EVERYBODY CRACKS UP… WHEN THE JOLLIEST ROGER OF THEM ALL POPS INTO THE 20TH CENTURY!

The new track coach (Dean Jones) in the small town of Godolphin accidentally conjures the ghost of Blackbeard (Peter Ustinov), the famous pirate… but only he can see him.

A fine example from Disney’s era of lovely live-action comedies for the whole family, often starring Jones who’s a perfect straight man here to Ustinov’s merry but obnoxious, hard-drinking pirate. Plenty of laughs as the coach tries to balance his increasingly stressful life, with simple but lively special effects accompanying Blackbeard’s shenanigans.

Satisfyingly cozy coastal sets, including the house where the coach moves in, which is built like a ship.

1968-U.S. 114 min. Color. Directed by Robert Stevenson. Screenplay: Don DaGradi, Bill Walsh. Novel: Ben Stahl. Cast: Peter Ustinov (Captain Blackbeard), Dean Jones (Steve Walker), Suzanne Pleshette (Jo Anne Baker), Elsa Lanchester, Joby Baker, Elliott Reid. 

Last word: “One stunt that I had to do as Gudger was to fly high up into the air over the stadium as the invisible ghost of Blackbeard propelled me down the track to victory. To do this, I was attached to the fabled ‘Mary Poppins wires,’ used so successfully by Julie Andrews in her flying sequences for that wonderful Disney musical […] Those blankety-blank wires unraveled from my harness, sending me crashing ten feet below and landing right on top of poor Peter Ustinov. I could have been killed. But typical of the great man, he didn’t gripe, he didn’t complain, he didn’t yell at me to get the hell off of him. All he cared about was if I was hurt in any way and if he could do anything to ease my obvious pain and discomfort. His only concern was me – and I’ve never forgotten that.” (Hank Jones, DVDizzy.com)