The Ghost And Mrs. Muir

''The Ghost and Mrs. Muir'' is a 1947 American supernatural romantic fantasy film starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison. It was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and is based on a 1945 novel written by Josephine Leslie under the pseudonym of R.A. Dick. In 1945, 20th Century Fox bought the film rights to the novel, published only in the United Kingdom at that time. It was shot entirely in California.

Plot

In Britain in the early 1900s, recently widowed Mrs. Lucy Muir moves from London to the seaside village of Whitecliff, despite the disapproval of her in-laws. After visiting the local estate agent, she decides to rent a house named Gull Cottage.

"Cottage" uses the 18th/19th century use of this term, as the house is a substantial villa, although somewhat neglected. When shown the interior by the agent she first sees the portrait of the former occupant and owner, a roguish sea captain named Captain Daniel Gregg. A ghostly laugh is heard while she is with the agent, who tells her that Gregg committed suicide and that the cottage is haunted. Despite this unusual circumstance, she persists in renting Gull Cottage.

On the first night after moving in with her young daughter Anna and her loyal housekeeper Martha, Lucy is disturbed by apparitions, but she stands resolute and demands the ghost show himself. After Captain Gregg manifests himself, he tells Lucy that his death four years ago was not a suicide, but the result of accidentally kicking the valve on a gas-fired room heater in his sleep. Daniel explains that he wants to turn Gull Cottage into a home for retired seamen, thus why he has been frightening away tenants. However, due to Lucy's headstrong attitude, as well as her appreciation of the house, Daniel reluctantly agrees to allow her to live in Gull Cottage and promises to make himself visible only to her.

Lucy's investment — her only source of income — has dried up, and her in-laws tell her she has no choice but to move back to London. However, Daniel has warmed up to her and asks her to stay. They decide to write a book, a dictation of his memoirs from his time at sea, from which she will profit. During the course of writing the book, they fall in love. Both realize it is a hopeless situation, and Daniel tells Lucy that she should find a living man to be with. In London, Lucy goes to meet a publisher, Mr. Sproule, and encounters Miles Fairley, a suave author who writes children's books under the pen name Uncle Neddy. Mr. Sproule agrees to publish Daniel's lurid and sensational recollections, titled ''Blood and Swash'', providing Lucy with an advance which she uses to buy Gull Cottage.

Fairley follows her back to Whitecliff and they begin a whirlwind courtship. Though initially jealous of their relationship, Daniel decides to leave, as he considers himself an obstacle to Lucy's chance at happiness. While she is asleep, he places in her mind the suggestion that she alone wrote the book and his presence was merely a dream. He fades away after declaring his regret that he never had a life with her.

Fairley cancels a planned visit to Gull Cottage, saying he will be in London for a few days. Lucy visits London to sign a contract, and obtains Fairley's address in the city from the office clerk to pay a surprise visit. She discovers that Fairley is already married with two children, and Mrs. Fairley sympathetically tells her that she is not Fairley's first extramarital affair. Heartbroken, Lucy returns to Whitecliff to spend the rest of her life as a recluse, with Martha looking after her.

Years later, Mrs. Fairley has had enough of her husband's philandering and divorces him, taking full custody of their children. Anna goes to university and returns with a Royal Navy lieutenant she plans to marry. Anna reveals to her mother that she knew about her mother's relationship with "Uncle Neddy", and that she believes that she too saw Daniel, whom she regarded as a childhood crush, meaning Daniel broke his promise to Lucy not to show himself. Anna argues that Daniel must be real since they both saw him, but Lucy still believes that it was a dream and reasons it is more logical to conclude that she transmitted her dream to Anna through her stories than to believe in ghosts. She also tells Anna that although she had at times been lonely, she was never truly alone.

Many years later, the elderly Lucy is now ailing, and Anna's daughter (also named Lucy) is engaged to a airplane captain; Anna believes that affection for captains runs in their family. Lucy rejects the glass of hot milk Martha has brought for her with a complaint that she is tired. After Martha leaves the room, Lucy dies. Daniel returns and approaches her, whispering that she will never be tired again. Taking his hands, her young spirit leaves her aged body and greets him with a loving smile. Unseen by Martha, the couple leave the house and walk arm-in-arm into an ethereal mist.

Cast

* Gene Tierney as Lucy Muir
* Rex Harrison as Captain Daniel Gregg
* George Sanders as Miles Fairley
* Edna Best as Martha Huggins
* Vanessa Brown as Anna Muir (as an adult)
* Anna Lee as Mrs. Fairley
* Natalie Wood as Anna Muir (as a child)
* Robert Coote as Mr. Coombe
* Isobel Elsom as Angelica Muir, Lucy's mother-in-law
* Victoria Horne as Eva Muir, Lucy's sister-in-law
* Whitford Kane as Mr. Sproule, the publisher (uncredited)
* Stuart Holmes as Man ordered out of train compartment by the Captain (uncredited)

Production

Initially, June Lockhart and Richard Ney were cast in the roles of Anna and Miles Fairley, respectively, but Ney had to leave due to scheduling conflicts with another film, '' Ivy'' (1947). Darryl F. Zanuck, the studio production chief, had originally envisioned John M. Stahl as the director, praising his work on '' Holy Matrimony'' (1943) for its similar English humor and sentiment. Zanuck also considered Norma Shearer for the role of Lucy.

