of their group home so that they can build a crooked casino. Good guy Dean Jones evokes the spirit of Blackbeard to thwart the bad guys. The supporting cast ranges from Richard Deacon to Gil Lamb, while Peter Ellenshaw performs the visual effects with mattes, miniatures, and process screens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
This early Disney feature is a delightful romp for kids of all ages, highlighted by a grandiose comedic performance by Peter Ustinov that will have any fan of his animated turn as King John in 1973's Robin Hood rolling in the isles. Filled with witty banter and gleefully over-the-top caricatures, Blackbeard's Ghost is exactly the kind of delirious entertainment that Disney used to churn out decades back. Whether it's Dean Jones and Blackbeard bickering at each other for long stretches in a pirate-themed hotel room or the finale where only the silliest blue-screen effects are used for high hilarity, the laughs are consistent and simply charming to watch. When it comes down to it, the whole thing is Ustinov's show and the revered thespian steps up time after time, all the while eliciting so many giggles and guffaws that it is downright amazing that he wasn't known more for his superior comedic talents. That said, both his performance and film are played to the back of the theater, so best go in expecting only the most boisterous comedy imaginable. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
Carroll Clark - Art Director, Peter Ellenshaw - Art Director, John Mansbridge - Art Director, Bill Walsh - Co-producer, Bill Thomas - Costume Designer, Paul Cameron - First Assistant Director, Robert Stevenson - Director, Arthur J. Vitarelli - Second Unit Director, Robert Stafford - Editor, Robert F. Brunner - Composer (Music Score), Gordon Hubbard - Makeup, Edward Colman - Cinematographer, Hal G. Gausman - Set Designer, Emile Kuri - Set Designer, Eustace Lycett - Special Effects, Robert Mattey - Special Effects, Robert O. Cook - Sound/Sound Designer, Dean Thomas - Sound/Sound Designer, Don DaGradi - Screenwriter, Bill Walsh - Screenwriter, Ben Stahl - Book Author
---Spoilers---
Steve Walker arrives in the town of Godolphin to take the position of track coach at the local college. The night of his arrival coincides with a charity bazaar at Blackbeard's Inn, a hotel run by the descendants of the pirate's crew, where he will be boarding. The owners are attempting to pay off their mortgage in order to keep the inn from being bought by the local crime boss, Silky Seymour (Joby Baker), who wants to build a casino on the land. In quick succession, Steve discovers his track team's shortcomings, runs afoul of the dean of Godolphin College, its football coach, and Seymour, and makes the acquaintance of an attractive Godolphin professor, Jo Anne Baker (Pleshette). A bidding war with the football coach at the charity auction nets Steve an antiquebed warmer owned by the wife of Captain Blackbeard, inside which is hidden her book of spells. Steve recites one as a lark, conjuring up the ghost of Blackbeard (Ustinov), who appears as a socially-inappropriate drunkard whose wife cursed him to an existence in limbo unless he can perform a good deed.
The two are bound to one another by the power of the spell and only Steve can see or hear the ghost; as a result, Steve must deal with the antics of the wayward pirate while attempting to revive Godolphin's track team and form a relationship with Professor Baker. Things are complicated when the pirate steals one of the Inn's mortgage payments and bets it on Steve's track team, with the intent of using his supernatural powers to help them win the Broxton Relay track meet and pay the mortage in full. Though Steve is at first outraged over the pirate's interference during the meet, he eventually decides the greater good is to win the money for the sake of the Inn. He also accepts the pirate's help in shaking down Silky Seymour after Seymour refuses to pay out the winnings from the bet. Finally, with the mortgage paid, Blackbeard has performed his good deed and is released from the curse. He departs to join his former crews.
