''Munster, Go Home!'' is a 1966 American

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

based on the 1960s family

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

The Munsters ''The Munsters'' is an American sitcom about the home life of a family of benign monsters that aired from 1964 to 1966 on CBS. The series stars Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster (Frankenstein's monster),Episodes referring to the fact that Herman is ...

''. It was directed by

Earl Bellamy Earl Arthur Bellamy (March 11, 1917 – November 30, 2003) was an American television and film director. Biography Bellamy was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was also known as Earl J. Bellamy, or Earl J. Bellamy, Jr. "Earl Bellamy." Contem ...

, who also directed a number of episodes in the series. The film was produced immediately after the television series completed filming its original run; it included the original cast with the exception of Marilyn. Marilyn was played by Debbie Watson, replacing Pat Priest from the series.

Plot

Herman Munster (

Fred Gwynne Frederick Hubbard Gwynne (July 10, 1926 – July 2, 1993) was an American actor, artist and author, who is widely known for his roles in the 1960s television sitcoms '' Car 54, Where Are You?'' (as Francis Muldoon) and '' The Munsters'' (as Herm ...

) and his wife, Lily (

Yvonne De Carlo Margaret Yvonne Middleton (September 1, 1922January 8, 2007), known professionally as Yvonne De Carlo, was a Canadian-American actress, dancer and singer. She became a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film star and sex symbol in the 1940s a ...

), learn from Cavanaugh Munster's will that they have inherited an English manor known as Munster Hall in Shroudshire, England, and that Herman has inherited the designation

Lord of the Manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

as "Lord Munster". The family boards the famous American transatlantic passenger ocean liner SS ''United States'' to England. Herman gets seasick, Marilyn ( Debbie Watson) encounters a new love and suitor Roger Moresby (

Robert Pine Robert Pine (born Granville Whitelaw Pine; July 10, 1941) is an American actor. He is best known as Sgt. Joseph Getraer on the television series ''CHiPs'' (1977–1983). Including ''CHiPs'', Pine has appeared in over 400 episodes of various tel ...

). Grandpa ( Al Lewis) gets turned into a grey wolf upon accidentally consuming a wolf pill and has to be sneaked through British immigration and customs. Cousins Grace (Jeanne Arnold) and Freddie (

Terry-Thomas Terry-Thomas (born Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens; 10 July 1911 – 8 January 1990) was an English character actor and comedian who became internationally known through his films during the 1950s and 1960s. He often portrayed disreputable members ...

) are furious that the American Munsters are getting the manor, and that Herman will be Lord Munster instead of Freddie. Grace and Freddie, with the help of their mother, Lady Effigie (

Hermione Gingold Hermione Ferdinanda Gingold (; 9 December 189724 May 1987) was an English actress known for her sharp-tongued, eccentric character. Her signature drawling, deep voice was a result of nodules on her vocal cords she developed in the 1920s and ea ...

), try to get rid of the Munsters, so the estate can be theirs. The American Munster couple feels right at home when Herman's English relatives try to scare them. Freddie disguises himself as a ghost, but screams and runs away when he encounters Herman. Grandpa sneaks out of bed to find out the secret of Munster Hall: a counterfeiting operation is at work in the basement operated by a mastermind known as the Gryphon. Later, Herman enters a race, driving Grandpa's custom dragster, the "DRAG-U-LA". Grace and Freddie plot to kill Herman to stop him from winning the race; thanks to the Gryphon posing as Roger, but with Lily's help, he wins. The British Munsters and their butler, Cruikshank (

John Carradine John Carradine ( ; born Richmond Reed Carradine; February 5, 1906 – November 27, 1988) was an American actor, considered one of the greatest character actors in American cinema. He was a member of Cecil B. DeMille's stock company and later J ...

) including his daughter, Millie the barmaid revealed to be the Gryphon who sought to become Lady Munster, are all exposed and apprehended by the police authorities. Herman captures Freddie and Grace by tossing tires on them. Lady Effigie is sent to Shroudshire's police station with her butler by Lily and Eddie (

Butch Patrick Butch Patrick (born Patrick Alan Lilley; August 2, 1953) is an American actor and musician. Beginning his professional acting career at the age of seven, Patrick is perhaps best known for his role as child werewolf Eddie Munster on the CBS comedy ...