Filming locations included Palos Verdes and Monterey, California. Some scenes were filmed in February 1947 on a beach near Stillwater Cove in Pebble Beach. Production was temporarily halted when Gene Tierney broke her foot, but she completed filming with a cast hidden by her costume. Charles Lang Jr. was brought in from Paramount for the production.

Although Joseph Mankiewicz had a good reputation as a screenwriter, Philip Dunne says Mankiewicz's only contribution to this script was writing a couple of "excellent lines" for George Sanders' character.Lee Server, ''Screenwriter: Words Become Pictures'', 1987 p 108-109 Bernard Herrmann, the composer of the film's music, regarded it as his finest score.

Reception

''The New York Times'' called ''The Ghost and Mrs. Muir'' "a pleasurable film, despite its failings," singling out Edna Best for "by far the best performance". In the writer's opinion, Harrison "has such an ingratiating personality that this compensates in large measure for the lack of characterization in his role," but Tierney "is a pretty girl, but has no depth of feeling as an actress."

'' Variety'', on the other hand, praised the actors and the film unreservedly:

The film holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 21 reviews, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The critics consensus states, "''The Ghost and Mrs. Muir'' deftly handles a multitude of tones to deliver a haunting love story in classical fashion."

Awards

Lang was nominated for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White at the 20th Academy Awards.

The film was ranked 73rd on AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions list in 2002 by the American Film Institute.

Adaptations to other media

''The Ghost and Mrs. Muir'' was adapted as an hour-long radio play on the December 1, 1947 broadcast of '' Lux Radio Theater'' with Charles Boyer and Madeleine Carroll and on the August 16, 1951 ''Screen Directors Playhouse'' with Boyer and Jane Wyatt. A 90-minute adaptation by Barry Campbell of the novel was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 21 December 1974 with Bryan Pringle as Captain Gregg, Gemma Jones as Lucy Muir and Philip Bond as Miles.

From 1968 to 1970, a TV series titled '' The Ghost & Mrs. Muir'', starring Hope Lange and Edward Mulhare, aired on NBC and then ABC. It had the same premise and main characters as the book and film, but it was a situation comedy, downplaying the romantic fantasy elements and focusing on broad humor. The time and setting were changed, with the action taking place in a contemporary American coastal town (although the ghost was portrayed as being from the Victorian era). For the series, Mrs. Muir's first name was changed from Lucy to Carolyn, and the children's names were changed from Cyril and Anna (in the original novel) to Jonathan and Candace.

In April 1994, ''Variety'' continued its reporting on Sean Connery's being slated to play the Captain in a version of the story for 20th Century Fox. The project was reportedly still “in the pipeline” in 1997, but the remake never came about.

On June 3, 2005, a musical based on the film and the book, written and directed by James J. Mellon, had its world premiere at the NoHo Arts Center in Los Angeles. ''Variety'' gave it a mixed review.

Home media

''The Ghost and Mrs. Muir'' was released on both VHS and Laserdisc by CBS/Fox Video in 1990. Fox Video released it on VHS in 1994 and DVD in 2003, in both cases as part of the 20th Century Fox Studio Classics collection. The DVD version includes new audio commentaries, the original theatrical trailer, and the A&E documentary ''Rex Harrison: The Man Who Would Be King'' as bonus content. The film was released on Blu-ray in 2013 by 20th Century Fox after being selected in Fox's Voice Your Choice promotion.

See also

* List of ghost films

Notes

References

External links

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Streaming audio

''The Ghost and Mrs. Muir''
on Lux Radio Theater: December 1, 1947

''The Ghost and Mrs. Muir''
on Screen Directors Playhouse: August 16, 1951

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghost And Mrs. Muir, The
1940s ghost films
1940s romantic fantasy films
1947 films
20th Century Fox films
American romantic comedy-drama films
American romantic fantasy films
American black-and-white films
American ghost films
American supernatural romance films
Fictional couples
Films about widowhood
Films adapted into television shows
Films based on British novels
Films based on fantasy novels
Films based on romance novels
Films directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Films scored by Bernard Herrmann
Films set in England
Films set in London
Films set in the 1900s
Films with screenplays by Philip Dunne
1940s English-language films
1940s American films
English-language romantic comedy-drama films
English-language romantic fantasy films