Rick wrote:
Just saw a pretty late-in-the-day "fake ghost" B-western.  RIMFIRE from 1949 features gambler The Alabama Kid (Reed Hadley) being tried and found guilty (in one of the oddest "legal" trials in movie history) and then immediately hanged for a crime he didn't commit.  And, actually, a crime -- cheating at cards --  that wouldn't seem to call for capital punishment.

Anyway, just before he's hung, Hadley tells the assembled townsfolk that he's innocent and that they'll carry the guilt of their actions for the rest of their lives.  He doesn't exactly pronounce a curse on the town...but pretty close to that.

After the hanging, various townspeople who were somehow connected to the hanging are killed with playing cards left on the bodies.  Even more, before being shot, each of them hears a voice pronouncing their doom.  The audience also gets to hear that voice which, though filtered through an echo chamber, certainly sounds for all the world like the dulcet baritone of Reed Hadley.  I was sure early on that there wasn't really going to be a ghost seeking vengeance, but after two or three killings, and hearing what definitely seemed to be Hadley, I began to wonder.

Of course, it all turns out to be a nefarious scheme carried out by an unlikely character (and one who seems not really qualified to have produced that voice).  There is a lovely misleading moment about 15 minutes before the movie ends when we're clearly supposed to think that the murders are being done by the one character I thought actually might be able to approximate Hadley's tones.

Oddly, though the audience is aware that Hadley was an innocent man, the townspeople never learn this, and we fade out with them still believing justice has been done. Odd.

So, not a horror film, not a real ghost, but very reminiscent of those B-oaters from the '30s where fake ghosts turned up with great regularity.

Again, JUDGE ROY BEAN with Paul Newman is full of weird moments, including all-out fantasy ones, and this reminds me of one. This isn't exactly a SPOILER but it's giving away a very good line.

Tab Hunter's character is describing his hanging to the audience DURING the hanging, but (like other characters) he's also speaking in the afterlife. His last line is something like"My only wish was that it would be carried out neatly. It was."