). Herman and his family donate the land and Munster Hall to the city for historic preservation. Roger and Marilyn get together and hope to see each other again. Herman and his family head for their American home.

Cast

as Herman Munster *

as Lily Munster * Al Lewis as Grandpa *

as Eddie Munster * Debbie Watson as Marilyn Munster *

as Freddie Munster *

as Lady Effigie Munster *

as Roger Moresby *

as Cruikshank * Bernard Fox as Squire Lester Moresby *

Richard Dawson Richard Dawson (born Colin Lionel Emm; 20 November 1932 – 2 June 2012) was an English-American actor, comedian, game-show host, and panelist. Dawson was well known for playing Corporal Peter Newkirk in ''Hogan's Heroes'', as a regular panel ...

as Joey * Jeanne Arnold as Grace Munster * Maria Lennard as Millie *

Cliff Norton Clifford Charles Norton (born Clifford Charles Nathan;"United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6KQ4-SYGY : 10 February 2023), Cliffo ...

as Herbert * Diana Chesney as Mrs. Moresby * Arthur Malet as Alfie * Ben Wright as Hennesy

Production

Development

This film offered audiences an opportunity to see the Munsters in

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

rather than the

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

format of the television series, but was not a commercial success upon its original theatrical release. It was produced and released at least partly in order to introduce the characters and concept to foreign audiences, as it came in advance of international syndication for the film's source material (the television series' 70 episodes). For the

Transatlantic crossing Transatlantic crossings are passages of passengers and cargo across the Atlantic Ocean between Europe or Africa and the Americas. The majority of passenger traffic is across the North Atlantic between Western Europe and North America. Centuries ...

, stock footage of the American passenger ocean liner, the ''

SS United States SS ''United States'' is a retired American ocean liner that was built during 1950 and 1951 for United States Lines. She is the largest ocean liner to be List of passenger ships built in the United States, entirely constructed in the United Stat ...

'', near the end of its active career, was utilized. Although most of the film is set in fictional "Shroudshire, England" the automobile racing scenes were shot at the Paramount Ranch Racetrack in

Agoura, California Agoura () is an unincorporated community in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located southeast of the city of Agoura Hills and adjacent to the city of Calabasas, Agoura was the historical name of the area before much of the area ...

. They featured the " DRAG-U-LA" custom dragster designed by famous auto customizer George Barris.

Home media

In 1997, ''

GoodTimes Entertainment GT Media, Inc. was an American home video company that originated in 1984 under the name of GoodTimes Home Video. Though it produced its own titles, the company was well known due to its distribution of media from third parties and classics. The ...

'' released ''Munster, Go Home!'' on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

alongside the 1981 made-for-TV reunion movie '' The Munsters' Revenge''. The VHS version of ''Munster, Go Home!'' is presented in an

open matte Open matte is a filming technique that involves matting out the top and bottom of the film frame in the movie projector (known as a ''soft matte'') for the widescreen theatrical release and then scanning the film without a matte (at Academy ...

1:33:1 aspect ratio. In 2001, ''

'' released a

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

version of the film using the same transfer. In 2006,

Universal Home Entertainment Universal Pictures Home Entertainment LLC (UPHE) is the home video distribution division of Universal Pictures, an American film studio owned by NBCUniversal, the entertainment unit of Comcast. UPHE is the home video distributor for all of the ...

released a two-feature DVD featuring ''Munster, Go Home!'' and '' The Munsters' Revenge''. The Universal transfer is sourced from an original print and presented in its original theatrical 1.85:1 aspect ratio. It was made available in Region 4 on DVD in September 2016. It was released on

blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

through

Shout Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

on March 31, 2020.

References

External links

* * * {{The Munsters 1966 films 1966 comedy films 1960s English-language films 1960s monster movies American comedy films Films based on television series Films directed by Earl Bellamy Films scored by Jack Marshall Films set in country houses Films set in England Films shot in Los Angeles County, California Films with screenplays by George Tibbles The Munsters films Universal Pictures films 1960s American films English-language science fiction horror films