''The Ghost Goes West'' is a 1935 British

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typic ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

film starring

Robert Donat Friedrich Robert Donat (18 March 1905 – 9 June 1958) was an English actor. He is best remembered for his roles in Alfred Hitchcock's '' The 39 Steps'' (1935) and ''Goodbye, Mr. Chips'' (1939), winning for the latter the Academy Award for ...

Jean Parker Jean Parker (born Lois May Green; August 11, 1915 – November 30, 2005) was an American film and stage actress. A native of Montana, indigent during the Great Depression, she was adopted by a family in Pasadena, California at age ten. She ...

, and

Eugene Pallette Eugene William Pallette (July 8, 1889 – September 3, 1954) was an American actor who worked in both the silent and sound eras, performing in more than 240 productions between 1913 and 1946. After an early career as a slender leading man, ...

, and directed by

René Clair René Clair (11 November 1898 – 15 March 1981), born René-Lucien Chomette, was a French filmmaker and writer. He first established his reputation in the 1920s as a director of silent films in which comedy was often mingled with fantasy. He wen ...

, his first English-language film. The film shows an Old World ghost dealing with American materialism.

Plot

In 18th century Scotland, Clan Glourie's enemy (hated even more than the English) is Clan MacClaggan. Both clan leaders send their sons to fight the English, five MacClaggans and Murdoch Glourie, who would rather spend his time kissing the lasses. At the Scottish encampment, Murdoch is outnumbered by the MacClaggans and hides behind a barrel of gunpowder. An errant Scottish cannonball ends his life, but in the afterlife, he is stranded in

Limbo In Catholic theology, Limbo (Latin '' limbus'', edge or boundary, referring to the edge of Hell) is the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. Medieval theologians of Western Euro ...

due to his cowardice. His now-deceased father tells him he is doomed to haunt Glourie Castle until he can get a MacClaggan to admit that one Glourie can thrash fifty MacClaggans. In the 20th century, Peggy Martin, the daughter of a rich American businessman, persuades him to purchase the

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

from Donald Glourie, who is besieged by his creditors. Donald is outraged that Mr. Martin plans to dismantle his ancestral home and reassemble it in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

, but he is attracted to Peggy. Peggy, in the meantime, meets Murdoch, but thinks he is Donald (as they look exactly alike, seeing as they are both played by Donat). Martin hires him to supervise the reconstruction. Along with the castle goes its

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to re ...

. On the sea voyage to America, Donald has second thoughts, and he and Martin agree to cancel their deal, but then Martin's business rival, Ed Bigelow, sees a wonderful opportunity to publicize his products, so he offers Donald $100,000 for the castle. Alarmed, Martin repurchases it for $150,000. Murdoch makes a spectral appearance before many witnesses, igniting a media frenzy, but Bigelow remains openly skeptical about the ghost. Murdoch's dalliances with other women, however, derail Donald's attempts at romance with Peggy, who still believes Murdoch is Donald. In Florida, Martin hosts a lavish party to celebrate the castle's reassembly, but Murdoch refuses to make an appearance. Then Bigelow insults the Glouries on a radio broadcast, revealing he is a MacClaggan on his mother's side. Murdoch chases him down and forces him to admit that one Glourie can thrash fifty MacClaggans; Murdoch is finally released to join his ancestors. Peggy, having realized her mistake, reconciles with Donald.

Cast

as Murdoch Glourie and Donald Glourie *

as Peggy Martin *

as Mr. Martin *

Elsa Lanchester Elsa Sullivan Lanchester (28 October 1902 – 26 December 1986) was a British-American actress with a long career in theatre, film and television.Obituary '' Variety'', 31 December 1986. Lanchester studied dance as a child and after the F ...

as Miss Shepperton * Ralph Bunker as Ed Bigelow * Patricia Hilliard as Shepherdess *

Everley Gregg Everley Gregg (26 October 1903, in Bishopstoke, Hampshire – 9 June 1959, in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire) was an English actress. Early in her career, she became associated especially with plays of Noël Coward. She began making films in the ...

as Mrs. Martin * Morton Selten as The Glourie *

Chili Bouchier Chili Bouchier (born Dorothy Irene Boucher; 12 September 1909 – 9 September 1999) was an English film actress who achieved success during the silent film era, and went on to many screen appearances with the advent of sound films, before progre ...

as Cleopatra * Mark Daly as Murdoch's Groom * Herbert Lomas as Fergus *

Elliott Mason Elliott Mason (29 January 1888 – 20 June 1949) was a British stage and film actress. She was sometimes credited as Elliot Mason. After making her screen debut in the 1935 comedy '' The Ghost Goes West'', Mason appeared regularly in supporti ...

as Mrs. MacNiff *

Hay Petrie David Hay Petrie (16 July 1895 – 30 July 1948) was a Scottish actor noted for playing eccentric characters, among them Quilp in ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' (1934), the McLaggen in '' The Ghost Goes West'' (1935) and Uncle Pumblechook in ''Great ...

as The McLaggen * Quentin McPhearson as Mackaye

Background

The film is an adaptation of Eric Keown's short story "Sir Tristam Goes West", and was written by Robert E. Sherwood and Geoffrey Kerr, though Clair and

Lajos Biro Lajos () is a Hungarian masculine given name, cognate to the English Louis. People named Lajos include: Hungarian monarchs: * Lajos I, 1326-1382 (ruled 1342-1382) * Lajos II, 1506-1526 (ruled 1516-1526) In Hungarian politics: * Lajos Aul ...

have been alleged by contemporary sources to have done uncredited writing on the screenplay. This was the first of two films Clair made in England following a deal he made with producer

Alexander Korda Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; hu, Korda Sándor; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956)Break the News ''Break the News'' is the third studio album by Swedish singer Darin. It was released on 22 November 2006 in Sweden. The album reached the top of the Swedish Album Charts. Four singles were released from the album in Sweden with an additional t ...

''.

Critical response

Writing for ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''Th ...

'' in 1935,

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...

praised the film. He wrote of how the "camera sense" of René Clair manifested itself in the film's "feeling of mobility, of visual freedom" and highlighted Clair's directorial genius. Greene also praised the acting of Pallette and Donat, describing Pallette's portrayal of an American millionaire as the finest performance of his career, and Donat's acting style as imbued with "invincible naturalness". ''

The Monthly Film Bulletin ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with ''Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a ...

'' gave a mixed review: "If the continuity of the film appears in places rather thin, the satire occasionally a trifle obvious, and the humour sometimes a little mechanical, there are, nevertheless, some very good moments". ''The Ghost Goes West'' was the 13th most popular film at the British box office in 1935–36. The film was voted the best British movie of 1936 by readers of ''

Film Weekly ''Film Weekly'' was one of the leading popular film magazines published in the United Kingdom during the late 1920s and 1930s. Background Launched in 1928, the magazine became known for its gossipy interest in contemporary film stars. Columnist ...

'' magazine. Both the original treatment and the cutting continuity of the finished film were published in ''Successful Film Writing as Illustrated by 'the Ghost Goes West by Seton Margrave. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1936.

References

External links