movie 13 ghosts 1960 cast

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Brief Synopsis

Cast & crew, william castle, charles herbert, martin milner, rosemary decamp, donald woods, photos & videos, technical specs.

Paleontologist Cyrus Zorba barely earns enough money to support his wife Hilda, young son Buck and young adult daughter Medea. On the day the family's furniture is repossessed, they celebrate Buck's birthday. As Buck blows out the candles on his cake, he wishes for "a house and furniture that no one can take away." Buck's wish is followed by a gust of wind and the appearance at the door of a ghoulish looking man who delivers a telegram from attorney Ben Rush directing Cyrus to come to his office the following day. The next morning at his office, Ben informs Cyrus that he has inherited the estate of his late uncle, Dr. Plato Zorba, an eccentric scientist who collected ghosts. Warning that the ghosts come with the house, Ben hands Cyrus a package containing his uncle's "ghost viewer," a device that makes the apparitions visible. The house is occupied by a sinister housekeeper, Elaine Zacharides, whom Buck dubs "the witch." After the family move in, Ben visits them on the night that Buck finds a book printed in Latin and a Ouija board behind a secret panel. When Buck, a ghost aficionado, asks the Ouija if the house contains any spooks, the planchette on the board moves to the number thirteen. The family becomes alarmed when the planchette then floats up into the air and points at Medea, indicating that she will be the next ghost. Although frightened, they decide to remain in the house because the will dictates that if they leave, the estate will be turned over to the state. Later that night, Cyrus goes to the living room to get a book to read and hears the sound of eerie moaning coming from behind the wall. A panel suddenly slides open, and when Cyrus steps behind it, he puts on the ghost viewer. Through the viewer, Cyrus sees a skeleton which, when engulfed by flames, transforms into a whirling specter that attacks him. Once the specter disappears, Cyrus picks up the book, which bursts into flames and burns the number thirteen on his hand. The next day, Cyrus shows the Latin book to his boss, E. Van Allen, a Latin scholar. After scrutinizing its contents, Van Allen states that the book is a record of Plato's work with ghosts. In the book, Plato writes of capturing eleven ghosts. Plato's entries conclude with the assertion that he has become the twelfth ghost and will avenge the crimes committed against him. Upon returning home, Cyrus questions Elaine about Plato's experiments. Elaine explains that she was Plato's assistant until the two argued about his insistence on converting all his assets into cash and withdrawing them from the bank. She then shows Cyrus Plato's bedroom, asserting that spirits killed him there. Once Elaine leaves the room, a lighted candle floats out of its holder and illuminates a panel of drapes. When Cyrus looks behind the drapes, he finds a knob which, when turned, lowers the heavy canopy above Cyrus bed to the mattress. That night, after returning home from a date with Ben, when Medea goes to bed, she is awakened by the windows blowing open and shut. When she goes to investigate, a specter wearing moldering pants springs out from behind the curtain. Medea's screams draw Elaine, who promptly closes the window. The next morning, as Buck slides down the banister, two hundred-dollar bills flutter from the staircase. Buck then ventures into the basement where he finds a steamer trunk belonging to a lion tamer. Upon donning the ghost viewer, Buck sees a lion chasing its headless tamer. Returning upstairs, Buck examines the hundred-dollar bills and when Ben rings the doorbell and sees the bills, he asks where Buck found them. After Buck states that he found them while sliding down the banister, Ben makes Buck swear to keep the money a secret and promises to join the boy in a treasure hunt later that night. Ben then visits Cyrus at his office to inform him that he might be able to convince the state to buy the house if the family immediately vacates it. Their conversation is interrupted by Van Allen, who has deciphered an entry in Plato's diary revealing that Plato's cash is hidden in the house. The diary also mentioned that Elaine is a medium, and Van Allen suggests asking her to hold a séance to contact Plato. That night, after putting Buck to bed, the family holds a séance. As Plato begins to speak through Cyrus, Cyrus puts on the ghost viewer, after which Plato's portrait begins to groan and Cyrus begins to moan in pain, mimicking Plato's death spasms. Pulling off the ghost viewer, Cyrus sinks into a chair and Elaine declares, "Tonight death walks again in this evil house." After the rest of the family retires for the night, Ben, dressed in moldering pants, prowls the house, entering Buck's room where he picks up the sleeping boy and carries him to Plato's bed. As Ben turns the knob to lower the canopy and crush Buck, Plato's ghost enters through a heating vent to avenge his murder. After Buck awakens in fear and flees, the ghost pushes Ben under the canopy, which then crushes him to death. Buck's screams awaken the family, and when he shows them the hundred dollar bills, Cyrus deduces that Ben had been searching for the hidden treasure and tried to drive the Zorbas from the house so that he could claim it for himself. Proclaiming that the earthbound spirits have now been released, Elaine turns to look at the ghost viewer, which then floats into air and explodes.

