As the spunky, witty typesetter of the local newspaper who is sometimes afraid of his own shadow, Don Knotts goes up against the local legendary haunted house, a garden-shears-carrying nemesis, and a real true to life bad guy in this funny, quirky, endearing mystery from Universal's 1966 archives.

"Everything I ever needed to know about life, I learned from the Ghost and Mr. Chicken." the Fiend :.

This is an excellent, wholesome horror/comedy featuring many of your favorite members of the "Mayberry" bunch. It's delightful entertainment for the whole family, and one of Knotts's best performances as the underdog with the stout heart and quaky knees.

And best of all, the ending is a bit of a surprise.

This was my favorite movie as a child, and it rates a 9/10 from...

the Fiend :.

Don Knotts must have carefully chosen the script and story that would be his first starring film role. He certainly was taking a chance after leaving the Andy Griffith Show. Fortunately he chose well and in addition to a character that suited him perfectly he was surrounded by a cast of familiar and tried and true character players, including a few familiar faces from the Andy Griffith Show.

The Ghost And Mr. Chicken finds Knotts as a typesetter on his local small town paper with aspirations to be a reporter. But his first attempt at a big scoop which I won't go into make him a laughingstock not unlike Barney Fife at times. The girl he desires Joan Staley is disappointed and his rival Skip Homeier is having a great old time at Don's expense.

Another opportunity presents itself however. The owner of an old abandoned mansion Philip Ober returns to town wanting to demolish said mansion just take the wrecking ball and bulldozer to it. There's a lot of opposition because it is reputed to be haunted primarily by the ghost of Ober's wife who was murdered there 20 years earlier.

But it's a town landmark of sorts and Knotts goes to investigate and comes up short the first time, but eventually solves a 20 year old murder.

Which is more than Barney Fife ever did. The part that Don plays here set a pattern for his film career playing the lovable, bumbling schlep who gets it right in the end and gets the girl besides. Of course that was while he was a lead. Later on played various character roles, partnered with Tim Conway and those two were hilarious and is best known to today's audience as the mysterious TV repairman in Pleasantville.

The Ghost And Mr. Chicken was a fine beginning for Don Knotts as a big screen leading movie comedian.

Luther Heggs (Don Knotts) is a bumbling fraidy cat. He is the laughing stock of the town after claiming to witness a death. Newspaper reporter Ollie Weaver leads the town in making fun of the wannabe reporter. Ollie is also dating the lovely Alma Parker who Luther is in love with. There is a mansion where 20 years before, a husband murdered his wife and committed suicide. For a story, the editor proposes that Luther spend the night in the Simmons mansion.

It's a little fun to see Don Knotts stumble around and being scared living off of his TV success. It's Don Knotts being Don Knotts. It's not that funny but it has a light charm. It's very light and not that compelling. There are few big laughs. I would think Andy Griffith fans loved this movie when it came out but I never actually seen the show. My Don Knotts is Ralph Furley.