Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Forgotten Movies: THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR





This ranks pretty high with me on the romantic movie scale. Although I am not normally a big Rex Harrison fan, he pulled this one off well. The remoteness of playing a ghost seems to suit him.

A widow (Gene Tierney) comes to live in Gull Cottage with her daughter. She is warned the place is haunted. But the ghost, a ship captain, and Mrs. Muir get along very well. Well that is, until a younger man vies for her attention and she must decide where her future lies. Her decision may surprise you.

The score is a knockout too. A TV show with Hope Lange followed but Gene and Rex were more ethereal. For more forgotten movies, see Todd Mason

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Patti - Oh I liked this movie! I'm so glad you featured it. You're quite right that it's got a great romance in it, too.

Deb said...

Don't forget the 1960s TV adaptation starring Hope Lange and featuring Charles Nelson Reilly.

Anonymous said...

We watched the TV series, mostly - as Deb pointed out - for Charles Nelson Reily, who was pretty funny as Claymore. Now here is something I never knew:

A Hartford resident at the time, Reilly was seated in the big top the day of the 1944 fire at a Ringling Brothers event in Hartford that has since become well known, he was only 13 years old. Because of this, he never was in attendance at the theater, as he had stated that the large crowds reminded him of what happened that day.

Jeff M.

Anonymous said...

We saw Harrison on stage four times - in Shaw's CAPTAIN BRASSBOUND'S CONVERSION and HEARTBREAK HOUSE, in Frederick Lonsdale's AREN'T WE ALL? (opposite Claudette Colbert, who was 81 at the time and looked fantastic) and in Maugham's THE CIRCLE (opposite Glynis Johns).

Jeff M.

Sergio (Tipping My Fedora) said...

Lovely movie and you're right about Bernard Herrmann's score as it is a real emotional knockout - it even served as inspiration for parts of his mammoth 'Wuthering Heights' opera

K. A. Laity said...

A really lovely movie and it's been far too long since I've seen it. Agreed on Harrison: but in a couple of things, he's just right. This is one. And when is Hermann not wonderful? Never that I can think of. Please please show up on Film 4 soon!

Yvette said...

Love this movie, Patti. Rex Harrison is terrific in this as he is in that other more or less forgotten (though beloved by some of us) movie, NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH.

iluvcinema said...

I really like this movie as well. It is a great love story.

I know a few folks do not like Rex Harrison, but he has always been liked by me :)

pattinase (abbott) said...

I think what ruined him for me was the book PICTURES AT A REVOLUTION. His behavior made him so unlikable