Margaret Hamilton

John van dreelen, david hoffman, john burnside, jeanne baker, richard albain, joseph biroc, charlsie bryant, edwin l. bryant, richard cobos, robert coburn sr., eldon coutts, louis diage, clarence eubank, james fields, max frankel, dona holloway, harry "hoppy" hopkins, john "mike" hunt, hazel keats, james meehan, harry mills, emil oster jr., andrew payne, charles j. rice, robert robinson, james saper, alan sloane, edna taylor, photo collections.

The Gist (13 Ghosts) - THE GIST

Insider Info (13 Ghosts) - BEHIND THE SCENES

In the know (13 ghosts) - trivia, yea or nay (13 ghosts) - critic reviews of "13 ghosts", yea or nay (13 ghosts) - critic reviews of "13 ghosts", quote it (13 ghosts) - quotes from "13 ghosts", quote it (13 ghosts) - quotes from "13 ghosts", 13 ghosts (1960).

The movie was filmed in "Illusion-O" and a pair of special glasses where needed to see the ghosts.

The film's working titles were Thirteen and Ghost Train . Although onscreen credits note "color scenes by Pathé," the viewed print was in black and white. The New York Times review erroneously lists the film's running time as 128 minutes. The Filmfacts review mentioned the Illusion-O "gimmick," which was the studio's name for the effects created by a pair of special glasses, called a "ghost viewer," that the audience would wear. One window of the glasses was tinted blue and one red; when the viewer looked through the red one, ghosts would appear on the screen, but when the viewer looked through the blue, the ghost could not be seen. The review added that producer William Castle appeared in a prologue to the film to explain the process, but Castle was not in the print viewed. In 2001, Warner Bros. released a remake of 13 Ghosts , titled Thir13en Ghosts, directed by Steve Beck and starring Tony Shaloub and Embeth Davidtz.

Miscellaneous Notes

Released in United States Summer July 1960

The "Illusion-O" gimmick involved the audience wearing special glasses to see the ghosts or without them they couldn't.

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13 Ghosts (1960)

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1960, Horror, 1h 28m

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13 ghosts   photos.

When Cyrus Zorba (Donald Woods) and his poverty-stricken family inherit an old mansion, they can't believe their good luck. However, not long after they move in they realize that the house is haunted by 12 ghosts and run by a housekeeper (Margaret Hamilton) who works in the dark arts. Though the ghosts are intent on killing a member of the family, the Zorbas insist on staying in the house because they have learned that a large fortune is hidden somewhere inside it.

Genre: Horror

Original Language: English

Director: William Castle

Release Date (Streaming): Jun 27, 2014

Runtime: 1h 28m

Production Co: William Castle Productions

Cast & Crew

Charles Herbert

Medea Zorba

Martin Milner

Benjamen Rush

Donald Woods

Cyrus Zorba

Rosemary DeCamp

Hilda Zorba

Margaret Hamilton

Elaine Zacharides

John Van Dreelen

William Castle

Critic Reviews for 13 Ghosts

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• View history

13 Ghosts is a 1960 horror film directed by William Castle and written by Robb White . To the dismay of some of the cast members, Castle gave top billing to 12-year-old Charles Herbert . It was remade in 2001 under the title of Thir13en Ghosts , directed by Steve Beck.

When occultist uncle Dr. Plato Zorba wills a huge ramshackle house to his nephew Cyrus and his impoverished family, they are shocked to find the house is haunted. Their new furnished residence comes complete with a spooky housekeeper, Elaine , plus a fortune in buried treasure and 12 horrifying ghosts.

His family soon discovers that these spirits include a decapitated man , a fully grown lion , a wailing lady and a flaming skeleton , who are held captive in the eerie house and must find an unlucky thirteenth ghost to free them. Dr. Zorba leaves a set of special goggles , the only way of seeing the ghosts, as well as a treasure of his fortune hidden somewhere in the house. However, there is someone else in the house who is looking for the money and is willing to kill for it.

