1942's "Whispering Ghosts" served as a rare leading role for Milton Berle, still seven years away from TV stardom as 'Uncle Miltie,' for Sol Wurtzel's 'B' picture unit at Fox. In an obvious nod to Bob Hope's "The Ghost Breakers," Berle plays a radio sleuth, H. H. Van Buren, trying to solve the ten year old ax murder of a ship's captain who had hidden a cache of diamonds on his schooner the Black Joker. Also like Hope, Willie Best is on hand to provide wisecracks aplenty, but here, sadly, the ghosts are nonexistent. Instead, we get a pair of ham actors posing as the dead captain's first mate, Long Jack (John Carradine), and sweetheart Meg (Renie Riano), plus the captain's grand niece and heir (Brenda Joyce). The only real mystery is why nobody found the jewels before, the culprit's identity painfully obvious right from his opening scene. Carradine, Grady Sutton, and Milton Parsons are on hand to prop up the second half, as the picture remains anchored to that houseboat and doesn't budge. More serious and less cowardly than Bob Hope, Milton Berle proves himself capable of carrying a picture, though his material is substandard, his constant racial banter with Best providing the most amusement. For John Carradine, it was quite a comedown from acknowledged 'A' classics like "The Grapes of Wrath" and the recent "Son of Fury" to this ignominious little 'B,' but he's genuinely funny raising his eye patch to get a better look at the note handed to him by Berle. By his second scene, he's already revealed to be an actor named Norbert, so all the ghost talk is a cheat. He was constantly in demand as a freelance actor over the next four years, but many of the Poverty Row choices made resulted in a decline in his screen fortunes, due to his unwavering devotion to Shakespeare, and the company he wanted so desperately to succeed during the difficult war years. Incidentally, 'Long Jack' was also the name given to him in his favorite film, "Captains Courageous," while at one point, he is referred to by Berle as Dracula!
