The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Written by Philip Dunne from the novel by R.A. Dick
1947/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#211 of 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die

[box] Lucy Muir: He took me unaware!

Captain Gregg: [laughs] My dear, since Eve picked the apple, no woman’s ever been taken entirely unawares.[/box]

This classic is perhaps a bit more beloved by most people than by me.  Even so, the male contingent is strong and it looks gorgeous as only an A product of the studio era can.

The story takes place in England at the turn of the last century.  Lucy Muir (Tierney) is a young widow with a little daughter (Natalie Wood) who works up the courage to leave the stifling confines of her mother-in-laws home.  She intends to move to the seacoast and live on the dividends from her deceased husband’s gold shares.

She looks for a house to rent and despite a lot of discouragement from the estate agent sets her heart on Gull Cottage.  When she tours the house, it becomes obvious that it is haunted but Lucy is undeterred.  Not even a personal appearance by the resident ghost, Capt. Daniel Gregg (Rex Harrison), can chase her away.  As the captain gets to know the spunky, beautiful Lucy he no longer wants her to go.  The two become confidants.

Then Lucy’s goldmines dry up and it looks like she will have to move back to London with the in-laws.  The captain comes up with the idea of dictating his memoirs to Lucy as a means of earning her some money.  Despite his salty language, the two work well together.  On a visit to a publisher, Lucy meets smooth operator Miles Farley, a children’s author.  Capt. Gregg takes an instantaneous dislike to the oily womanizer but Lucy is intrigued.  Lucy sells the book and the Captain, deciding that Lucy must be left to her own devices, departs.  Before he does, he implants a message that he was only a dream and Lucy the sole author of the book.

Faithful readers will know that, for reasons unknown even to myself, I am not a Gene Tierney fan.  Here she seems particularly smug and insufferable to me.  Luckily, this cannot dim the beauty of the images or the fine performances of Harrison and Sanders.  The film is also blessed with a gorgeous, evocative Bernard Herrmann score.  Every classic film buff should see it at least once.

Charles Lang was Oscar-nominated for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White.

Trailer