• Charles Herbert as Buck Zorba
• Jo Morrow as Medea Zorba
• Martin Milner as Benjamin Rush
• Rosemary DeCamp as Hilda Zorba
• Donald Woods as Cyrus Zorba
• Margaret Hamilton as Elaine Zacharides
• John Van Dreelen as Van Allen
• Jeanne Baker as Emilio's Wife
• John Burnside as Emilio
• William Castle as Himself
• David Hoffman as Messenger
• Roy Jenson as Plato Zorba
• 1 Black Zodiac
• 2 The Jackal
• 3 The Angry Princess

• Plot needed
• English-language films
• Thirteen Ghosts (series)
• Films of the 1960s
• Paranormal films
• Ghost and spirit films
• Haunted house films

13 Ghosts (1960)

• View history

13 Ghosts is a 1960 American horror film directed by William Castle and written by Robb White . The film is about a family who inherits what proves to be a haunted house, but a special pair of goggles allows them to see their ghostly tormentors.

• 4 External links

Occultist uncle Dr. Plato Zorba wills a large, creepy estate to his money-strapped nephew Cyrus Zorba and his family. Their new furnished residence comes complete with a spooky housekeeper, Elaine, plus a fortune in buried treasure and 12 horrifying ghosts. His family soon discovers that these spirits include a decapitated man, a fully grown lion, a wailing lady and a flaming skeleton, who are held captive in the eerie house and must find an unlucky thirteenth ghost to free them. Dr. Zorba leaves a set of special goggles, the only way of seeing the ghosts. However, there is someone in the house who is also looking for the money and is willing to kill for it.

• Charles Herbert as Buck Zorba
• Donald Woods as Cyrus Zorba
• Jo Morrow as Medea Zorba
• Rosemary DeCamp as Hilda Zorba
• Martin Milner as Benjamen Rush
• Margaret Hamilton as Elaine Zacharides
• John van Dreelen as Van Allen

13 Ghosts (1960) - Trailer

External links [ ]

• 1 Freddy Krueger (original timeline)
• 2 Michael Myers (original timeline)
• 3 Billy Loomis

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1960 Directed by William Castle

IT'S FUN TO BE SCARED BY 13 GHOSTS

Reclusive Dr. Zorba has died and left his mansion to his nephew Cyrus and his family. They will need to search the house to find the doctor's fortune, but along with the property they have also inherited the occultist's collection of 13 ghosts.

Charles Herbert Jo Morrow Martin Milner Rosemary DeCamp Donald Woods Margaret Hamilton John van Dreelen David Hoffman Jeanne Baker John Burnside Roy Jenson William P. Kelley Hubie Kerns Darryl Scott McFadden Jack Nestle William Castle

Director Director

William Castle

Additional Directing Add. Directing

Producer producer, writer writer, editor editor.

Edwin H. Bryant

Cinematography Cinematography

Joseph F. Biroc

Additional Photography Add. Photography

James Saper

Art Direction Art Direction

Set decoration set decoration.

Louis Diage

Composer Composer

Sound sound.

Charles J. Rice

Makeup Makeup

Hairstyling hairstyling.

William Castle Productions Columbia Pictures

Releases by Date

18 jul 1960, 05 aug 1960, 17 jan 1961, 16 jun 2016, 26 apr 2021, releases by country.

• Theatrical 16
• Digital M/14
• Physical PG Blu-ray
• Theatrical NR

85 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Blake Bergman "Various Spaghetti" ★★★½ 4

13 Ghosts is a 1960 supernatural horror directed by William Castle. Always an applicator of the novelty form, "13 Ghosts" invited guests to watch the film with the advanced technical marvel (wink) that is "Illusion-O", which were basically just two cellophane strips of red and blue parallel to each other. Essentially being the same as 3-D glasses but presented differently as the strips were parallel to each other, "Illusion-O" gave two options for the film. Within the context of certain scenes, looking through the red lens would be the ever-present haunt face to face with the view, but the blue lens connective gave the viewer the chicken exit, making the ghosts disappear. It is about on par with "Percepto!" used…

Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

William Castle's masterpiece - a gimmick (illusion-o, in which red and blue filters were placed separately and on a horizontal axis to either emphasize or hide the spooky haunts, otherwise known as Ghost-Viewers) that actively yearns for participation within the exhibition space, constantly switching back and forth from different combinations of viewing, resulting in a varied experience of individualized image making. You make your own movie! Proto- Scooby-Doo in that it utilizes ghosts as a cover-up for earthly criminality. Even ends with the young boy putting on the villain's dollar-store Halloween mask to scare the family as they chuckle heartily! I love this movie as much as I love cobwebs and secret passages...so a whole fucking lot!

