The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini
1966, 82 minutes, color

The title character is Cecily, the ghost of a circus star who was killed in a fall 30 years ago. As can be seen in this photo , not only is the ghost's bikini invisible, but so is the body beneath the bikini. The story begins shortly after the death of Cecily's former partner Hiram Stokely. Hiram lived his life by cheating and stealing from others, so now, Cecily tells him, if he wants to go to heaven, he must mastermind one good deed within 24 hours, but without leaving his crypt. Hiram decides that his good deed will be to make sure that his rightful heirs get the money he has hidden in his mansion, and to prevent his unscrupulous attorney Reggie Ripper (Rathbone) from getting it.

Hiram asks Cecily to watch over his heirs, who are gathering at Stokely's house for the reading of the will, which is set for midnight.  Two of the heirs are Lili and Chuck, who are not related, but whose fathers were both carnival operators swindled by Stokely. Putting them in his will was Stokely's way of making restitution. Also named in the will is Myrtle Forbush (a relative) and Stokely's attorney Reggie Ripper. These heirs arrive at Stokely's mansion along with Ripper's sidekick J. Sinister Hulk. As Stokely feared, Ripper plans to do away with the other heirs, so that he can inherit all the money.

Myrtle decides to conduct a séance to contact Hiram. During the séance, a bus full of bikini-clad young people, including Myrtle's nephew Bobby, pulls up to the house. The young people immediately break out the drums and dance while Nancy Sinatra sings "Geronimo." Looking at all the bikinis Reggie Ripper remarks, "Good heavens! Young people today are a nervous lot—all squiggling in unison!"

Ripper was not aware that Myrtle had any living relatives, so now he has one more person he needs to eliminate. The heirs must either be killed or frightened away, because any who are not present at the reading of the will, forfeit their shares. Ripper enlists the help of his daughter Sinistra.

Mr. Hulk has enlisted the help of two more people to eliminate the heirs: An Indian ("Chicken Feather"), a blonde ("Princess Yolanda"). They are on their way to the mansion, and bringing a gorilla ("Monstro"). On the way they have an encounter with a gang of motorcycle enthusiasts. Their leader (von Zipper) is smitten by Yolanda, and follows her.

Sinistra's job is to kill Myrtle's nephew Bobby. Ripper instructs his daughter to remove her glasses so that she will appear more attractive to Bobby and can lure him away from the crowd. But Sinistra bungles the job because she is nearly blind without her glasses. Cecily interferes to prevent other attempts to kill the heirs from succeeding. Ripper is frustrated because all are still alive. Hulk thinks the house is haunted.

There's also a mysterious butler, Malcolm, who threads his way through the confusion of near-murders and wacky misadventures.

When a sudden thunderstorm breaks, all the young folks in bikinis run screaming past Ripper, who shouts:  "Yah! Yah! Yeah! Revolting little pipsqueaks!"

At midnight the heirs gather together and read Hiram's will. Hiram's money is to be divided equally among the four of them. Cecily causes a skeleton hand to appear with a note to Reggie Ripper. It's a Codicil to the will that says Stokely's money is hidden somewhere in the house. The only clue is "Look to the Prince of Love."

Hiram can watch the events unfolding at his house through this ball.

Ripper explains his evil plans to J. Sinister Hulk.

Ripper suggests that they go to sleep and get a fresh start in the morning hunting for the money.  After Myrtle, Chuck and Lili leave, Ripper berates Hulk, Chicken Feather and Yolanda because the heirs are still alive. Hulk and his cohorts bungle several further attempts to get rid of Chuck and Bobby. Monstro the gorilla escapes from his cage and climbs into the house. He frightens all the girls and carries off Lili.

After seeing Reggie Ripper pull a gun on Chicken Feather and Hulk and threaten them, Bobby gets Chuck and Myrtle, and they follow Ripper. 

All of the main characters end up in Hiram Stokely's "Chamber of Horrors," where they discover Lili has been placed on a buzz saw track, and is about to lose her life. A melee breaks out. Chuck gets to the buzz saw in time to save Lili, and pulls a lever sending her away from the blade. While the fight continues, Ripper gets to the lever and sends her back the other way. With Cecily's aid, the good guys gain the upper hand, Lili is saved, and the treasure is found. Ripper tries to steal it, and ghost Cecily plugs the barrel of his gun with her finger, causing an explosion, sending Ripper to his eternal reward.

Cecily reports to Hiram: "Your wicked lawyer has gone to collect his just desserts, and your rightful heirs now have the money. Congratulations, Hiram, on doing your good deed. Now you are on your way to heaven." Cecily had promised that Hiram would be made young again, and he was—he was turned into a young boy!

With the danger over, it's time for more dancing as the credits roll.

A falling chandelier frightens the participants in Myrtle's séance.

Ripper, Myrtle, Lili and Chuck watch a busload of teenagers pull up.

This film can be entertaining if one doesn't take it seriously. Although Stokely's mansion, with its many secret passageways and Chamber of Horrors, makes a perfect setting for a ghost story, the film intends to be funny rather than scary. While not a great comedy, the film does have some funny bits and good slapstick. Children especially will enjoy the slapstick humor.  The plot is ridiculous, and the great actors—Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, even Susan Hart and Jesse White—are wasted in this film. In spite of the weak plot, Rathbone does well with his character, injecting humor into his performance without hamming it up.

