The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini
| The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini | |
|---|---|
 film poster by Reynold Brown |
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| Directed by | Don Weis |
| Produced by | Samuel Z. Arkoff James H. Nicholson |
| Written by | Louis M. Heyward Elwood Ullman |
| Starring | Deborah Walley Tommy Kirk Basil Rathbone Aron Kincaid Quinn O'Hara Boris Karloff Jesse White Dwayne Hickman |
| Music by | Les Baxter |
| Cinematography | Stanley Cortez |
| Editing by | Eve Newman |
| Release date(s) | 1966 |
| Running time | 82 min. |
| Country | United States |
The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini is the seventh (and last) of the American International Pictures (AIP) beach party films and was released in 1966. The entire film takes place in and around a haunted house with no beach in sight, with the teenage gang instead cavorting in and around it and the adjacent swimming pool. Besides the usual bikini-clad cast, random singing, silly plot line, musical guests, and ridiculous chases and fight scenes, the continuity linking this to the other beach films is the Rat Pack motorcycle gang led by Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck), as well as the appearance of previous beach party alumni Tommy Kirk, Deborah Walley, Bobbi Shaw, Jesse White, Aron Kincaid and Boris Karloff.
Pop singer Nancy Sinatra, who was on the rise at the time just before the film was released, has a supporting role and performs one song written for the film; and the Bobby Fuller Four appear as themselves and sing two songs. The briefly famous Italian starlet Piccola Pupa appears as herself and also sings a song.
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[edit] Synopsis
The ghost of recently dead Mr. Hiram Stokley (Boris Karloff) finds that he has 24 hours to perform one good deed to get into Heaven. He enlists the help of his long dead girlfriend, Cecily, to stop his lawyer, Reginald Ripper (Basil Rathbone), and a henchman from claiming the estate for themselves. The real heirs, Chuck, Lili, Hiram's cousin Myrtle, and her son bring their beach party friends to the mansion for a pool party while Reginald Ripper also employs his daughter Sinistra, and J. Sinister Hulk's slow-witted associates Chicken Feather and Yolanda to help them terrorize the teens, while dopey biker Eric Von Zipper and his Malibu Rat Pack bikers also get involved in pursuing Yolanda for a share of the Stokley estate.
[edit] Production notes
This film was originally intended to star Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello in the roles that went to Tommy Kirk and Deborah Walley, and this is the only film in the series that doesn't feature either one of them. The movie was produced as The Girl in the Glass Bikini (the title was changed before release)[1], and this early title can be seen in the promo in the end credits for Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, an AIP spy spoof loosely affiliated with the Beach Party series (with "beach" alumni Avalon, Walley, Dwayne Hickman, and Susan Hart).
Boris Karloff's scenes were all filmed in a one-room mausoleum set on a separate soundstage over two days a few months after principal photography ended. Besides Susan Hart, who plays the title role of his invisible-bikini-clad ghostly girlfriend, he has no interaction with the rest of the cast. Karloff previously had a cameo in Bikini Beach. For his scenes, Karloff is clearly standing in a bottomless coffin, rather than sitting up in it, a necessity given his chronic back problems and leg brace.[citation needed]
The stunt scene of Eric Von Zipper crashing his motorcycle into a pond was used again in the first Billy Jack film The Born Losers (1967), also produced by AIP.
[edit] Music
Les Baxter composed and conducted the musical score. Al Simms was the musical supervisor, and Albert Harris composed some additional music and served as the film’s orchestrator.[2]
Guy Hemric and Jerry Styner wrote five songs that appear in the film:
Nancy Sinatra performs “Geronimo;” Quinn O'Hara performs “Don't Try to Fight It Baby;” and Piccola Pupa performs “Stand Up and Fight.”
The Bobby Fuller Four perform “Swing A-Ma Thing” and “Make the Music Pretty.”
[edit] Principal cast
- Tommy Kirk .... Chuck Phillips
- Deborah Walley .... Lili Morton
- Aron Kincaid .... Bobby
- Quinn O'Hara .... Sinistra
- Jesse White .... J. Sinister Hulk
- Nancy Sinatra .... Vicki
- Claudia Martin .... Lulu
- Francis X. Bushman .... Malcolm
- Benny Rubin .... Chicken Feather
- Bobbi Shaw .... Princess Yolanda
- George Barrows .... Monstro
- Basil Rathbone .... Reginald Ripper
- Patsy Kelly .... Myrtle Forbush
- Boris Karloff .... Hiram Stokely
- Susan Hart .... Cecily the Ghost
- Piccola Pupa .... Piccola
- Luree Holmes .... Luree
- Ed Garner .... Ed
- Frank Alesia .... Frank
[edit] The Rat Pack
- Harvey Lembeck .... Eric Von Zipper
- Andy Romano .... J.D.
- Alberta Nelson .... Puss
- Myrna Ross .... Boots
- Jerry Brutsche .... Jerome
- Bob Harvey .... Bobby
- John Macchia .... Joey
- Allen Fife .... Beard
[edit] References
- ^ McParland, Stephen J. (1994). It's Party Time - A Musical Appreciation of the Beach Party Film Genre. USA: PTB Productions. pp. 118. ISBN 0960188029.
- ^ The Internet Movie Database entry for The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini [1]