Review by nathaxnne [hiatus <3] ★★★★★ 15

The only thing better than a schlocky 3D William Castle Horror movie is a NOW! IN META-SCHLOCK! William Castle 3D movie! This is a movie where if you go you put on 3D glasses to interact with the ghosts and a paranormal version of these very same 3D glasses which enable the seeing of ghosts is a critical feature of this movie so that when a character puts on the 3D Spectral Spex YOU TOO will be wearing yours to see GHOST LION or CHEF GHOST or BURNING WHEEL or HANGED GHOST! Not only that but this movie gives you Margaret Hamilton! As A Witch Or At Least A Medium! I also loved my time spent with the Zorba family…

Review by liz71 ★★★½

👻HalloScream 2023 Day 2

A old classic antique ghost story that could frighten a child and probably adults of it's era with it's eerie ghost sound effects and creepy ghost images. A fun, enjoyable, spooky watch. 7/10

🎃HalloScream 2023 Ranked 👉 boxd.it/pvFE0

Review by 📀 Cammmalot 📀 ★★½ 9

”Do you believe in ghosts?”

William Castle returns with his supernatural viewer, a ghostly lion and more strings than a marionette mariachi party.

It all starts out so innocently goofy that it’s adorable, and then it becomes so ridiculously stupid that it’s humorous. Sadly though, the tinted viewer gimmick doesn’t hold up and the plot gets bogged down with a boring family and slow pacing.

BONUS POINTS for the ultimate stunt casting of Margaret Hamilton as you guessed it: ‘The Witch’

”They’ll be back. They’ll beee baaack.”

Cinematic Time Capsule – 1960 Shorts Ranked

Review by Paul Thomas 2

I have such a hard time rating this.

On one hand, if I was a kid in 1960 with my 3d glasses on, and I saw these terrifying images bursting out of the screen at me, it'd be a memorable experience. For what William Castle was trying to accomplish, it's a rousing success.

On the other hand, Castle probably didn't understand the longevity of film. He had no way of predicting streaming channels playing this and people watching at home on their TVs. In that sense, seeing faint ghosts you can barely make out floating on the screen for an extremely long time, it feels damn near pointless watching.

So weirdly I feel this movie is a huge success, but unless you have a way to watch 3D or a time machine, idk why you'd watch it.

Review by Ethan Lyon ★★★½

6th William Castle (after The House on Haunted Hill, Homicidal, Straight-Jacket, Macabre and I Saw What You Did)

*Drops stack of films on a desk* Thesis time

13 Ghosts is perhaps best understood as a kid's horror film, first and foremost. All my reading and watching has suggested that Castle's market was, largely, morbid boys from about the age of 9-13, i.e. when they discovered girls exist. In that age group, the rigorously structured narratives that us adults so enjoy (allegedly) are not so important, allowing for far more narrative liberties to be taken. And that's reflected in the loosely logical plot of 13 Ghosts, where a man is somehow able to be a lead curator at the Los Angeles…

Review by DreamScape40 ★★★½

Pretty cool for back in the early 60s.

Margaret Hamilton reaching for that broom toward the end there with a smirk on her face. Even though she had a short role in this, that moment was classic for me.

Review by Slig001 ★★★½

13 Ghosts begins with a hokey intro from William Castle in which he introduces his gimmicky ghost viewer thing. This pretty much sets the stage for the rest of the film; a simple but gimmicky and charming little haunted house ghost story. The story is pretty basic and focuses on a hard up family thay inherits a big house from a deceased uncle, which comes complete with the ghosts of the title! The ghost viewer thing comes up time and again as the ghosts are shown on screen - red images on a blue background. I do wonder what it would have been like with the viewer? It's amusing even without it. The characters are well set up and the plot works well as we have the ghosts and another intriguing subplot bubbling away. I wouldn't call this Castle's masterpiece or anything but it's a lot of fun.

Review by Dan Abel ★★½

Cyrus is a good man but he is struggling financially and having a hard time making ends meet for himself, his wife, and his young son. The bank has repossessed their apartment and their furniture on the boy's birthday so he is presented with his cake on the floor and as he blows out the candles he wishes for a house with furniture. At that moment a telegram arrives and Cyrus is informed that he has inherited the estate of his wealthy eccentric uncle, including an old mansion. The wealth is gone, spent on collecting ghosts from around the world. Ghosts that come with the mansion.

It was only a year or two ago when I discovered that 2001's Thir13en…

Review by Ian West ★★★★

Even more fun with a group!

William Castle <3

Review by Scumbalina ★★★★★

If ever there were a friendly male witch to invite you along for an adventure, William Castle would be that man. Psyched by the 3-D Skeleton Face. Witchy Wonka in startling hues of Margenta. I always keep a pair of anaglyph glasses by my television set for such an occasion. Margaret Hamilton is Halloween as a person.

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