Von Zipper and his motorcycle gang added nothing of value to the plot, just more characters to run around, adding to the confusion. Von Zipper did, however, contribute an amusing remark upon seeing Reggie Ripper. In homage to Basil Rathbone's most famous role, von Zipper said: "He looks like Sherlock Holmes."

There are several musical numbers in this film, all accompanied by girls in bikinis and boys in swim trunks dancing:

Watch the theatrical trailer: 

The film went through many title changes before "The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini" stuck as the official title. Working titles included: Beach Party in a Haunted House; Bikini Party in a Haunted House; Pajama Party in the Haunted House; Slumber Party in Horror House; The Girl in the Invisible Bikini; Slumber Party in a Haunted House; and Girl in the Glass Bikini.

Beginning in 1963, American International Pictures (AIP) made a series of  "beach party" films starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. By 1965, when work began on The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini, a hybrid beach party and horror film, Annette Funicello wanted to spend more time with her family, and Frankie Avalon was looking for more serious roles. He was also getting too old to play a teenager. Annette and Frankie were replaced by Deborah Walley and Tommy Kirk. Although The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini had the largest budget of the "beach party" pictures, it was a box-office failure, and AIP produced no more beach party films.

Ripper introduces his daughter Sinistra.

Ripper encourages Sinistra to "entertain" Bobby (and kill him).

There are two celebrity daughters in this film: Nancy Sinatra, daughter of Frank Sinatra; and Claudia Martin, daughter of Dean Martin.

AIP had announced that Jody McCrea (son of Joel McCrea) would be in the film, but he wasn't in the final cast. Buster Keaton was also expected to play the role of Chicken Feather, a role that was similar to the one he played in Pajama Party (1964). Unfortunately, Keaton was not available when filming began in September 1965. (From September through November, Keaton was in Spain filming A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. After returning to the USA, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died February 1, 1966.) Benny Rubin was hired to play the role of Chicken Feather.

George Barrows was experienced at playing a gorilla. He played a gorilla in many movies and television shows in the 1950s and 1960s, including Gorilla at Large (1954), Adventures of Captain Africa: Mighty Jungle Avenger! (1955), Brooba (1955),  Black Zoo (1963), and Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967). Hillbillys in a Haunted House also starred Basil Rathbone.

The location scenes for The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini were filmed in Pasadena. The old creepy sets were left over from AIP's Poe movies.

This was Basil Rathbone's final film for AIP. It was also the last time he worked with Boris Karloff. Although "worked with" may be overstating it. They didn't share any scenes together. Karloff's scenes were exclusively with Susan Hart (the ghost) in the crypt. The footage of Susan Hart as a ghost was shot separately and then superimposed on the footage of the other actors.

The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini was released April 6, 1966. It was Francis X. Bushman's final film; he died August 23, 1966.

Ripper instructs Princess Yolanda on what to do.

Sinistra asks permission to take Bobby to the roof to show him the view (and push him off).

Tommy Kirk talks about Basil Rathbone on a YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFt4VEA_PPA

The sound quality in the video is poor. The gist of what Tommy says is, "The most fun person I worked with was Basil Rathbone. He played mean characters, a terrible villain, but he was friendly and nice. He loved to tell stories, loved to reminisce, talked about everybody. He was a wonderful raconteur."

When Tommy mentioned the film that he made with Basil Rathbone, he used a title that sounded like "Block Party."

A skeleton hand gives Ripper a mysterious piece of paper.

It's a codicil to the will.

"Rathbone had a fairly lengthy role as Reginald Ripper, a villainous attorney trying to cheat three heirs. ... Rathbone was totally wasted in the picture, although he seemed to be enjoying himself in the part, which he accepted only for the monetary rewards."  —Michael B. Druxman, Basil Rathbone: His Life and His Films

"Rathbone turns in an energetic performance." —William I. Lengeman III, Black Gate: Adventures in Fantasy Literature, https://www.blackgate.com/2016/09/05/old-dark-house-double-feature-iii-ghost-of-dragstrip-hollow-1959-and-the-ghost-in-the-invisible-bikini-1966/

Ripper, Hulk, Chicken Feather and Princess Yolanda prepare to do away with Lili.

Princess Yolanda and Ripper pretend to be mannequins.

"Old timers give the picture some class."  —Los Angeles Times, April 22, 1966

"Basil Rathbone ... excels here as the slimy Ripper." —Scared Silly,  http://scaredsillybypaulcastiglia.blogspot.com/2009/11/ghost-in-invisible-bikini-1966.html

Ripper tries to strangle Chuck.

Sinistra accidentally bonks her father on the head.

"Basil Rathbone of Sherlock Holmes fame ... hasn't lost one bit of his charm or talent. The only other character in the film that was relatively well written and definitely well acted was that of Reginald Ripper. I've always been a HUGE Basil Rathbone fan, so I'd love watching him even if he was in a crappy little 30 second cat food commercial. He's always had an incredible presence on screen, and his ability to act without taking himself too seriously makes everything he does a joy to watch."  —Duane L. Martin, B-Movie Central, http://www.bmoviecentral.com/bmc/reviews/136-the-ghost-in-the-invisible-bikini-1966-83-minutes.html 

"Boris Karloff and Basil Rathbone and Patsy Kelly add class to the picture with their comedy skills. They are provided many sharp lines of dialogue." —Los Angeles Herald Examiner

See Page Two for pictures of posters, lobby cards and promo photos.

.

 Images on this page and page two are from the film The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini, produced by American International Pictures. 

Top of
Page

Site Map

All original content is © Marcia Jessen, 2018