It's a very close call, but haunted house comedy Crazy Knights might even be worse than laugh-free screwball murder mystery The Gorilla (1939), which starred talentless comedic trio The Ritz Brothers.
Billy Gilbert (who steals Oliver Hardy's appearance and mannerisms), Shemp Howard and Bernard Sell play three carnival folk who find themselves spending the night in a creepy old house where things go bump in the night. Ghosts appear in the neighbouring graveyard, a killer is on the loose, and the guys' sideshow gorilla escapes from its cage.
With a plot that could be written on the back of a small postage stamp, the majority of the film comprises of Gilbert and Shemp being scared stupid by the spooky occurrences, with the emphasis on 'stupid'. This really is comedy at its most unsophisticated and tiresome, the stars' puerile buffoonery proving irritating in the extreme.
2.5/10, rounded up to 3 for eye-candy Jayne Hazard as blonde heiress Joan Gardner, the only good thing about the whole sorry mess.
