Ghost In The Noonday Sun
Encyclopedia
Ghost in the Noonday Sun is a 1973 British comedy film, directed by Peter Medak
Peter Medak
Peter Medak is a Hungarian-born film director of British and American films.-Early life:He was born in Budapest, Hungary to a Jewish family, but in 1956 fled his native country for England due to the Hungarian Revolution...

, starring Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...

, Anthony Franciosa
Anthony Franciosa
Anthony Franciosa was an American actor, usually billed as Tony Franciosa during the height of his career.-Early life:...

 and Spike Milligan
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...

. The script was written by Evan Jones
Evan Jones (writer)
Evan Jones is a poet, playwright and screenwriter based in Britain. He was educated in Jamaica, the United States and England...

 and Ernest Tidyman (uncredited) with "additional dialogue" attributed to Spike Milligan. It was produced by Thomas Clyde & Gareth Wigan with cinematography by Michael Reed & Larry Pizer. The title and some of the plot details are based on the book of the same title by Newbery Medal-winning children's author Sid Fleischman
Sid Fleischman
Albert Sidney Fleischman , pen name Sid Fleischman, was a Newbery Medal-winning author of children's books, screenplays, novels for adults, and books on magic. His works for children are known for their humor, imagery, zesty plotting, and exploration of the byways of American history...

.

Plot

Bumbling pirate crewman (Sellers) kills his captain after learning where he has hidden buried treasure. However as he begins to lose his memory, he relies more and more on the ghost of the man he's murdered to help him find the treasure. This film provided a reunion of sorts for Sellers with his onetime Goon Show
The Goon Show
The Goon Show was a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme...

 colleague Spike Milligan
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...

, who appears halfway through the film.

Cast

  • Peter Sellers
    Peter Sellers
    Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...

     as Dick Scratcher
  • Anthony Franciosa
    Anthony Franciosa
    Anthony Franciosa was an American actor, usually billed as Tony Franciosa during the height of his career.-Early life:...

     as Pierre Rodriguez
  • Spike Milligan
    Spike Milligan
    Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...

     as Bill Bombay
  • Clive Revill
    Clive Revill
    Clive Selsby Revill is a New Zealand-born British character actor best known for his performances in musical theatre and on the London stage.-Early life and stage career:...

     as Bay of Algiers
  • Peter Boyle
    Peter Boyle
    Peter Lawrence Boyle, Jr. was an American actor, best known for his role as Frank Barone on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, and as a comical monster in Mel Brooks' film spoof Young Frankenstein ....

     as Ras Mohammed
  • Richard Willis as Jeremiah
  • James Villiers
    James Villiers
    James Michael Hyde Villiers was a British character actor and a familiar face on British television...

     as Parsely-Frack
  • Rosemary Leach
    Rosemary Leach
    Rosemary Leach is a British stage, television and film actress.She was born at Much Wenlock, Shropshire. Her parents were teachers related to Edmund Leach. She attended grammar school and RADA...

     as Kate
  • Thomas Baptiste as Abdullah
  • Murray Melvin
    Murray Melvin
    Murray Melvin is an English stage and film actor.The son of Hugh Victor Melvin and Maisie Winifred Driscoll, he is best known for having created the role of Geoffrey in the Shelagh Delaney play, A Taste of Honey, a role which he recreated opposite Rita Tushingham in the 1961 film of the same name...

     as Hamldon
  • Bill Kerr
    Bill Kerr
    William 'Bill' Kerr is an Australian film and television actor. He was born into a performing arts family in Cape Town, South Africa, but grew up in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia....

    as Giacomo

Production

During filming Sellers quickly lost interest in the project and would often pretend to be sick, only to be later spotted water-skiing the same day. Co-star Tony Franciosa allegedly came within a hair's breadth of punching Sellers lights out on set because of a "he's more handsome than me" jealousy attack. Sellers allegedly launched a racist niggling campaign which got so bad Spike Milligan was flown in, initially to act as Sellers minder and later to pep up the script. Released several years after filming was wrapped and after Sellers' death (1980) in the 80's, the film was semi-completed and released on VHS. The film never received a fully fledged theatrical release.
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