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 S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

Directed by Alan Rafkin
USA 1966

 

Don Knotts stars in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken as a timid typesetter who hasn't a ghost of a chance of becoming a reporter – until he decides to solve a murder mystery and ends up spending a fright-filled night in a haunted house! Figuring the answers to the mystery lie in the old Simmons mansion, Luther Heggs (Knotts) visits the estate at the witching hour of midnight. Certain he's seen a ghost, Luther writes a story which makes front page news - and brings on a libel suit from the mansion's owner. When the trial judge orders an investigation - and no apparition appears - Luther is branded a fraud. That is, until he and his devoted girlfriend team up to uncover the mystery of the hauntings - and the true murderer - in this timeless comedy classic.

***

Luther Heggs aspires to being a reporter for his small town newspaper. He gets his big break when the editor asks him to spend the night at the Simmons mansion that, 20 years before, was the site of a now famous murder-suicide. Luther's account of his wild, ghost-ridden night in the house leads Simmons to sue for libel, but with the aid of his friend Kelsey they determines what exactly happened.

Posters

Theatrical Release: January 20th, 1966

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Review: Universal - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Box Cover

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Distribution Universal - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime 1:29:49.967        
Video

2.35:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 26,743,899,129 bytes

Feature: 26,184,462,336 bytes

Video Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate Blu-ray:

Audio

DTS-HD Master Audio English 1855 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1855 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles English, French, None
Features Release Information:
Studio: Universal

 

2.35:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 26,743,899,129 bytes

Feature: 26,184,462,336 bytes

Video Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Edition Details:

• None


 Blu-ray Release Date: February 4th, 2017
 Standard Blu-ray Case

Chapters 18

 

 

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Universal Blu-ray (March 2020): Universal's transfer of the mid 60's Don Knotts' comedy/horror The Ghost and Mr. Chicken to Blu-ray. The image appears un-manipulated, clean with a very few small speckles and true colors. There is depth and fine grain visible. This 1080P transfer has a max'ed out bitrate.

On their Blu-ray, Universal use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. It sounds as clean as the image with a memorable score by Vic Mizzy (Don Knott's The Love God as well as The Night Walker plus the theme to the TV series Green Acres and much more.) Universal offer optional English and French subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Universal Blu-ray offers no extras.

NOTE: Joan Staley, who plays Alma, was Playboy's "Miss November" 1958 but to tone down her sexiness the natural blonde donned the same brunette wig worn by Claudia Cardinale in Blindfold (1966).

One of the most re-watchable childhood favorites, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken is good clean fun with Knotts' wide-eyed astonishment, and wavering confidence, at every turn. It takes place in the fictional town of Rachel, Kansas, population 6384. I wish I was there right now... circa 1966. It's a bare-bones Blu-ray but very reasonably priced and I love revisiting it, and other Don Knotts gems, (The Reluctant Astronaut, The Shakiest Gun In The West, The Love God, How to Frame a Figg and The Incredible Mr. Limpet) every once in a while. Ginormous nostalgia value.

Gary Tooze

 

Menus / Extras

 

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Box Cover

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Distribution Universal - Region FREE - Blu-ray


 


 

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