Go Retire Psychiatrist

Svengoolie Intro: “Calling all stations! Clear the air lanes! Clear all air lanes for the big broadcast!”

Just in time for the July 4^th celebration of the 250^th birthday of the founding of America, Svengoolie showed the 1946 film, “The Time of Their Lives.” I had to work hard to keep up with the rather complicated plot and all the characters, which included Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, who were not joined at the hip as usual, maybe because they weren’t getting along well at the time. The time period for the movie is from 1780 during the American Revolutionary War up to 1946.

The cast included:

Bud Abbott: played two roles: Cuthbert Greenway, the butler in 1780 and his descendant in 1946, Dr. Ralph Greenway, who is a psychiatrist.

Lou Costello: Horatio Prim, a poor bumbling tinker (skilled metalworker) in 1780 who got a letter of recommendation from General George Washington, leader of the Continental Army.

Jess Barker: Thomas Danbury, a traitor in league with Benedict Arnold, plotting to thwart the Continental Army and help the British regain control over the colonies.

Marjorie Reynolds: Melody Allen, Danbury’s main squeeze and supporter of the Continental Army.

Ann Gillis: Nora O’Leary, Danbury’s maid and Horatio’s main squeeze. She takes George Washington’s letter of recommendation for Horatio and planned to give it to Danbury in the ill-conceived hope that he would release her from her bond so she and Horatio could get married.

John Shelton: Sheldon Gage, wealthy restorer of Danbury’s mansion and much of its contents, including an important clock. He supposedly has a mental illness which his psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenway, was treating him for but that information was apparently removed from the script so as not to confuse audiences about mental illness—an example of the defense mechanism of denial.

Gale Sondergaard: Emily, a mystic who can communicate with spirits.

The action begins in 1780, during the Revolutionary War when Horatio gets a letter of recommendation from General George Washington. Horatio and his girlfriend Nora now think they can get married and honeymoon at Niagara Falls when they give the letter to Danbury, who employs Nora as a maid and who they hope will release her from her status as a bonded servant. They don’t know he’s a traitor scheming with Benedict Arnold to help the British win the war.

Cuthbert Greenway gets into a tussle with Horatio and tries to block him from getting General Washington’s letter to Danbury. This is because he’s got a crush on Nora, too. Nora eavesdrops on Danbury’s conversation with another British sympathizer in which she learns of his treasonous plans. She has the letter and was going to give it to Danbury, but that plan blows up. Danbury finds her in the closet, takes the letter and hides it somewhere.

The Continental Army connects Horatio and Melody to the traitors, shoot and kill them, burn the mansion, and drop them down a well, where they’re condemned for eternity—or at least until 1946 when the mansion is restored by the rich neurotic guy, Sheldon Gage, whose psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenway (the descendant of his evil forbear, Cuthbert) spends as much time trying to psychoanalyze himself as well as counsel Sheldon.

Here’s where Emily comes in, a spooky lady who has won national championships in holding seances for 20 years. As soon as the household agrees to holding a séance, Emily channels Horatio and Marjorie who have been haunting everybody in the house, and by accident through a wormhole vortex (imagine!), also snags the Ghost Adventures gang who whoop and jump and shriek and just generally interfere with the whole process of steering the group toward freeing Horatio and Marjorie by using their infernal paranormal investigating devices like EMF meters and REM Pods which are always on the fritz because ghosts just draw all the energy out of the batteries powering them.

But Emily gets things back on track and the hunt is on for the mantel clock, which is a very important artifact. At first, Horatio answers question by knocking, but then Tony Orlando and Dawn get hauled through a wormhole vortex and they mess around singing “Knock Three Times” which attracts Bigfoot (everybody knows he’s an interdimensional critter) who breaks up just about every stick of furniture by knocking all over the place, dang!

Finally, it’s the psychiatrist, Dr. Greenway, who comes to the rescue because of an unconscious longstanding guilt complex over his ancestor, Cuthbert. You’ll have to watch the film about what happens next because saying anything more would be a spoiler.

This was a pretty complex movie and, aside from that (along with a little too much slapstick from Costello), I think it’s pretty good. I give it a Shrilling Chicken Rating of 4/5.