Weak!

The Spirit is Willing looked good on paper (on screen anyway): William Castle makes a haunted house spoof in 1967. It stars Sid Caesar as the neurotic dad, Vera Miles as the perky wife, and Barry Gordon, as the sullen teenager. (He was the kid in A Thousand Clowns - "Go to your alcove!"). They are vacationing in a small town in Maine - Mendocino, I think it is - in a haunted house.

The ghosts are a ship captain (Robert Donner from The Catalina Caper!), his ugly wife (Cass Daley), and their serving wench, played by Jill Townsend, who also plays her modern day descendants, a pair of sisters. It is never explained how these scions of an old Maine family come to have English accents, but we understand that her role/roles is to the sexy English bird, very popular in those days.

Anyway, the ghosts annoy the kid, everyone thinks he's just acting out, and one character even says, "Nobody ever believes little boys". There are a bunch of familiar faces in supporting roles, including Doodles Weaver, Nestor Paiva, Mary Wickes, Harvey Lembeck, classic snob John McGiver, and John Astin (Gomez!).

Ah, John Astin. He plays the psychiatrist called in to check on the boy who sees the ghost. When he attempts to get chummy, people start to suspect he's "that kind". If this doesn't sound that funny to you, you are beginning to get the picture.

This movie just isn't funny. Caesar has a few moments, even Vera Miles does. But there isn't much for them to work with. I have no objections to the crummy special effects, or nonsensical plot, but I need a few laughs thrown in now and then.

Still, it did have a score by Vic Mizzy, who did the Addams Family theme.