Ghost And Mrs. Muir

Gene Tierney gives a tender performance as the widow, Lucy Muir, who decides to leave the home of her stifling, controlling in-laws to make a new life for herself and her young daughter Anna (Natalie Wood). She chooses a seaside cottage, although she is warned not to take it, and when she visits the residence she finds out why she has been cautioned - the place is haunted by a grumpy sea captain, Daniel Gregg (Rex Harrison), who very much wants things his own way. Despite her delicate femininity, Lucy refuses to let Gregg intimidate her, and moves in. Their relationship, at first a bickering one, becomes one of mutual interest and it blossoms as Lucy (whom Gregg christens Luchia) finds that she is bankrupt and can't afford the house, so helps her write a novel based on his seafaring adventures. As they fall in love, it becomes very complicated, as he is a ghost and she is among the living, and when George Sanders' untrustworthy rake comes into Lucy's life, Gregg makes the painful decision to leave and tells Lucy as she slumbers that it was all a dream - she wrote the book, she dreamed him up, although there is regret as he takes one last longing look at her. Lucy resumes her life, having completely forgotten about Daniel, only to discover that her flesh and blood suitor has a wife and children, and Anna Lee shines brightly in her small role of Sanders' long-suffering but understanding wife.

As time passes, Lucy every now and then has a tinge of remembrance, but it's not until her now grown daughter (played by Vanessa Brown) comes home for a visit and talks of a handsome sea captain who engaged her in conversation when she was a little girl . . . . . . . .

Although she again dismisses it as a dream, Lucy appears to be serenely at peace, and time passes and she becomes elderly, she dies in her sleep in her favorite chair, only to be greeted by Daniel, who extends his hand to her, and her young and vibrant spirit exits the cottage with him . . . . .

I can't think of a lovelier ending for this movie, or a better revelation that young Anna also made Gregg's acquaintance. Bernard Herrman's score, somewhat echoing some of his work for Hitchcock, fits the story beautifully. You can't help but love Daniel's references to his monkey puzzle tree, and the sense of humor when he advises Lucy to tell her in-laws to "shove off!". Everything in the film echoes the influence of the ocean and its romantic associations - even the surname of "Muir" is symbolic, since translated from Gaelic it means the sea. I don't think that was a coincidence, and the fact that Gene Tierney was of Irish descent makes this film all the more perfect . . . . . . . . .

Into the sea of love divine, where it is no longer a dream . . . . . .


Unexpectedly wonderful love story   July 17, 2004
On paper, the premise of the movie sounds ridiculous. A ghost and a woman falling in love with one another? But watch what happens and you'll totally be drawn in. After Lucy Muir moves with her young daughter and trusted servant to a seaside cottage, she discovers that it's haunted. However, she is so in love with the house - it suits her in a way she can't define - that she can't stand the thought of leaving. After the ghost, a sea captain named Daniel, fails to scare her away, they reach an agreement to live amicably with one another.

The conversations between the two are initially hilarious, but gain a strong emotional dimension as the prim Victorian woman and coarse sea captain get to know each other better. Their connection becomes so powerful, you almost forget at times that the captain is a spirit. However, as right as they are for one another, there is still that physical barrier between the living and the fleshless. What's also interesting about the film is its psychology. Daniel is Lucy's ideal man - is he really a ghost, or just the product of her overactive imagination? Regardless of what you think the answer is, the question becomes increasingly important during the second half of the movie, when Lucy is pursued by a flesh-and-blood man, a suave and oily writer, who is certainly not her ideal but makes her commitment to the sea captain waver.

As Lucy, Gene Tierney is wonderful - she is great in both the humorous scenes and the troubled, emotional ones. She makes Lucy come alive as the proper, well-bred lady who also has a quirky side to her, and a resilience not found in many women of the time. And Rex Harrison is marvelous as Daniel. Though I first cracked up when hearing his gruff, earthy voice, he quickly won me over. Especially memorable is his bedside monologue to Lucy, which will bring tears to your eyes.


A Little Gem   June 16, 2004
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This is a fabulous film. The gorgeous Gene Tierney was born to play the widowed Lucy Muir--a young woman seeking personal fulfillment, as well as financial independence from her loathsome in-laws for herself and her young daughter, Anna (portrayed by Natalie Wood). While house hunting, she finds herself irresistibly drawn to a seaside dwelling considered uninhabitable by its agent and, after taking up residence, falls in love with the spectral former owner, Daniel Gregg (Rex Harrison), a full-of-himself sea captain who hasn't quite come to terms with his accidentally having taken his own life. After helping Lucy to acquire financial security, Gregg unselfishly opts to make the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of his soulmate: concerned that she feels divided between his world and that of the living, he suggests to her while she sleeps that her recollection of their association, if any, is a dream and so it is until the film's climax. This tender, perfectly-cast love story is presented without the slightest trace of mawkishness under Joseph L. Mankewicz' direction and the performances are all stellar--George Sanders as Lucy's caddish suitor is particularly entertaining. Bernard Herrmann's appropriately haunting soundtrack is justifiably famous--one can detect the direction he'll take in his future work--and is available on CD from Amazon. It's entertaining on its own and definitely worth having.
The DVD is mastered from a good print and has nice, crisp contrast; the audio is fine, too. I haven't watched the film with the commentary, but the extras are nice and include an A&E Biography segment of the life of Rex Harrison, a theatrical trailer, and a collection of stills. Viewers are offered a choice of Spanish or French dubbing, as well as Spanish or English subtitles, and the menus are easily navigable. This film spawned a short-lived, late-60's TV show starring Edward Mulhare and Hope Lange in the title roles, as well as a condensed, made-for-TV production on Fox's Hour of Stars in the late 50's that has only recently resurfaced--it stars Michael Wilding and Joan Fontaine.
Kudos to Fox for staying competitive with the likes of heavyweights such as Criterion and Kino in their treatment of the classics in their catalogue. They provide quality (including nice keep cases as opposed to Warner's crummy cardboard "snappers") at very attractive prices and are clearly attuned to the public's expectations unlike, for instance, Universal. Fox has made it very easy on the wallet to own some of the finest movies ever made. If you agree with me that they're doing a good job, drop them a line at FoxDrop@4icc.com to let them know.


An unusual film with spectacular music and cinematography   May 28, 2004
More of a romance and a mood piece than a ghost story, this lovely little one-of-a-kind work from Fox (of all studios) brought out the very best in most of the people concerned. The score by Bernard Herrmann, has been justly praised again and again, and its evocative and sophisticated (and extremely non-sugary) romanticism it rivals his later beautiful work for Hitchcock and Truffaut. The gorgeous cinematography (eloquently described on the commentary by Greg Kimball) is exceptional, with exceptional black and white tonalities and use of mise en scene. And Gene Tierney, that most beautiful and inconstant of Hollywood actresses, was never more up to a script than here: her manneredness never seemed more charming, and she is quite fine in her later scenes when she's asked to be her character in middle age (and then old age). Only Rex Harrison, in a barking performance as the dead Captain Gregg, doesn't seem up to standards of the others. The film has nice extras, especially in Kimball's very informative commentary, which gives fine background material about how things were filmed and how Fox operated.